[Recovered Thread: 58521]

[maros]

I have been using A200 for about 3 months... and was quite happy with it until recently when I started to take photos of landscape.

I was shocked to see that A200 turns trees and other delicate objects into muddy and noisy patches which remind me of watercolor painting rather than a photograph. I tried all apertures and ISO and contras settings. I found out it has nothing to do with focus either... It seems that it is the noise that destroys most of the details of distant objects even at ISO 50.

Also white balance needs corrections in more than 50 percent of nature shots and resonably accurate colours are achieved only by custom setting... which can be a pain in the neck if you have to act quickly not to miss a shot.

My "point and shoot" 7Mpixel Canon S70 takes far more superior and detailed pictures (apart from purple fringing)...

I am very frustrated and will try to get rid of A200 very soon if I dont find the way to fix it. Do you have similar experience?

[maros]

oops... disappointment!:arrow:

It looks like you have a defective camera. If it's relatively new, return it to the dealer for a new one.

[maros]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the camera... It is capable of taking wonderful pictures if your subject is not too far away... but still that noise. There is another (typical picture)... at ISO 100

[stk]

Maros,

Just out of interest, what level of crop are these shots? I would like to try and do a comparison with my A200. Also, what aperture, focal length? Have you tried a comparison in Raw?

My own experience is that the A200 doesn't capture great detail in landscapes (I don't find it a great landscape camera), butthen I don't have anything previous to compare it with and have taken very few shots comparable with your example.
It has captured the feel and subtlety of valley mists in the landscape extremely well in some recent shots I took in Italy.
I haven't had any significant white balance problems in this sort of shot.

Cheers
Steve

[maros]

Both crops are 100% size out of 8M pixels at highest Jpg. quality. I tried Raw but no difference. When I changed sharpening to soft it improved a bit but I lost details and clarity in the foreground.

Aperture is f6.3 at ISO 100... but it shouldn't have any effect on it... it would be just blurry. But this is sharp and very noisy (even edges of sharp objects)

M:?:

[carrollhale]

It looks like the focus on your first photo was in front of the subject, you could have a defective lens that will not focus to infinity. I get excellent landscapes with my A-200 with a small amount of sharpening in photoshop. I found Steve's evaluation of the A-200's noise right on, virtually no noise at ISO 50, detectable at 100,noticeable at 200, prominent at 400 and objectonable at 800. At ISO 800 you cna still get an acceptable 4x6 print.

[Victor S]

I took a closer look at my recent trip photos after your post, and I can see that a lot of my landscape shots run a little too red. Distance and flat lighting make it worse. I didn't find noise to be a problem at all.

And yes, white balance can be a problem sometimes.

If I were less persnickety about color I wouldn't even notice. But I am enough of a perfectionist that I post process just about every shot worth keeping anyway, so it doesn't bother me too much. I can easily adjust the muddy landscapes for better color and a little more punch.

I will concede that the A200 is much better at people than landscapes, which is good, because people are harder to fix!

Everybody is different, but I find the great handling, general exposure accuracy, and terrific features far outweigh the little extra post processing needed in many situations.

The A200 works great for me, but it may not be the right camera for you.

[selvin]

Maros,

I'm trying to get a handle on what might be causing your problem. If I understand you correctly, the first shot with the trees, is the actual image (reduced in size of course for posting) yes the trees are muddy. Approximately how far away were you in this shot as well as your second?

Please take a look at the following shots taken in your home counrty:

http://www.pbase.com/selvin/nz&page=1

They were all taken with a A200 a few months ago. I can't recall any undue problems with "muddiness" unless of course you include the many shots taken from a moving bus. In the landscapes in the galleries I refer to, are they similar to your landscape shots in terms of what you indicate are muddiness? I referenced NZ shots to give you some perspective of what my experience with the A200 was in similar circumstances to yours.

I've had some problems with my A200 and these tended to be along the lines mentioned in various review articles: difficult focussing in low light, less vivid colors, noise at 400+ ISO. I've used several other brands and models (no dSLR tho) and each has its own idosyncracies.

Perhaps after taking at look at the sample galleries I listed you can let me know if they are a different experience from what you are getting.

Aloha and looking forward to hearing fom you.

[maros]

Thank you guys for your comments! Nice photos Selvin. I especially loved the flowers of Hawai! I couldn't view the originals, so I can't really tell if your camera behaves the same way.

Here are the originals I took the crops from, scaled down to 800x600. The inserts are original size... to give you an idea about the quality when viewed at 1:1. Of course when printed at 300 dpi, you will not notice it at all but I am just a picky perfectionist so it bothers me.:shock:

I tried to focus on the house...