Compared to... (contd.)

Now we'll compare the DiMAGE 5 to a few other cameras from our test archives. Here we're comparing colour and resolution to the Nikon Coolpix 995, Sony DSC-S75 and Olympus C-3040Z.

Colour Chart Comparison

Colour charts are shot in daylight, Auto White Balance, EV compensation +0.3 (all cameras), measured light ~10 EV. This test is also dependent on the accuracy of the camera's auto white balance, the colour charts are shot in daylight but some camera's white balance is better than others. All cameras are given 20 seconds to "settle" before the shot is taken.

As per other samples in this review the DiMAGE 5 image has been converted to the sRGB colour space using the Minolta Image Viewer application [info].

Minolta DiMAGE 5 (Resaved as sRGB)	Nikon Coolpix 995
Sony DSC-S75	Olympus C-3040Z

As you can see the DiMAGE 5 does a fairly good job (after being run through the Image Viewer Utility), there is a slight blue cast which is an indication that the cameras auto white balance tends towards a 'cooler' setting under natural light. Also noticeable is that reds are a little pale compared to the other cameras.

In the table below we're only measuring colour. The RGB values were measured from a VGA reduced image (to average colours, remove noise and eliminate JPEG artifacts) using the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop with a 5 by 5 Average Sample Size.

Resolution Comparison

Shots here are of the PIMA/ISO 12233 standard resolution test chart (more of which are available in our comparison database). This resolution chart allows us to measure the actual performance of the lens and sensor system. It measures the ability of the camera to resolve lines at gradually higher resolutions and enables us to provide a definitive value for comparison purposes. Values on the chart are 1/100^th lines per picture height. So a value of 8 equates to 800 lines per picture height.

Studio light, cameras set to auto, all settings factory default. Exposure compensation +0.7 EV for all cameras.

Horizontal resolution	Vertical resolution	5 degree diagonal res.
Minolta DiMAGE 5
Nikon Coolpix 995
Sony DSC-S75
Olympus C-3040Z

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Definition of terms:

For absolute resolution the DiMAGE 5 fairs well, although it's not our highest resolution 3 megapixel to date. On the negative side the 5 exhibits fairly strong moiré colour interference from around 900 lines/picture height in both horizontal and vertical directions.