Railfan Technology > Help Needed - Digital Camera Issues

A few years ago I bought a new Canon SX-120. Loved it. It was easy to use, not that big and did whatever I wanted it to do with acceptable results. Then one day the zoom lens decided not to widen out any further than about 105 MM. Can't seem to do anything about it.

So, I went on Amazon and bought a used one to replace it. It took a bit to get the settings right and I finally got it so I was happy until about 2 weeks ago it decided to burn through a set of AA batteries for each 5-8 images. Otherwise both cameras have produced excellent results.

Ok, not wanting to spend much money I again bought a used SX-120 camera and tried it out yesterday along the old stomping grounds in Western NY and the PA Keystone. Familiar territory to check it out. So I am thinking there is some sort of setting I am missing. The images (shot on AUTO, my lame standard setting) are very dark, lack contrast and even seem to exhibit a color shift. I wish now I shot a few test images with one of the other cameras but didn't think of that. I thought I had the settings the same as the other two cameras but the results yesterday after downloading were disappointing to say the least.

Looking at the test images - attached, does anyone have any ideas of what might be off ? Anyone have a good familiarity with these cameras? I grew up shooting a 35mm Minolta SRT that still is in working condition after 40 years. Digital is something still foreign and I literally have a bucket of various high end and low end cameras that have bit the dust aver the last 7-8 years. I hesitate to spend too much to throw them away which is why I settled on to the Canon SX-120 and used ones at this point. I'd be willing to buy something new but it has to be worth it. The frustration level is about to the point of giving up on the photography, but it provides an excuse to go watch trains more than anything else.

Photo shopping / Photo editing does help, but I am looking for a better quality image to begin with.

Thoughts and suggestions welcome.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/17 17:36 by train1275.

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I suspect the used camera you purchased still has the previous owners' settings on it. There are a number of settings that could produce the results you got, so I'm guessing it would be best to 'start anew' with the camera and reset all menu screen options.

Fortunately, Canon uses the menu items in all their cameras. So what I see on my A320 is a subset of the G15 options which is a subset of the 5D mark iii options. All of them have a 'reset all' option, usually in the same 'tools' list as 'format card'. Doing a 'reset all' will put it back to the original factory settings. When done, you will have to put whatever menu settings you want all over again. In particular, the white balance (color shift problems) will be back to 'auto' which should work for most photos, especially in daylight.

Sounds like a good plan. I will give it a try.
Thanks

I agree with BRAtkinson. Canon cameras have what the S120 manual calls "My Colors" - settings which determine how "vivid" colors are, or not. An odd setting there could certainly produce low-contrast photos.

See if this makes it better

Dave
Mount Joy, PA

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Thanks !

I'll hopefully play around this weekend again with these suggestions.

See what happens, this information is much appreciated.

One more thing Phil,
All your pictures have a blue tint to them, as i see it. Am just wondering if the auto white balance is off and needs to set also. The color shift, I'm thinking is keeping your colors from popping.

Dave
Mount Joy, {A

Agreed on the AWB. Trying to follow the instructions I can't seem to scroll up in the menu as put forth in the directions to select the AWB option. not sure why. The scroll only goes left to right, not vertical where I need to go.

Its also interesting that I do not have an iContrast menu item as seen in the instruction above.