Sony A6400 Help

[TXCO]

Rokslide, looking for some help on the Sony A6400 I bought last summer. I have a 24/70 Zeiss lens on it. Im struggling to get high resolution/sharp/bright photos out of it. Ive tried a variety of settings over the last few months but the color and sharpness dont seem to be there especially compared to my iphone or previous cameras. Is there a setting to look into for higher resolution photos for printing?

Thanks!

 

[WCB]

1st make sure you are not set on a RAW setting. It is amazing what phones can do now. IMO to get the same quality as some of these phone pictures you need to do some post editing. Are you shooting manual or in the Automatic modes?

 

[Camera Land]

The phone looks wonderful until you print larger then 4x6. That ends that. The A6400 is an awesome camera and the lens you have is one of the best on the market. I agree, check about the raw setting. make sure you are on the highest resolution JPEG.
Perhaps there is a local camera store that offers camera classes. They can look at the pictures and see almost at once what is causing it.
I'm happy to help out. Feel free to call me.

 

[Low_Sky]

You can absolutely get print-quality images out of that camera. If you aren't finding the resources you need to self-teach online, I think it's well worth it to sign up for some classes. How dedicated to this are you? There's a pretty broad spectrum of involvement and where you fall on that spectrum will affect the course of action you need to take.
Do you expect to leave the camera in "Auto" mode and print your pictures exactly how they come out of the camera?
Do you want to print your pictures straight out of the camera, but you want to choose the settings that affect the look of your photos?
Do you want to have maximum control over the look of your photo, including editing the image on the computer before printing?

Can you post an example photo and let us know what about it isn't meeting your expectations?

 

[flyinsquirel]

That 6400 is a real good camera. Post up a sample and let us know what settings you have been using.

 

[TXCO]

Ive done auto and various manual modes/settings all in jpeg. Ive been taking lots of pictures trying to get my feet underneath me on it. Just cant seem to find the right mix and was thinking I wasnt saving them in a high enough quality file or something.

Here are some pics I thought would be a little clearer and brighter especially for printing. The small town I live in doesnt have much for photo classes and Ive looked online but just need some extra help so thank you all!

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[Low_Sky]

In terms of light/color, these are pretty good for straight-out-of-camera jpegs.
What I’m seeing on the forum is probably down-sized. What size are your images, in pixels? If the camera is set to large JPEG, they should be 6000x4000 pixels. If the camera is saving smaller images, you need to adjust the image quality to “large JPEG” or “large JPEG + raw”.


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[Camera Land]

The pictures are very good right out of the box. Try using a Polarizing filter to punch up the sky. Keep an eye on our website, www.cameralandny.com. We will be starting online classes shortly

Joel

 

[BAKPAKR]

Just out of curiosity, are you transferring the photos from your camera to your device via Wi-Fi or by some other method?

 

[Wapiti1]

As Joel suggested for the daytime landscapes, a circular polarizer will help to give the sky more depth, and generally they reduce some of the haze in the sky. It will also improve color in some cases. Just remember you lose a stop of aperture when adding a polarizer.

Also, you can adjust the contrast, color temp, and saturation that the camera outputs for the final JPEG. On the Sony, I believe you use the Creative Styles options for that. It's been a while since I messed with one. There is also a DRO/HDR setting for really high contrast scenes.

Get a stuffed animal and a couple of brightly colored objects and arrange them outside. Flowers work well too. You want bright and dark and sky in the photo. Take the same photo of those with different Creative Style settings to compare the effect until you get something you like.

Overall, you are doing well. The photos you posted look good.

Jeremy

 

[urds1406]

Joel,

I would like to hop in on this thread. I too am new to this world and picked up an A6500. If you are planning on editing, it is best to shoot in RAW, correct?

Thanks!

 

[Low_Sky]

Joel,

I would like to hop in on this thread. I too am new to this world and picked up an A6500. If you are planning on editing, it is best to shoot in RAW, correct?

Thanks!

Yes, raw files are best for editing. You can set the camera to record a JPEG and a raw file, so you can have a finished picture right away, and a raw file to edit later if you don't want to take the plunge right away.
It takes special software to edit the raw file. The most popular is Adobe Lightroom, but it's a paid program. There are open source, free programs available too. Gimp is the one that comes to mind.
The raw file contains all the information captured for a given image. Think of it as a basket of ingredients for a cake. The JPEG image is processed from the raw file, and when this happens in the camera the information is compressed into the final image and any data left over is lost forever. Think of it as buying a finished cake.
With the JPEG, all you can do is slice it and eat it. With the raw file, you can tweak the recipe and bake it yourself. Same ingredients, ultimately the same cake, but you can make it better (or worse).

 

[urds1406]

Thanks Low_Sky... Much appreciated. Have been messing around with LR. Just wanted to take sure I was on the right track.

Kane

 

[TXCO]

Thanks everyone. I have a filter and think the images are being saved in the best jpeg format possible. Is there anything else to consider for color depth and brightness or sending in for prints?


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