Sony MVC-CD200 Review: 15. Compared to...: Digital Photography Review

Compared to... (contd.)

Colour Chart Comparison

Now we can compare the CD200 to a couple of other cameras, using samples from our test archives we will now compare its image quality to the Olympus C-2020Z, Canon PowerShot S10 and Nikon Coolpix 950.

Colour charts are shot in daylight, Auto White Balance, EV compensation +0.3 (all cameras), measured light ~10 EV.


Sony MVC-CD200	Nikon Coolpix 950

Olympus C-2020Z	Canon PowerShot S10

Obviously the CD200's auto white balance had real problems here, despite being taken in exactly the same position with the same light source as the other cameras.

We're only measuring colour here. RGB values below were taken from a VGA reduced image (to average colours and eliminate JPEG artifacts) using the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop with a 5 by 5 Average Sample Size.

	Sony MVC-CD200	Nikon Coolpix 950	Olympus C-2020Z	Canon PowerShot S10
Patch White	184,198,196	198,198,198	197,200,200	209,213,220
Patch White
Middle Gray	86,98,102	105,108,108	97,101,107	112,111,128
Middle Gray
Patch Red	192,7,23	215,31,41	211,27,39	173,40,54
Patch Red
Patch Green	0,164,37	0,148,67	0,140,61	58,137,96
Patch Green
Patch Blue	57,31,148	57,51,132	43,44,139	43,50,108
Patch Blue

Ignoring the slight green cast it's obvious that the CD200's colours are stronger and cleaner than those found on these similar 2 megapixel digital cameras. Overall excellent performance (if only the auto white balance had worked properly).

Red Channel Noise

Something we've commented on previously is noise in the red colour channel in what should be pure blues. 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.

As we'd expected the CD200 does well, indeed most 2 megapixel digital cameras seem to perform better in this test than their 3 megapixel counterparts.

Resolution Comparison

Shots here are of the PIMA/ISO 12233 standard resolution test chart (more available for comparison in our comparison database). Studio light, cameras set to auto, Exposure compensation +0.7 EV for all cameras. How to read the charts: All values are 1/100 th lines/picture height/width. So the "10" value equates to 1000.


Sony MVC-CD200

Nikon Coolpix 950

Olympus C-2020Z

Canon PowerShot S10

Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Camera	Measurement	Absolute Res.	Extinction Res.
Sony MVC-CD200	Horiz LPH *	850	1050
	Vert LPH	850	1050
	5° Diagonal LPH	800	900
Nikon Coolpix 950	Horiz LPH	750	1050
	Vert LPH	750	1050
	5° Diagonal LPH	800	n/a
Olympus C-2020Z	Horiz LPH *	800	1100
	Vert LPH	700	1050
	5° Diagonal LPH	900	1000
Canon PowerShot S10	Horiz LPH	850	1150
	Vert LPH	850	1100
	5° Diagonal LPH	700	n/a

Definition of terms:

LPH	Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)
5^o Diagonal	Lines set at 5^o diagonal
Absolute Resolution	Still defined detail (below Nyquist frequency*)
Extinction Resolution	Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes a solid gray alias)
n/a	Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)
n/v	Not Visible (not visible on test results)

* Nyquist frequency defined as the highest spatial frequency where the CCD can still faithfully record
image detail. Beyond the Nyquist frequency aliasing occurs.

A good performance and about what we'd expect of a "second generation" 2 megpixel digital camera, performance is up there with the highest we've tested (the Canon Powershot S10), combine that with the excellent colour reproduction and the CD200 is beginning to look like the best 2 megapixel we've seen so far (for image quality).

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