Compared to... (Sony DSC-F828)

Here we will compare the S7000 to the only other prosumer digital camera with a sensor of six million pixels or more, the Sony DSC-F828. Exposure compensation was applied to equalize the tonal balance of the image between each camera (because of differences of metering and tone curve).

Note that the S7000's lowest sensitivity is ISO 200, clearly this is significantly higher than the F828's ISO 64, however in these comparisons we're always trying to compare the best available from each camera.

Exposure compensation was applied to equalize the tonal balance of the image between each camera (because of differences of metering and tone curve).

Studio scene comparison (S7000 @ 12 MP)

• Fujifilm FinePix S7000: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 200, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, JPEG 12 MP (4048 x 3040) / Fine
   
• Sony DSC-F828: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 64, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, JPEG 8 MP (3264 x 2448) / Fine, +0.7 EV compensation
   
• Lighting: Two 800W studio lamps with dichroic daylight filters bounced off the ceiling

Fujifilm FinePix S7000 (12 MP)	Sony DSC-F828
ISO 200, 1/5 sec, F5.0	ISO 64, 1/2 sec, F5.0
4,542 KB JPEG (12 MP)	3,488 KB JPEG (8 MP)

The first thing we must make special note of was that our S7000 appears to have some kind of lens softness / distortion issue on the left side of the frame at this particular focal length / subject distance combination. I went back and re-shot the image several times, even with different apertures and it didn't improve.

So ignoring the first three crops the DSC-F828's eight megapixel sensor is definitely capturing and the camera is rendering more detail than the S7000's six megapixel sensor. The S7000 image also has that grainy speckled appearance we've come to associate with SuperCCD (not particularly attractive).

Studio scene comparison (S7000 @ 6 MP)

• Fujifilm FinePix S7000: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 200, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, JPEG 12 MP (2848 x 2136) / Fine
   
  
• Sony DSC-F828: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 64, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, JPEG 8 MP (3264 x 2448) / Fine, +0.7 EV compensation
   
• Lighting: Two 800W studio lamps with dichroic daylight filters bounced off the ceiling

Fujifilm FinePix S7000 (6 MP)	Sony DSC-F828
ISO 200, 1/5 sec, F5.0	ISO 64, 1/2 sec, F5.0
1,633 KB JPEG (6 MP)	3,488 KB JPEG (8 MP)

Shifting the S7000 down to its six megapixel output image size we remove most of the grainy artifacts seen in the twelve megapixel image and are left with something much more comparable to the Sony image. Overall though I would say that the DSC-F828 still keeps its lead for absolute detail rendered and image clarity. The one thing of course to remember here is that the S7000 image was shot at a sensitivity of ISO 200, the DSC-F828's image at ISO 200 would be quite a bit noisier.

Compared to the Minolta DiMAGE A1

You can also see a direct comparison of the S7000 to the Minolta DiMAGE A1 in its review.