Compared to... Samsung Digimax Pro815

Below you will find a studio comparison between the Kodak P880 and the Samsung Pro815 at ISO 400.

Studio scene comparison (@ ISO 400)

• Kodak EasyShare P880: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 400, Default Image Parameters, Manual white balance, +0.67 EV compensation
   
• Samsung Pro815 : Aperture Priority mode, ISO 400, Default Image Parameters, Manual white balance, +1.0 EV compensation
   
• Lighting: daylight simulation, >98% CRI.

Kodak EasyShare P880	Samsung Pro815
ISO 400, 1/322 sec, F5.0	ISO 400, 1/500 sec, F5.0
4,405 KB JPEG	3,470 KB JPEG

At ISO 400 the difference is surprising; where the noise reduction used by Kodak has obliterated a significant amount of fine detail, Samsung's more 'hands-off' approach to NR means the image looks a lot sharper, and retains a lot more fine detail. Again we have a perfect illustration of the challenge facing the designers of high pixel count, small sensor cameras; getting the balance between noise and detail loss right. It's also a good illustration of why we continue to campaign for better control over in-camera noise reduction so we, the users, can choose how much detail we're prepared to sacrifice to get cleaner looking results. Fortunately both cameras offer raw capture, meaning that - in theory at least - you can wrest some of that control back (more of which later).