Compared to the Nikon Coolpix 5700

The Nikon Coolpix 5700 was chosen as one of the cameras which is bound to be on the same 'potential list' as the DiMAGE 7Hi for many buyers. Both cameras feature a five megapixel 2/3" CCD sensor, the DiMAGE 7Hi has a mechanical 7x optical zoom lens (with a great 28 mm wide angle bottom end), the Coolpix 5700 has an electric 8x optical zoom lens. Here we'll be doing a direct head to head comparison with the Coolpix 5700 using our controlled studio scene.

Camera settings were:

• Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi: Saturation: 0, Contrast: 0, Color mode: Natural, Sharpness: Normal,
  Manual WB
  
• Nikon Coolpix 5700: Tone: Normal, Sharpening: Normal, Saturation: 0, NR Off, Manual WB

Studio scene comparison

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from the same tripod position. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. Crops magnified 200%.

Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi	Nikon Coolpix 5700
ISO 100, F5.6, 1/3 sec	ISO 100, F5.6, 1/3 sec
2,853 KB JPEG	1,512 KB JPEG

As you can see the 5700 produces more saturated color, smoother and less noisy mid-tones and better overall resolution. The DiMAGE 7Hi suffers from a loss of detail thanks to the mid-tone and shadow noise levels, it also clearly has a less mature (sophisticated?) de-mosaic algorithm which leads to a more pixelated appearance to details (such as the word 'SUNDAY' above). To its credit these differences would be hard to detect at monitor resolutions and prints up to 8x11.