Compared to... (contd.)

Colour Chart Comparison

Now we can compare the Coolpix 995 to a few of other cameras. Using samples from our test archives, we will now compare its image quality to the Nikon Coolpix 990, Canon PowerShot G1 and Olympus C-3040Z.

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.

Nikon Coolpix 995	Nikon Coolpix 990
Canon PowerShot G1	Olympus C-3040Z

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.

Overall the 995 does well, colours are strong and slightly "purer" than the 990. It is only really let down by a slightly weak blue (something you could easily correct in Photoshop with a selective colour saturation increase). Don't forget also that you can boost colour on the 995 by setting the saturation adjustment value to +1.

Kodak Q60 target - Coolpix 995 vs. Coolpix 990

Below you'll see Kodak's Q60 colour target shot with the Coolpix 995, if you roll your mouse over it it will be replaced by the same chart shot with the Coolpix 990. This makes visualising the difference in colour reproduction between the two cameras far easier. (Ignore the slight distortion, this is due to pincushion at the slightly different focal lengths).

Roll mouse over image above to see Coolpix 990 Q60 Click here to download full Coolpix 995 Q60 (1,041 KB) Click here to download full Coolpix 990 Q60 (1,236 KB)

Red Channel Noise

Something we noticed early on with the current crop of 3 megapixel cameras was a certain amount of noise in the red channel. This was most visible in the light blue of skies or painted walls. Our colour patch test chart turned out to be a good "leveller" and a way to measure the performance of one camera to the next.

The samples below are of 40 x 40 blocks cropped from the colour comparison charts above of the Blue and Cyan patches. Each block is then broken down into it's red green and blue channels and reflected as such directly below.

Things are definetly improved, noise is still visible in the red channel of both patches (dark and light blue), however it's 'different' and this makes it less noticeable than the 990. Again, this supports what we saw from the surprisingly clean ISO 100 and 200 test images earlier in the review. Looks like 'noisy sky syndrome' won't be as much of a problem for the Coolpix 995.

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. Sharpening set to 'Normal' for 995 & 990.

Nikon Coolpix 995
Nikon Coolpix 990
Canon PowerShot G1
Olympus C-3040Z

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Definition of terms:

As expected the 995 performs virtually identically to its older brother the 990 (although the 990 does look slightly sharper). If anything moiré is more visible and the corners of the frame are softer with the 995.