Compared to...

Studio scene comparison

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within minutes of each other. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. Crops magnified 200%.

Sigma SD10 vs. Canon EOS 10D

On this and the next two pages you will find three comparisons between the Sigma SD10 and Canon EOS 10D. We chose the EOS 10D as the 'current best' six megapixel digital SLR (with a traditional Bayer pattern sensor). Because of the large difference in output image size between the two cameras and the way they capture data we are providing these different comparison sets:

• Sigma SD10 vs. Canon EOS 10D - native output sizes
• Sigma SD10 vs. Canon EOS 10D (2286 x 1512) - downsampled EOS 10D image
• Sigma SD10 (3072 x 2048) vs. Canon EOS 10D - upsampled SD10 image

Downsampled EOS 10D image (2268 x 1512)

In the comparison below the EOS 10D image was downsampled to the same pixel dimensions as the SD10 image using the 'image size' option in Adobe Photoshop CS, this was then saved as a Quality 11 JPEG.

Camera settings:

• Sigma SD10: Sigma 50 mm F2.8, Aperture Priority, ISO 100, JPEG Large/Fine,
  Manual WB, Default Photo Pro 2.0 settings
   
• Canon EOS 10D: Canon EF 50 mm F1.4, Aperture Priority, ISO 100, JPEG Large/Fine,
  Manual WB, Default Parameters

Sigma SD10 (2268 x 1512)	Canon EOS 10D (2268 x 1512)
ISO 100, 1 sec, F10	ISO 100, 1 sec, F10
2,427 KB JPEG	1,053 KB JPEG

Downsampling the EOS 10D image so that it's the same size as the SD10 produces an interesting result, and image almost as sharp as the SD10 image but far easier to compare side by side. Again the SD10 appears to have the edge, certainly in sharpness and a lack of sharpening artifacts, although there really is very little between the two. In this scenario each output pixel of the EOS 10D image is actually made up of 1.8 input pixels.