Canon PowerShot G11 Review: 19. Compared to (Resolution): Digital Photography Review

Resolution Chart Comparison

The shots on this page are Adobe Camera Raw conversions of the shots used on the last page. By using a common RAW converter we aim to provide a (more) level playing field. Because we have had it confirmed that Adobe Camera RAW applies different levels of sharpening to different cameras we had to use the following workflow for these conversions:

Load RAW file into Adobe Camera RAW (Auto mode disabled)
Set Sharpness to 0 (all other settings default)
Open file to Photoshop
Apply a Unsharp mask: 80%, Radius 1.0, Threshold 0
Save as a TIFF (for cropping) and as a JPEG quality 11 for download

Studio light, cameras set to auto, settings all factory default. If possible aperture was selected for optimum sharpness. Exposure compensation +0.3 EV to +1.3 EV.

Canon PowerShot G11 (2.3 MB; 10 MP)	Panasonic DMC-LX3 (2.5 MB; 10 MP)


Panasonic DMC-GF1 (2.5 KB; 12 MP)	Canon PowerShot G10 (3.9 MB; 14.7 MP)

Resolution chart crops

Canon PowerShot G11	Panasonic DMC-LX3


Panasonic DMC-GF1	Canon PowerShot G10


Canon PowerShot G11	Panasonic DMC-LX3

Panasonic DMC-GF1	Canon PowerShot G10

Measurable findings

Camera	Measurement	Absolute resolution	Extinction resolution
Canon PowerShot G11	Horiz LPH	1950	* 2250
Canon PowerShot G11	Vert LPH	2000	* 2450
Panasonic LX3	Horiz LPH	1900	* 2400
Panasonic LX3	Vert LPH	1850	* 3200
Panasonic GF1	Horizl LPH	2450	3500
Panasonic GF1	Vert LPH	2400	3400
Canon PowerShot G10	Horiz LPH	2550	* 3150
Canon PowerShot G10	Vert LPH	2500	* 3150

*	Moiré is visible
#	Jagged diagonals
+	Chart maximum
LPH	Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)
Absolute res.	Point at which all lines of a resolution bar are still visible and defined, beyond this resolution loss of detail occurs (below Nyquist frequency).
Extinction res.	Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes aliased)
n/a	Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)
n/v	Not Visible (not visible on test results)

Interestingly, when processing from RAW, the difference between the LX3 and the G11 disappears, suggesting that the Panasonic's JPEG processing is better able to render resolution test charts. Overall, the G11 does perfectly well for a 10MP camera but of course it can't match the 14.7MP G10 at the thing it does best - low ISO resolution.

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