Hello,
Since receiving my Rebel kit for Christmas when it came out years ago, I have been rather unimpressed with its still image quality. Generally speaking, all shots appear to be out of focus along with random color saturation issues. Admittedly, my knowledge of DSLR is very miniscule, having only shot 35mm (an A-1 purchased new in the 80's, LOL) and medium format many years ago. I enjoy motorsports photography mainly, but use this camera for standard family snapshots where quality isn't front and center to me.
I've dabbled only a little in the quest to clean up the (what I'll call latent) images with settings in the camera body, but have had little to no luck.
I next to never use it for video.
Images are not short or long focused. They can be somewhat cleaned up with a photo editor, but seemingly every one needs done and have never had an image that totally impressed me even afterwards. Same/similar results come from either the 18-55 and 75-300 Canon brand lenses, although the short one is generally better. I believe that I did not edit either of the 2 bottom pics shown that were taken with the long lens. Top one may have been edited, short lens used along with a little bit of fill flash. All 3 pics were shot ISO 100, 1/60sec. shutter priority. I've tried all of the basics carried over from my A-1 days... program, shutter priority, aperture priority, full manual exposure, manual focus, ISO change... no discernible difference. Sharpness, color balance, brightness and contrast are issues.
My guess is that I'm missing something in basic setup of the body. I understand focal speak, but the electronic part has me lost.
Is there a software update available?
I haven't ruled out the "need" for a more professional, more advanced, newer body to get what I'm looking for.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Hello, MotoArts, and welcome to the Forum!
"I haven't ruled out the "need" for a more professional, more advanced, newer body to get what I'm looking for."
And that may well be your best option. To be honest, I am not surprised at the IQ of your images given the lenses you are using. The shots aren't terrible, but could be better with more capable glass. The SL1 is a bit long in the tooth, but still capable. The EF 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM is a fairly capable lens, but the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 is probably, IMHO, one of Canons worse. It is the 1st iteration of that series (I think) and lacks IS, but that isn't all that makes it undesirable (I won't go into all that). I also noticed that in 2 of the 3 images that you shared, the focus point is at the bottom of the AF point array and the EXIF data suggests that you manually placed it there. I would suggest that you use the center point. I would also up the shutter speed which may mean upping the ISO as well to maintain your desired aperture. All of your examples were at 1/60th, that's pretty slow and probably added to the softness of the shots.
Screen shots from DPP 4 to show your active focus points, the red rectangles.
I would strongly suggest looking at some of the newer R series cameras and RF glass. But if you aren't ready to do that, I would at least take a look at the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM II ($599 U.S.), it should work well with the SL1. You can also work on your focus technique, maybe switch to one point without servo. I would also start using Raw and download Canons free Digital Photo Professional to spiff up your shots. All three examples you've posted could have been made a lot better using it, maybe not focus, but sharpening, saturation, color tones, contrast. All of this can be adjusted in camera styles, as mentioned by 5DIV, but you have more control in post editing, AND, it's quite satisfying and enjoyable messing with it and bringing some life into your photos 🙂
Newton
