Compared to...

Here we can compare, using results from our review archives, the colour reproduction and resolution of the Coolpix 5000 to three other five megapixel digital cameras: Sony DSC-F707, Minolta DiMAGE 7 and Olympus E-20.

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.

Nikon Coolpix 5000	Sony DSC-F707
Olympus E-20	Minolta DiMAGE 7 (converted to sRGB)

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.

The Coolpix 5000 did very well for both white balance (the greys are really grey) and colour balance. The great thing about the Coolpix 5000 is that you do have control over colour saturation so if these colours appear slightly too saturated you can simply choose saturation -1 or -2. Kudos.

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.
Nikon Coolpix 5000
Sony DSC-F707
Olympus E-20
Minolta DiMAGE 7

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Definition of terms:

The Coolpix 5000 has roughly the same horizontal resolution as the Olympus E-20 and similar vertical resolution to the Minolta DiMAGE 7. The Sony DSC-F707 maintains its crown for five megapixel resolution. One thing the 5000 did manage better than the others was resolving the 5 degree resolution lines without introducing any artifacts.