Compared to the Canon PowerShot G2

There are several reasons to compare the F707 to Canon's new 4 megapixel PowerShot G2: it's an interesting comparison of 4 vs. 5 megapixels, several people have asked for this comparison, I don't have another 5 megapixel digital camera at hand.

Scene comparison

Cameras were reset to factory defaults. Aperture priority was used on both cameras to use an aperture of F5.6 (or as close as possible), ISO 100, various exposures were taken and the two with the closest balance (histogram) were selected. White balance was set to Manual Preset. Lighting - 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector.

Sony DSC-F707 (production)	Canon PowerShot G2 (production)
ISO 100, F4.0, 1/6 sec, JPEG FINE 2,132 KB	ISO 50, F4.0, 1/6 sec, JPEG Super-FINE 1,741 KB

The first thing to note is that although both cameras shot the same exposure (1/6 sec, F4.0) the G2 was set to ISO 50, the F707 set to ISO 100... It goes to show the wide variation in what one manufacturer alls 'ISO 100 equiv.' or 'ISO 50 equiv.' The G2's ISO 50 is probably in reality higher than the quoted figure and that the F707's ISO 100 is lower.

It's easy to see that the F707 has more pixels at its disposal and therefore has the ability to pull out the finer details that the G2 can't see (the angled lines on the Martini label for example). But that the G2 does produce a sharper more 'defined' image which can at least give the F707 a run for its money (and even be better for some details).

Here we can also see the F707 falling foul of its overexposed reds, while the G2 isn't perfect either in this respect its colours certainly seem more evenly balanced than the F707.