Compared to...

Here we can compare, using results from our review archives, the colour reproduction and resolution of the Nikon Coolpix 5700 to three other five megapixel digital cameras: Minolta DiMAGE 7i, Sony DSC-F707 and Olympus E-20.

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.

Nikon Coolpix 5700	Minolta DiMAGE 7i
Sony DSC-F707	Olympus E-20

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.

As you can see the Coolpix 5700 has a very similar colour response (under natural light) to the other five megapixel cameras. Saturation levels are very similar as is the black point. Overall the 5700 provides a relatively neutral colour response which can be tweaked either way by the use of the saturation parameter.

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.
Nikon Coolpix 5700
Minolta DiMAGE 7i
Sony DSC-F707
Olympus E-20

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Definition of terms:

The Coolpix 5700 exhibits identical resolution to the Coolpix 5000. This places it just above the Minolta DiMAGE 7i but below the Olympus E-20 and Sony DSC-F707 (still resolution King of the 5 megapixel market sector). One thing that's clear from looking at the 5700's resolution chart is that Nikon's image processing produces much a more film-like look to the image with cleaner diagonals and less sharpening artifacts. Considering the 8x lens the resolution performance is impressive.