I have a Canon T3i and when I take pics in auto mode all my pics look a little washed out.

[jazzman1]

  If I put my camera in P mode, put the white balance in "cloudy" (even in sunlight) ISO setting "100", Picture style to "landscape", My pics look better, have more color saturation, more to my liking.  Guess my question is, is there any way to make adjustments in auto mode, to attain the results in my pics that I get when using the "P Mode"?  It seems to be the same for any lens I use, though usally use my Canon 18-55mm kit lens.   I've taken samples of the same scene in Auto, then P mode and the difference looks dramatic.  Is there any way to change default settings in Auto Mode to resolve this?  And if not, why would canon set the default settings to get such poor results?

[ClearWaterBidet]

New to the forum! Greetings all and thanks in advance for the info.

My wife has had a Rebel EOS XT for years and always shot on Auto with good/great results, inside and out. We bought a Rebel EOS T3i a year+ ago and it is horrible in Auto mode. All outside pictures are washed out.

I just did an experiment with "P" mode vs. "Auto" and the "P" mode produced 'okay' pictures. I need to start investigating why the Auto mode on this camera is useless.

So I concur with Jazzman1 that "Auto" mode has worked beautifully in the past and I feel, should also with this new camera.

[RobertTheFat]

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@ClearWaterBidet wrote:
New to the forum! Greetings all and thanks in advance for the info.

My wife has had a Rebel EOS XT for years and always shot on Auto with good/great results, inside and out. We bought a Rebel EOS T3i a year+ ago and it is horrible in Auto mode. All outside pictures are washed out.

I just did an experiment with "P" mode vs. "Auto" and the "P" mode produced 'okay' pictures. I need to start investigating why the Auto mode on this camera is useless.

So I concur with Jazzman1 that "Auto" mode has worked beautifully in the past and I feel, should also with this new camera.

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Make sure you have the camera set to use the right color space, if that's an option. For viewing on a computer monitor, you probably want "sRGB" (not "Adobe RGB", which certain printers prefer).

[ClearWaterBidet]

Thanks Bob! It's set to sRGB. I just upgraded the firmware to 1.0.2 and hoped that would change things... it didn't.

[jazzman1]

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@ClearWaterBidet wrote:
New to the forum! Greetings all and thanks in advance for the info.

My wife has had a Rebel EOS XT for years and always shot on Auto with good/great results, inside and out. We bought a Rebel EOS T3i a year+ ago and it is horrible in Auto mode. All outside pictures are washed out.

I just did an experiment with "P" mode vs. "Auto" and the "P" mode produced 'okay' pictures. I need to start investigating why the Auto mode on this camera is useless.

So I concur with Jazzman1 that "Auto" mode has worked beautifully in the past and I feel, should also with this new camera.

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Hey Clearwater.  Yes, I had the same problem and I had my color set to sRGB also.  I had to use P mode and also had to set my color balance to cloudy/shade.  Pics had even more color saturation set to shade.  I now have the 60D and still have the same problem with auto mode, though my 60D has a tad more color saturation.  I've asked high and low for a answer with no solution.  Only answer I get is use P mode or Full manual.  I'm doing that now but still cannot for the life of me understand why Canon would set auto mode like that in their DSLR's.  As I said, every Canon camera I ever had before I got a DSLR was great in auto.  I have a Canon SX60 65X Zoom  P&S (newest model) I got early this year and auto is fine in it.  But nobody cares to give me a plausible answer for this.  I even have to use "cloudy or shade" color balance, along with P mode, to get decent pics and the color saturation I like....go figure.

[RobertTheFat]

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@jazzman1 wrote:

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@ClearWaterBidet wrote:
New to the forum! Greetings all and thanks in advance for the info.

My wife has had a Rebel EOS XT for years and always shot on Auto with good/great results, inside and out. We bought a Rebel EOS T3i a year+ ago and it is horrible in Auto mode. All outside pictures are washed out.

I just did an experiment with "P" mode vs. "Auto" and the "P" mode produced 'okay' pictures. I need to start investigating why the Auto mode on this camera is useless.

So I concur with Jazzman1 that "Auto" mode has worked beautifully in the past and I feel, should also with this new camera.

---

Hey Clearwater.  Yes, I had the same problem and I had my color set to sRGB also.  I had to use P mode and also had to set my color balance to cloudy/shade.  Pics had even more color saturation set to shade.  I now have the 60D and still have the same problem with auto mode, though my 60D has a tad more color saturation.  I've asked high and low for a answer with no solution.  Only answer I get is use P mode or Full manual.  I'm doing that now but still cannot for the life of me understand why Canon would set auto mode like that in their DSLR's.  As I said, every Canon camera I ever had before I got a DSLR was great in auto.  I have a Canon SX60 65X Zoom  P&S (newest model) I got early this year and auto is fine in it.  But nobody cares to give me a plausible answer for this.  I even have to use "cloudy or shade" color balance, along with P mode, to get decent pics and the color saturation I like....go figure.

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A few weeks ago you asked about the Picture Style Editor, and I suggested that picture styles were a topic you could defer until later. But given what you say above, maybe you should look into them. New or modified picture styles are the way to change the behavior about which you're complaining. It's a bit of work; but if it bothers you enough, it may be worth the effort to learn how to do it. It should all be in your camera manual and/or the EOS Utility instruction manual.

Note that if you're shooting in RAW, you can get the desired effect in post-processing with any decent editor. But picture styles are arguably a more global solution.

[jazzman1]

Thanks for the reply Bob. It's really not a problem for me now since I've taken yours, Biggs, and others suggestion to go P mode and manual.  My pics are fine now, I take all my pics in RAW as Biggs told me, and use DPP as you suggested.  It's just a puzzle that has bothered me ever since I got my Rebel, then my 60D.  But I compensate using manual settings so no problem now.  I'm getting along fine and change my aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, picture mode, etc...to get results I want.  It just bugs me to no end a top quality Company like Canon would do this.  I know they're aware of the issue, and do nothing.  I just don't understand their logic and rashonale.  It'll bug me till I get a answer. 

I'm still reading you and biggs and keep up with all you guys say.  Thanks again.