I want to find an optimal parameter setting for my shots, i shoot mostly outdoor shots, and sometimes the colors seem too light.

post your parameters and the types of photo's you shoot, i think this could help everyone a bit.

*sorry just realised i posted in the wrong forum, could you move accordingly? thanks.. sorry :-P

Hi Rebel...I'm fairly new to using manual controls, but here is what I have learned. There really is no "optimal" setting. There are too many factors involved to really set anything. I would suggest you play around a little and if your DSLR has auto bracketing, try playing with it or manually stopping your pictures up or down a stop or two until you get the settings your looking for. From my reading I have learned that many people set their manual setup down a stop or 2. Photo John told me that it is probably better to have the exposure a little under rather than a little over as you can always use a photo editing software to pull out the highlights, but not as easily to tone down the over exposure. I'm sure others may have tips as well, but I think they'll all agree, there really is NO optimal setting for outdoor photography. Now studio photography is probably a little different, but we're not talking about that anyway.

Personal note...are you a ham...if so, I'm KC9EXE (formerly KC7AIS)...
Take care...Ken

I have a digital rebel XT, i should add that to my sig..

Personal note...are you a ham...if so, I'm KC9EXE (formerly KC7AIS)...
Take care...Ken

what?

Apparently he's not a ham Ken.....


Anyway, as for parrameters each camera is different , even changing lenses can affect the parameters. I use different sharpening with my 70-200mm than I do with my 28-300mm Of course it helps to remember to change the settings when changing lenses.
Of course if you shoot only raw you don't need to worry about it all.

JS

I shoot outdoors about 99%. Always use apeture priority to control DOF, and depending on the light use exposure comp, or after reading a scene, goto manual and make an adjustment to my shutter speed. It really depends what you want to do, and the scene. For shooting animals (for example) with a lot of white against dark colors, I always use a faster shutter than my meter says, or I use -1 or so exposure compensation to try not to blow the whites. For architecture, it depends on how much shadow detail is needed, where the sun is, and how the sky looks. As Ken stated to many variables really. You need to have a vision, and practice getting the results you want. Soon it will be automatic for you to set up. By the way, I mostly shoot film, and find that my digital is completely different as JS stated.

ok, so its a learning process like everything else with a dslr..

i still dont get the ham thing, lol... what?

Hi rebel...your username WH2CYK is similar to the callsigns used by Amateur Radio operators (HAM's). As I mentioned, I am a ham and my callsign is now KC9EXE. Out of curiousity, what does the WH2CYK mean in your nickname. I think we all understood the "RebelXT" part...hehehe...
Ken