JPEG/TIFF Image Size & Quality


Standard Test Scene

The F707 has two JPEG compression levels which can be combined with a variety of image resolutions and JPEG FINE, JPEG STANDARD or TIFF image quality.

To give an impression of what some of the combinations of image size and quality produce the table below is a cross reference of some of them:

  • 2560 x 1920 TIFF
  • 2560 x 1920 FINE JPEG
  • 2560 x 1920 STANDARD JPEG
  • 2048 x 1536 FINE JPEG
  • 1280 x 960 FINE JPEG
  • 640 x 480 FINE JPEG

Images below are cropped 240 x 100 area of the image magnified 200% (nearest neighbour).


  		2560 x 1920
TIFF
14,403 KB (Not available for download)
JPEG
FINE
2,271 KB
JPEG
STD
1,239 KB
 

  		2048 x 1536
JPEG
FINE
1,364 KB
 

  		1280 x 960
JPEG
FINE
598 KB
 

  		640 x 480
JPEG
FINE
152 KB

Interesting to note that the TIFF image appears to be very slightly softer, or 'less processed'. Other than that there's little reason to use TIFF (unless you like the idea of using 14 MB a shot), JPEG Fine provides all the detail with little in the way of artifacts (JPEG at least - sharpening halos are clearly visible). JPEG Standard seemed to work quite well, very few artifacts and a good saving in storage space.

ISO (Sensitivity) Adjustment

ISO equivalence on a digital camera is the ability to increase the sensitivity of the CCD to allow for faster shutter speeds and/or better performance in low light. The way this works in a digital camera is by "turning up the volume" on the CCD's signal amplifier, nothing is without a price however and doing so also typically amplifies any noise that may be present and often affects colour saturation.

The F707 now features three selectable ISO sensitivities of 100, 200 and 400 as well as Auto mode which varies sensitivity between ISO 100 and 320 automatically depending on available light. Test images shot under both good and low light.

Good Light (9.3 EV) Low Light (2.4 EV)
ISO 100, 1/13 sec, F5.0 ISO 100, 3.0 sec, F2.8
ISO 200, 1/20 sec, F5.0 ISO 200, 1.6 sec, F2.8
ISO 400, 1/40 sec, F5.0 ISO 400, 1.0 sec, F2.8

Noise levels do on the whole seem to be very good, ISO 100 is relatively clean, there's just the hint of some noise there in the shadow, moving on to ISO 200 and 400 gradually increases the noise but never to distracting levels, interestingly the ISO 400 image looks decidedly less sharp than the ISO 100 image, that's probably down to the new 'Clear Color' noise reduction. The low light, long exposures came out very well, if a little soft.

Picture Effects

Interestingly Sony appear to have dropped the black and white picture effect, you now have a choice of three: Negative, Sepia and Solarize.

No picture effect Negative Art picture effect
Sepia picture effect Solarize picture effect