An In-Depth Look at 4 Ultra-compact Digicams
by Stephen Caston on July 18, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Color Reproduction
* For all of our color tests, we reset all 4 cameras to their factory default settings. They were then set to record using the highest image quality option. All images are sRGB.With each camera, we took a picture of our color chart using each of the following WB settings: Auto, Incandescent, and Manual. Click on a thumbnail below to view the full-size image.
Incandescent
| Auto WB | Incandescent WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon SD400 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Nikon S1 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Olympus IR-300 |  Click to enlarge. |
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N/A |
| Sony DSC-T33 |  Click to enlarge. |
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N/A |
 Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Incandescent WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon SD400 |  |
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| Nikon S1 |  |
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| Olympus IR-300 |  |
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N/A |
| Sony DSC-T33 |  |
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N/A |
Under tungsten light, we found that all three cameras show a moderately strong yellowish cast with Auto WB. The Sony DSC-T33 produced the brightest and most saturated colors of the bunch. When we set the cameras to Incandescent WB, all the cameras show a dramatic improvement over their performance with Auto WB. However, the Canon SD400 is, by far, the most accurate. In fact, we measured the exact same RGB values with both the Incandescent and Manual settings. The Canon SD400 and Nikon S1 are the only cameras with the advantage of a Manual WB option, which provides extremely accurate color reproduction.
Daylight
* NOTE: Distortion seen in some of these samples is not barrel distortion caused by the lens. During our testing, the heat from the sun started to warp our color chart creating the illusion of barrel distortion.| Auto WB | Daylight WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon SD400 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Nikon S1 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Olympus IR-300 |  Click to enlarge. |
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N/A |
| Sony DSC-T33 |  Click to enlarge. |
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N/A |
| Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Daylight WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon SD400 |  |
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| Nikon S1 |  |
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| Olympus IR-300 |  |
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N/A |
| Sony DSC-T33 |  |
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N/A |
As with most of the cameras that we test, all four cameras generally did a very good job reproducing accurate colors under direct sunlight. However, there are a couple of things to note here. We found that the Sony DSC-T33 produced the brightest results. The Olympus IR-300 showed a very slight yellowish color cast when set to Daylight WB. Overall, we are very impressed with the results of all four cameras when set to Auto WB in direct sunlight.
Built-in Flash
For the flash test, we set all cameras to Auto mode w/Auto flash. The pictures were taken from 5 feet away.| Canon SD400 |  Click to enlarge. |
| Nikon S1 |  Click to enlarge. |
| Olympus IR-300 |  Click to enlarge. |
| Sony DSC-T33 |  Click to enlarge. |
It is obvious from the samples above that the Sony DSC-T33 produces images with significantly warmer skin tones than the other three cameras when using the built-in flash. Although the Nikon S1 appears cool in comparison to the other cameras, it actually produces the most accurate white (wall). The skin tone from the Canon SD400 is the closest to being accurate. However, this isn't very easy to see because of the underexposure. We found the Olympus IR-300 to have the strongest color cast (yellow-orange) out of the bunch.
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R3MF - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
< owns a panasonic fx8, and loves it.sciwizam - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Nice, I just ordered a SD400 yesterday!bigpow - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Panasonic FX7 >> Canon SD400 & it's cheaperFricardo - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Heh. Just a day or two after I asked for an SD400 review you guys come up with this. Thanks.astralusion - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
excellent review...i'd been waiting for a full sd400 review, also just wanted to say that your selection of Duke for your sample pictures was an excellent choice.UNCjigga - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
As a long-time Canon customer, no surprise here. Right now, Canon makes the best consumer-level digicams period. Sony may be close to catching up, and Nikon may have been the shizznit a few years ago, but right now Canon has a considerable lead.I really want to get the SD400...but I'm wondering if I should hold out for a newer Canon with wifi.
Johnmcl7 - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
I've been really impressed with Canon's pocket cameras, I bought their Ixus 500 (the European version of the SD500 I think) as I wanted a camera I could keep in my pocket and have with me all the time, as much as I like my big Fuji it's simply to o big to carry over my shoulder all the time. It's great it takes CF cards, so it can share with the Fuji plus it doesn't leave me regretting too much that I didn't take the Fuji.The build quality does feel good but it's really let me down recently, there's a little bit of plastic which broke on the door which holds the memory card door shut, so the camera has had to go back for repair - really missed having it to hand while out at the weekend, looking forward to getting it back.
John
blwest - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
#4 both of those cameras suck more than the Olympus and would thus be a waste of time to review. A piece of %$@#$ is a piece of @#$#@.cheesus - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
I agree -- great review. However, I was a bit disappointed to see that the Panasonic FX-7 was left out of the review. It's a similarly-priced 5MP ultracompact that has some of the best resolution and color reproduction I've seen. Also comes with optical image stabilization, which i can't say for the other cameras here. I understand that you can't review every ultracompact, but I think the FX-7 beats the SD400 in terms of image quality any day.Larso - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Yes, great review. But it fails to recognize one weakness with the Canon SD400, that sharpness is lacking in the corners of the image (at wideangle).I decided to buy the camera anyway because of its excellent performance and nice case, and I'm extremely happy with it!