I need some help to work out what im doing or not doing wrong..

Got my canon 450D through so i thought id compare it to my 350D, and IMO the pictures arent as good but have a look and give me an opinion

Lens: EFS 55-250 IS with UV filter wound up to 250
Cameras both set to ISO 800, evaluative metering, auto white balance, auto focus and aperture, used a high ISO as the sun was going down.

Shots taken of my brothers air rifle target from a 1st storey window:

350D

Click for 8MP

450D

Click for 12MP

To me the 450D seems to over expose things and the colours look washed out, theres some picture style feature that seems to be another automatic bunch of settings but iv just left that in standard.

Im not sure myself, the exif data will be on flickr if its any help but is it just down to them being different cameras with automatics taking over? or am i doing something wrong?

Second photo seems a bit more focused, with a little less contrast? Tbh for a true test you want it indoors on a tripod so that you can ensure that the lighting remains the same, and swap the cameras around so that there is minimal movement.

I reckon both photos could be made to look identical, bar the focus, in post processing.

Maybe check the contrast setting on the camera, as I think there is a contrast option seperate to the white balance, ISO and everything else, maybe you changed it on the 350 and forgot, or if the 450 was second hand, it has been set differently to the 350?

Going off the exif info on flickr the 350D has some extra contrast, sharpening and saturation on it so that might explain why its giving better colours.  The other thing is that both pics dont use the same settings, the 350s at 1/30th and the 450s at 1/15th.

Looks like both photos are taken with Program mode, try it again using manual mode and as Zypder says try it with a tripod and maybe try it with one of the preset white balances, that was on auto and could be changing things a little.  I usually leave it on auto but to make sure everythings alright might be worth trying it.