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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

30D LCD Screen Sharpness (1 Viewer)

R

Robin Edwards

Well-known member
I've had my 30D for a couple of months now and have to say that I'm very pleased. I'm using the 100-400mm IS and it's opened up a whole new world. I do need to be more patient and get much closer to my subjects. Digiscoping to DSLR requires a whole new learning process.

One thing I have noticed with my 30D is that I would say that the LCD screen is a little soft when reviewing images that actually look much sharper when seen on the PC. Is it just me ? I have to say that I don't have any other DSLRs to compare with although with my old Nikon Coolpix, often the opposite was true - pictures looked fairly sharp on screen until viewed back at the PC !
 
The same thing with my 350D - it can be pretty annoying , but also a nice surprise. The image will look soft on the lcd , even a little blurred in some cases, and yet when viewed in photoshop is fine.
 
Just out of interest ... I am thinking of investing in a 30D or 40D + the 100-400 lens and was wondering about reviewing the photographs taken. In explanation, I have a Fuji S602z (since 2004) and have always found that (to my eyesight anyway) reviewing is sharper via the viewfinder than the LCD screen. So, my (probably obvious) question is, can photographs be reviewed via the Canon viewfinder and if so, are they any sharper?
 
Dunno about that, but those little LCD screens are fairly limited. My 20D is the same, I expect the 40D ditto. It might be better on the 1 series bodies, but even if so, those screens are not designed for proper image reviewing. You can tell if an image is looking vaguely OK but unless it is obviously rubbish, you shouldn't really start deleting too much until you get the chance to review them properly on the computer.
 
That little LCD is very, very low resolution compared to your computer monitor - it is never going to look as good!

The camera downsizes the original image by a huge amount to fit it on the back screen and the algorithm will be fairly basic to keep it fast on the camera's small brain - this will introduce softness.

A scaled image in Photoshop can seem 'sharper' than reality, i.e. when you zoom in to it at 100%

Remember that even if you are saving images as RAW, the camera displays an image on the LCD that reflects the 'development' settings in camera (sharpness, contrast etc.).
 
I never use the lcd screen to review pics myself - do not see the point, all you are seeing is a small thumbnail on a low res screen. I do glance at the histogram occasionally but the pics are best reviewed on the PC screen.Memory cards are cheap these days so you do not need to worry about deleting from the card in the field.
 
Thanks for the responses and accept that LCD will always be lower res than the original RAW image viewed on PC.

I also take the point about memory being cheap and not really needing to delete although in practice I like to a) review what I've taken to understand whether I've just wasted my time and got things horribly wrong and b) to remove those images that I don't want to upload because they failed completely.

I'm very much on a learning curve at the moment and can't resist checking what I've taken via the LCD rather than to get home and find that had I known, I could have tried something different to get better results, limited as this might be.
 
Roy C said:
I never use the lcd screen to review pics myself - do not see the point, all you are seeing is a small thumbnail on a low res screen. I do glance at the histogram occasionally but the pics are best reviewed on the PC screen.Memory cards are cheap these days so you do not need to worry about deleting from the card in the field.
Click to expand...


Good onya Roy.

It is a little known fact ...(or so it seems to me) that using the on camera screen heats up the camera. The warmer the camera gets the more noise will become apparant. I tend to look at the screen when I am at the end of a photo session and my card is getting filled up. I wipe out the howlers and check the histogram on selected shots and time permitting allow camera to cool down. Trigger happy shooting by the same token must mean added noise.

I have got some beauties with my 20D at ISO1600 and the noise levels look every bit as good as the 40D though different circumstances may of course mean that the 40D is better in more variable situations. As for checking sharpness etc ....best left to the computer in my view.
 
I find the LCD helpful because i'm a huge noob and alot of my pictures come out either to dark or to bright, but once i get the exposure right i seem to do fine. Still learning, but its fun. The LCD on the 400d gives pretty decent images imo.
 
Viewing the pics on the LCD not only warms up the camera but uses up battery life rapidly. I avoid it except when necessary. 'Necessary' for me includes checking WB and exposure settings - particularly given the tendency of my 30D to underexpose with my 400 DO.
 
Had my 30D for 2 months. Taken 2500 shots of mixed content so far and find the LCD image OK for composition, which is all it's for. Use the zoom functions and "joy stick" to pan around if you want to see how sharp it is. Try bracketing for exposure insecurity (one's bound to be OK). LCD doesn't make that much difference to battery life. I bought a couple of spares at 7dayshop, £5 each, but the life's good for 500 shots even with image review on.
 
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