Sony DSC-P5 Review: 14. Compared to...: Digital Photography Review

Compared to... (contd.)

Now we'll compare the DSC-P5 to a few other cameras from our test archives. Here we're comparing colour and resolution to the Sony DSC-P1, Nikon Coolpix 880 and Kyocera Finecam S3.

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.


Sony DSC-P5	Sony DSC-P1

Nikon Coolpix 880	Kyocera Finecam S3

There's very little difference in colour reproduction between last years DSC-P1 and this years DSC-P5, and that's not to the new cameras detriment, the P1 did have good accurate yet vivid colour.

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.

	Sony DSC-P5	Sony DSC-P1	Nikon Coolpix 880	Kyocera Finecam S3
White	197,201,197	180,187,189	204,204,205	237,235,219
White
Middle Gray	93,98,99	95,102,106	117,117,118	140,142,134
Middle Gray
Red	173,18,35	175,22,33	210,35,45	232,74,47
Red
Green	26,142,59	30,140,64	0,158,83	45,187,79
Green
Blue	38,27,122	45,30,126	66,40,107	78,63,150
Blue

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.

Sony DSC-P5

Sony DSC-P1

Nikon Coolpix 880

Kyocera Finecam S3

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Camera	Measurement	Absolute Res.	Extinction Res.
Sony DSC-P5	Horiz LPH	1000	1350
	Vert LPH	1000	1400
	5^o Diagonal LPH	1000	n/a
Sony DSC-P1	Horiz LPH	1000	1350
	Vert LPH	1000	1450
	5^o Diagonal LPH	1000	n/a
Nikon Coolpix 880	Horiz LPH	900	1300
	Vert LPH	900	1400
	5^o Diagonal LPH	900	n/a
Kyocera Finecam S3	Horiz LPH	820	1100
	Vert LPH	820	1050
	5^o Diagonal LPH	800	1000

* Moiré is visible

Definition of terms:

LPH	Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)
5^o Diagonal	Lines set at 5^o diagonal
Absolute Resolution	Still defined detail (below Nyquist frequency*)
Extinction Resolution	Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes a solid gray alias)
n/a	Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)
n/v	Not Visible (not visible on test results)

* Nyquist frequency defined as the highest spatial frequency where the CCD can still faithfully record
image detail. Beyond the Nyquist frequency aliasing occurs.

Unsurprisingly identical results to the DSC-P1, luckily we were close enough to the resolution chart not to need to use the telephoto end of zoom as that would almost definetly have had a detrimental effect on resolution (see my comments earlier in the review). Resolution measures up well to the competition.

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