Canon Digital Ixus / S100 Review: 10. Image Quality: Digital Photography Review

Compared to Nikon Coolpix 950, Olympus C-2020Z, Canon PowerShot S10

In all my reviews I try to present a comparison with other digicams. In these sets of sample images all the cameras were setup in exactly the same manner, had the same subjects, lighting and camera settings (as close as possible). Other Resolution charts and Colour patches now available through the camera comparison database. These three cameras were chosen as they are all 2.1mp (1600 x 1200).

Colour Comparison

Shot in daylight, Auto White Balance, EV compensation +0.3 (all cameras).


Canon Digital IXUS (PowerShot S100)	Canon PowerShot S10

Nikon Coolpix 950	Olympus C-2020Z

Nikon and Olympus still piping Canon to the post for white balance and colour saturation, both the Digital IXUS and S10 images have fairly good white balance but noticeably less saturated colours.

We're only measuring colour here. RGB values below were taken from a VGA reduced image (to average colours and eliminate JPEG artifacts) using the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop with a 5 by 5 dropper average. (Red, Green, Blue)

	Canon Digital IXUS	Canon PowerShot S10	Nikon Coolpix 950	Olympus C-2020Z
Patch White	197,201,206	209,213,220	198,198,198	197,200,200
Patch White
Middle Gray	84,85,96	112,111,128	105,108,108	97,101,107
Middle Gray
Patch Red	135,18,29	173,40,54	215,31,41	211,27,39
Patch Red
Patch Green	30,123,50	58,137,96	0,148,67	0,140,61
Patch Green
Patch Blue	27,37,83	43,50,108	57,51,132	43,44,139
Patch Blue

Resolution Comparison

Shots here are of the PIMA/ISO 12233 standard resolution test chart (more available for comparison in our comparison database). Studio light, cameras set to Auto, Exposure compensation +0.7 EV for all cameras. How to read the charts: All values are 1/100th lines per picture height. So the "10" value equates to 1000.


Canon Digital IXUS (PowerShot 100 Digital Elph)

Canon PowerShot S10

Nikon Coolpix 950

Olympus C-2020Z

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Camera	Measurement	Absolute Res.	Extinction Res.
Canon Digital IXUS (PowerShot S100)	Horiz LPH	750	1050
	Vert LPH	750	1000
	5^o Diagonal	700	1000
Canon PowerShot S10	Horiz LPH	850	1150
	Vert LPH	850	1100
	5^o Diagonal LPH	700	n/a
Nikon Coolpix 950	Horiz LPH	750	1050
	Vert LPH	750	1050
	5^o Diagonal LPH	800	n/a
Olympus C-2020Z	Horiz LPH	800	1100
	Vert LPH	700	1050
	5^o Diagonal LPH	900	1000

Definition of terms:

LPH	Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)
5^o Diagonal	Lines set at 5^o diagonal
Absolute Resolution	Still defined detail (below Nyquist frequency*)
Extinction Resolution	Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes a solid gray alias)
n/a	Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)
n/v	Not Visible (not visible on test results)

* Nyquist frequency defined as the highest spatial frequency where the CCD can still faithfully record
image detail. Beyond the Nyquist frequency aliasing occurs.

So the Digital IXUS doesn't have the amazing sharpness and resolution of it's older brother the S10, though it's fairly comparable to the Nikon Coolpix 950 / Olympus C-2020Z of last year.

Flat area noise

The samples above are of 50 x 50 blocks cropped from the colour comparison charts above of the Medium gray patch (marked 'M'), each block is then broken down into it's red green and blue channels and reflected as such directly below.

The Digital IXUS exhibits some "speckling" of noise on what should be a flat gray block, note how much better the S10 performs. These interesting results could be related to (a) smaller CCD in the Digital IXUS and (b) switch from the CYGM colour filer array of the S10 to an GRGB colour filter array in the Digital IXUS.

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