Canon 50D and High Tone Priority and Auto Light Optimizer

[kmcgreg]

Ok I am off on another trip in just over a week to Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Now I have usually taken in raw but it just gets too much when I get back to deal with all the space and processing. I am a bit of a novice with in camera jpeg. Now I am panicking after really checking out the menus that relate to jpeg. What are the best settings? Should I turn off the Auto Light Optimizer - not really sure what the benefit of this is. I can understand the benefit of the high tone priority in some situations ie backlight scenes - not sure if it makes much difference if I just leave it on. Next is exposure safety shift - heck why haven't I noticed any of this in the last 2 years!
My kids just snap and shoot on their high end point and shoots and generally get great shots - they are laughing at me now trying to work all this out.
Maybe I should just do raw! Anyway as always, I would love input from the site members.

[tarwoona]

Hi,
i also have a 50D and also haven't taken much notice of those options.
I have the light optimiser off. Safety shift on as this lets the camera change exposure at the last second if something changes, though i dont think it every really happens. Tone priority off.
I shoot in raw+jpeg, though i dont know why i bother with the jpeg 99% of the time.
But i do have Lightroom and it makes managing and adjusting the RAW photos just all too easy and quick.

[LJG]

I guess the easiest way to describe ALO on the 50D is it brings out more detail in the shadowed areas of an image if you set it to strong.

[etherial]

The safety shift works very well. Basically it looks at what you have selected and if the exposure isn't right it will take over. For example say you are shooting on shutter priority (Tv) and you are indoors in poor light and you select 1/500 of a second. The camera will try and select a suitable aperture to achieve exposure in this case f2.8 or whatever the biggest is for the lens you have. You will likely notice that the camera will show this value as a flashing value meaning that it doesn't think that will result in a good enough exposure. So safety shift takes over and will increase your shutter speed to whatever it needs to achieve correct exposure, ie 1/50 second. So it can be good, but if you are trying to achieve something different (ie purposely looking for fast shutter, or manual flash etc) you should turn it off.

The others (ALO or Highlight priority) I am less familiar with, they are more subtle adjustments to how the camera utilises its dynamic range to capture details.

[rwg717]

Mic has it down pat in the previous post, tell you what, invest in some big fast Sandisk CF cards, it will bust your Mastercard but if you buy multiple ones and shoot RAW+JPEG, slows the camera a bit but pays dividends years later.
Turn most of the junk features off and take more frames:confused013
Richard

[kmcgreg]

I think I will go with jpeg and raw option and buy more CF cards. Going to make make for a lot of photos to sort out when I get back! One week to go and counting.... Can't wait.

[phild]

HTP and ALO can be applied to the raw file with DPP, why not save on space and simply shoot raw.

[Roosta]

Hi, Some great info that was handed to me when I brought my 50D this year, if you search under the sponsors banner, Fishpond, Magic Lantern Books, Canon 50D, This is a manual and also DVD, This allows you to sit with camera in hand and play, while watching a DVD, very easy to follow and incredibably informative, Have put several AP members onto this and also the 7D users. Well worth the $30 -$40 buck delivered, I think they still offer free delivery this month so it may be cheaper and also AP gets a sponsor kickback, TWO wins.

http://www.fishpond.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?rid=492152030&keywords=magic%20lantern%2050d But go throught the AP Sponsors link atop the page.

Hope you have a great holiday.

[DAdeGroot]

Be aware that Highlight Tone Priority results in a base ISO of 200 (i.e. you cannot select ISO 100). This will effect your shutter speed or aperture options.

[kmcgreg]

Thanks Dave= I notice that with the iso. I have a ton of CF cards now - will do the raw and jpeg because I want to quickly upload some photos along the way to a travel blog for my extended family.