Sony A550 colour over-saturation problem

[Thefirewitch]

Hello, this is my first post here, been reading for a while but never posted.

I've been using a Sony Alpha A200 for 3 years with some pretty good results, example here: http://www.zigsphotography.co.uk/photo/cult/index.html

2 weeks ago I bought an Alpha A550. With not-so-pretty-good results....
Every shot I take is so over-saturated with colour.
I have put the settings almost the same as my A200 (which I sold on eBay) but the results are so different. (Worse!)

I have tried changing almost every setting but can't figure out why the over-saturation.
Sony Alpha A550, 'out-of-box'. Sony f1.8 50mm lens, star filter.

Some examples. 10 days ago I shot my friend's band, using A550 for first time. Here are the results:
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/k..._Diablo/SALLB/
I have had to heavily photoshop them to get them to that "standard", de-saturate them so much.
Those were slightly better than my horrendous results last night. Photos above I used creative style vivid (by mistake!)

I thought maybe that creative style vivid was the problem, so I changed it to standard. Oh dear....
Last night I took these, very dark club, not much lighting, as shot, only cropped and reduced from 350 to 72dpi.

First example: Shutter priority, f1.8, ISO1600, 1/125


Shutter priority, f1.8 ISO800, 1/160


Shutter priority, f1.8, ISO400, 1/25


I shot some in creative style 'black & white' mode, they have all turned out fine (compared to above!)

Shutter priority, f1.8, ISO400, 1/50


Shutter priority, f2.0, ISO400, 1/20


I also used manual and program modes but they were even worse, forget about those. The reason I used shutter priority is because that is what I had most success with on the A200 with this lens. The photos above, why is the bass player orange? It wasn't like that in the club!

What am I doing wrong? Can anyone please help? Can you see something obvious that I have missed? Have I ticked a box in my settings which shouldn't be or vice versa???

When I use 'live view' I can see the over-saturation on the screen before I even take the shot.

[bambleweeney]

Ziggy
The only thing I can think of would be white balance - possibly the bass player was lit by tungsten, your eyes adapt, the camera doesn't.
Even so - it's a bit extreme.
Have you taken any shots outside in daylight ?
Apart from that it's a camera I know nothing about

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Ziggy,

Are you shooting RAW or jpg?

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the band lit by coloured spot lights?

If the bass player really wasn't that colour, you must have had the WB on daylight - put it on Auto!

Metering has probably gone 'out the proverbial window' due to the spot lights and you have blown (over-exposed) the red and/or blue channels.
That means it is a pretty high contrast scene, this is obvious as many bits are severely over exposed in all three colour shots. Whether you have used some jpg scene mode that has affected metering to keep things more in check on the monochrome shots, or it was just coincidence, but they are much better exposed.

It doesn't help that the focus on the first is on the distant wall and it isn't much closer on the second; the far bit of the furthest guitar is sharpest - which combined with f/1.8 and slow shutter speeds for the subject movement =

In my limited experience, these subjects ARE unbelievably hard to get right, I have to say, I avoid them, the lighting is just too contrasty for decent recording. I started lighting for school 'am-dram', fairly similar to most pubs and clubs I soon learned that shooting a video of the school play gave a poor result. Then I moved into the TV industry and guess what, when we shoot a stage play, we put our own LD (Lighting Director) in, and s/he lowers the contrast range of the stage lights to something the TV cameras can handle. What looks good to the eye in the auditorium doesn't look good in digital capture, TV or still.

I would say don't get dis-heartened; either with yourself or the camera, you chose an (almost) impossible subject - especially for a new camera when you haven't learnt where all the knobs are. Just practice some more, but do read up the fundamentals so you understand why things fail and can make decisions at the time to avoid the problems.

Cheers,

[Thefirewitch]

Thank you so much for the detailed replies.
I have played with the camera settings from your advice above and last weekend I shot these of the band Europe:
http://www.zigsphotography.co.uk/pho...ope/index.html

I am still adjusting the settings from your advice and help here, thanks again.