How do I adjust the contrast of the images that my digital SLR takes?
Asked by
TexasDude (
25274
)
February 1st, 2011
I have a Fujifilm Finepix S9000. It’s an older digital SLR and it has served me well for several years.
Recently, however, I have noticed that the pictures I take are extremely washed out and low-contrast, even in relatively dim lighting. This picture for example, was taken on a rather dim day in January. I had even set my ISO to 80 to compensate for what my camera seemed to be perceiving as blindingly bright light and the image still looks watched out.
I know my camera is capable of taking vibrant images under the right circumstances, but I’ve been getting so many of these bland, colorless photos lately, and I’m starting to get pissed.
What settings could I adjust to get my camera to take more vibrant pictures? Most of these photos are so washed out that I can’t even make them look good in photoshop.
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6 Answers
Did you mess with the exposure compensation?
@theichibun, nope. I only messed with the ISO. Just out of curiosity… how would I go about messing with the exposure compensation? What does that symbol look like on the camera?
First of all, if you don’t have it already, go get the Fujifilm Finepix S9000 Owner’s Manual (PDF file, 7.8MB).
Exposure compensation is briefly introduced in chapter 2 on page 21. It’s covered in more detail in chapter 3 starting on page 45.
The other thing you might consider would be to reset the camera to its factory default settings. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble figuring out how to do that with your camera. A footnote at the bottom of page 100 says you might accidentally revert to factory defaults if you open the battery cover or unplug AC power without first turning off the camera. There’s probably a menu option in there somewhere where you can do it on purpose.
Also, I wonder if your aperture stuck open, letting in more light that you might intend.
@robmandu, thanks for the link! I’ve been playing around with the exposure compensation settings, and I’ve managed to get it to do what I want it to do again. Thanks a lot!
Go to a faster shutter speed or a larger f-stop.
The old Minolta my grandmother had developed the same problem as yours but she or the camera repair store could never figure out what was wrong. One day I was playing with it and found the internal mechanics of the lens were badly corroded due to moisture and wide temperature changes/condensation. Had to replace the lens.
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