Compact Camera High ISO modes contd.

So are compact camera high ISO modes that bad?

In a word, yes. Though of course as with everything it depends what you are intending to do with the images and what your expectations are. There is also, inevitably, some variation between models and sensors. More importantly there is a lot of difference between the noise reduction systems used - both in terms of effectiveness at removing noise and in the visual impact on the final image. For the more serious/experienced user low noise reduction (which leaves a grainy, but more detailed image) is preferable to heavy in-camera noise reduction as it allows you to apply your own noise reduction as you see fit. The same applies to shooting in Raw mode (an increasingly uncommon option on compact cameras).

Compact camera image quality starts to drop as soon as you change the ISO from its base (minimum) setting. By ISO 400 - almost without exception - noise and noise reduction artefacts have started to have a destructive effect on all low contrast detail (anything from hair to grass to leaves on trees and texture on fabric). At higher ISO settings (ISO 800 plus) the loss of detail - and highly visible noise - means that these modes simply cannot be used for serious photography unless you are prepared to accept some pretty major compromises.

Examples of compact camera HIgh ISO modes

Below (and on the following page) are some crops from a variety of recent compact cameras at various ISO settings. For comparison we've included a digital SLR (the Canon EOS 30D chosen only because we've got ISO 800-3200 studio shots from it) for reference. The 30D is fairly representative of all Canon's current non-professional DSLR's, noise-wise (other manufacturers have slightly different noise characteristics, but this is simply here as a benchmark to compare the compacts to).

We've also included the Fuji FinePix F30 (currently the best high ISO compact camera - though it too is guilty of 'going too far' at ISO 3200). All the crops below are shown at 100% (actual pixels).

ISO 800 compared

Canon EOS 30D SLR (8MP)	Fujifilm FinePix F30 (6MP)
Canon PowerShot S3 IS (6MP)	Panasonic FX01 (6MP) Pixel binned
Sony DSC-H5 (7MP)	Samsung NV7 OPS (7MP)
Ricoh GR-Digital (8MP)	Panasonic LX2 (8MP)
Olympus Mju 750 (7MP)	Olympus Mju 800 (8MP) Pixel binned