Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (RAW)

See previous page for RAW conversion notes.

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position. Lighting: daylight simulation, >98% CRI. Crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F). Camera settings as per previous pages.

Canon EOS 450D/Rebel XSi (RAW) vs. Olympus E-420

Canon EOS 450D (RAW)	Olympus E-420 (RAW)
3.7MB JPEG (4272 x 2848)	3,354 KB JPEG (3648 x 2736)

As we saw with the E-410 there's no resolution advantage to shooting raw with the E-420; the output is very similar to JPEGs (which is either a reflection of the quality of the E-420's JPEG engine or of the limitations of the sensor, depending on whether you're a 'glass half empty' or 'glass half full' kinda person). This means that although adding some unsharp masking will help to get rid of the slightly soft look there's no way you'll be able to get the levels of fine detail the EOS 450D is capturing.

Viewing at 100% exaggerates the differences in detail, though as usual the chances are you'd have to get very close to a fairly large print to see them in 'real life'.