Compared to...

Image Quality Comparison: 4mp vs. 5mp

So many people requested it that I just had to include a comparison of the Coolpix 5000 to Canon's PowerShot G2. The G2 may only be a four megapixel digital camera but it's fairly well recognized as the best (at the time of writing this review).

One thing that was interesting at the time of taking the comparison shots, I couldn't decide whether to shoot the G2 at it's (unusual) ISO 50 or at ISO 100. Upon shooting a test frame at ISO 50 it was noted that the exposure was virtually identical to the Coolpix 5000 at 'ISO 100'. The only conclusion one can draw is that the Coolpix 5000's ISO 100 is slightly lower than 100 and that the G2's ISO 50 is slightly higher than 50.

Lighting - 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. All cameras set to aperture priority and preset white balance (taken from a grey card). Aperture chosen produced optimum sharpness from all cameras. Crops below are 'blown up' 200%, apart from the last which is at 100%.

Nikon Coolpix 5000	Canon G2
ISO 100, F4.7, 1/3 sec	ISO 50, F5.0, 1/3 sec

While the G2 may have less pixels available it is clear that it is making 'more of them' thanks to a sharper lens and better image processing. The 'megapixel advantage' which the Coolpix 5000 carries doesn't appear to be producing very much visible (or usable) detail here.