08 June 2007

Nokia N95 against a consumer 5MP digicam!
Is it really 5 megapixels cam?

Addicted to taking pictures and comparing, I decided to put the Nokia N95 to the real test, against a real 5MP Consumer Digicam, the Sony F707.

Lets describe this Sony F707 Digicam. It is very very old as it came out in 2000 being one of the first 5MP cameras to come out. It was known for it's noisy real tiny sensor, and also oversharpening results. But for its time, it was a beauty as it sported a 10x optical zoom with constant light though the range.

I had to upload the images to Multiply, as Imageshack's limitation of 1.6Mb was preventing uploads.

To ensure I got the best shot I could possibly get with the N95, I set hardness to soft and Light sensitivity to low for these shots.

Let the battle begin

N95	N93	Sony F707
*click to enlarge

Now, from a first glance, we can immediately see that the N95 has still got some sort of warmth to it, possibly a minor amount of red tinting left still possibly. Sony F707 and the N93 seem to have a cooler colour temperature, which resembles closer to what we see with our eyes. Other than that all the images, seem pretty usable for 6x4 prints.

Now looking closer, the differences between the Sony and the N95 become more obvious. N95 is trying it's best to maintain detail but loses it to noise reduction. Sony here is revealing far more detail than the N95. N93, seems to be doing well here too, although lacking in megapixel, the detail it does resolve is very usable. Looking at the soil with moss on the left hand side of the picture, we can see Sony has decided it should be radio active and renders it bright green. Both N95 and N93 get closer to the real colour, which is considerably duller. N95 though turns the moss into some sort of mush, whereas both the Sony and the N93 show the moss to be clearly defined.

Here, we concentrate on what detail can be extracted from these images for large enlargements. It is clear that N95 is resolving no where close to the amount of information compared to the Sony, although both have the same resolution sensor. N93 showing the Audi lights, has failed here, and we really cannot distinguish whats in the headlamp. For the Mag wheel shot with shingle and plants, N95, seems to have gotten even worst, even the N93 manages to show detail on the mag wheel. Of course Sony wins overall with detail everywhere.

*click to enlarge

Now for a indoor Macro shot

N95	N93	Sony F707
*click to enlarge

This test will ultimately test for noise when we push these tiny sensors to the extreme.

Sony here really stands out. The red in the case is simply dynamic. N95 follows closely behind with water coloured render effect. N93, just does nothing with noise, and what you take is what you get, a super noisy result! In terms of Bokeh (background blur) there is no doubt that the Sony Cybershot is a clear winner. N95 comes in second, with N93 trailing very close behind N95. Although the N93 shot falls short from both the Sony and N95, the noise grain is somewhat more visually pleasing than the water coloured N95 picture. Sony here too has the softest image. Could this be caused by misfocus or it just could not lock on. Nether the less, some noise is visible on the Sony cybershots image, but it is no where as bad as the N95 or the N93 image.

A quick conclusion here, in my personal opinion shows that the old year 2000 model of 5MP camera still outclasses the latest cellphone camera N95 by a long shot. Sony seems to have their own colour algorithm they apply to their images resulting in punchy colours which are visually appealing. Although N95 may have fallen short here against one of the first 5MP cameras released by Sony, the N95 still holds its own, being a full multimedia device in a much more compact case. N93 here was just here to enjoy the ride, and definately shows, that it too can compete from time to time against cameras with larger Mega pixel when situations are ideal.

Hope everyone enjoys reading and viewing the pictures,
Mazor

SF Review: N95 vs. N93 vs. Canon 10D
Originally posted: 09.05.2007
Last Updated: 09.05.2007
Author: Bigley Ling (AKA Mazor)
Copyright: Symbian Freak 2007; all rights reserved