The Hunt for the Best Ultra-Compact Camera
by Stephen Caston on October 5, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Color Reproduction
* For all of our color tests, we reset the cameras to their factory default settings. They were then set to record using the highest image quality option with auto exposure.Tungsten WB
We took a picture of our color chart using each of the following WB settings: Auto, Tungsten, and Manual. Click on a thumbnail below to view the full-size image.| Auto WB | Tungsten WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon S410 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Casio Z40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Pentax S40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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 Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Tungsten WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon S410 |  |
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| Casio Z40 |  |
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| Pentax S40 |  |
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The Z40 shows a remarkably accurate performance with the Auto WB setting. As you can see, both the S410 and the S40 produce the color chart with a yellowish cast. Another thing to notice is that the S40 has slightly underexposed the chart. When the cameras are set to Tungsten WB, the results are much better. The Canon S410 produces very accurate and well-saturated colors. While the Casio Z40 shows accurate colors, the chart is a little overexposed. The Pentax S40 appears to have a slightly cool (blue) cast in addition to being underexposed. With the cameras set to Manual WB, the Canon and the Casio are very accurate, while the Pentax has a cool cast again. This time, both the Casio Z40 and the Pentax S40 have underexposed the chart.
Daylight WB
We took a picture of our color chart using each of the following WB settings: Auto, Daylight/Sunlight, and Manual. Click on a thumbnail below to view the full-size image.| Auto WB | Daylight WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon S410 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Casio Z40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Pentax S40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Daylight WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon S410 |  |
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| Casio Z40 |  |
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| Pentax S40 |  |
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In daylight, all three cameras did a pretty good job producing accurate color with their Auto WB settings. That being said, the Canon S410 shows the best exposure. The Casio Z40 has slightly overexposed its chart while the Pentax S40 has slightly underexposed its chart. Also, the Casio Z40 appears to have a very slight bluish cast. It's the same story when the cameras are set to Daylight/Sunlight WB. The Canon and the Pentax produce very accurate colors and the Casio is slightly cooler. As you would expect, all three cameras show accurate color reproduction when set to Manual WB. The only real difference is in the exposure: the Casio is the lightest and the Pentax, the darkest.
Overall, all three of these cameras did well. We were really impressed with the Casio's Auto WB performance in tungsten light. It would have been the clear winner if not for its tendency to slightly overexpose the charts with a slightly bluish cast. The Pentax S40 did a good job as well. The main problem that we had was with its tendency to underexpose the charts (particularly under tungsten light). In the end, we think that the Canon S410 shows the best performance. Although it shows the typical yellowish-cast in tungsten lighting with Auto WB, in every other test, the S410 reproduced the color chart with bright, accurate, and well-saturated colors.
Studio Shot
In this shot, we tested each camera's ability to reproduce colors in our studio shot using different WB settings with tungsten light. This provides an easier way to see the differences between the different settings. The cameras were set to Auto w/out flash.| Auto WB | Tungsten WB | Manual WB | |
| Canon S410 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Casio Z40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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| Pentax S40 |  Click to enlarge. |
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It is clear that the Casio has the best Auto WB ability. However, in the manual WB shot, you can see the bluish cast quite clearly. In our studio shot, it appears that the Canon S410 has slightly underexposed its images while the Pentax S40 shows a good exposure. This is the opposite of what we saw in our color charts.
Built-in Flash
For the flash test, we set all cameras to Auto mode w/Auto flash. The picture was taken from 5 feet away.| Canon S410 | Casio Z40 | Pentax S40 |
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Our flash test revealed that the Casio Z40 has the best performance. The Canon S410 produced fairly accurate skin tones, but underexposed the shot. The Pentax S40 overexposed the image with a slight bluish cast. Overall, the Casio shows a good skin tone and exposure.
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14 Comments
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stephencaston - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
#11: For the continuous drive section of the specs, we use the results of our test. Canon is rated at 2.5 fps, but we found that in the highest resolution and SuperFine mode, we were able to take 3 shots at 2.8 fps.Thanks, I'll add a little note in the specs table.
flexy - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
i love my S230 with its 640x480 video capability. Believe me, once you get started with vids and a good editing program like Vegas you wont get back and pics are only the bonus :) And all that fun with such a tiny cam :)I consider the picture quality/optics of the Canon Powershots "ok" - if you consider it's a shoot and point and not a SLR with hyper-great image quality/zoom etc.
Its picture quality is 'overall good' - a great allround camera with nice features (esp. the vids :). I would prefer my S230 (or newer) any time over a big/bulky camera.
Pros:
nice 640x480 vids
IQ good for a point/shoot
size
stylish
Cons:
weak zoom
xand - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
Also, the continous drive information for the cannon in the specifications table is wrong.xand - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
The "best pictures" of this lot of cameras are almost a given; the S410 has a sensor of the same generation with an area of 38.2mm(1/1.8"), as compared to the others, which have 24.7mm (1/2.5") sensors.What would be more interesting would be a comparison of newer cameras by major manufacturers; generally they now all come with 1/2.5" sensors, including the new canons.
stephencaston - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
#8, Unfortunately, we were limited by which cameras we could choose and the S4i was unavailable at the time. However, we feel that the S40 is comparable to the other two cameras with respect to exposure options, size, etc. The S4i would have been a good option and we would have included it if it was available.rliao - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
How come the S4i wasn't reviewed? Isn't it more of an appropriate comparison?SleepNoMore - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
I looked at the Canon S series - they are very nice - almost bought one - THEN I found the Pentax Optio 33WR (now it's upgraded to 4 MP and called the Optio 43WR).It's WONDERFUL.
First of all, it's highly water resistant, has gaskets all through it.
Has about 13 programmed modes but I never need them really I just point and shoot and things look great. White balance is always right on.
Panorama/stitch modes, close-up modes, etc.
Takes SD cards.
Quicktime movies are a bit cheesy (320 X 160) it's more the sound I have issues with than anything but most of the time it's acceptable.
I'm guessing the Pentax 43WR goes for around 280 bucks - havent checked lately.
If you want a camera you can take skiing, snowboarding, to the beach or stand out in the rain without worrying about damage to the electronics, this is the one. It's also not gooney looking (i.e. bright yellow etc) like some other water resistant cameras.
stephencaston - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
#5 thanks, I have fixed the mistakeGumbico - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
Actually, the S410 only allows 3 mins of vid time. That's my only gripe about this camera.TheAudit - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
I have the Canon and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve never been one to read through a manual and this camera was easy enough to figure out so I did not have to do so. I am always surprised at how crisp the pictures are. Of course, I am not a professional photographer but this camera provides everything that I want in a camera – good pictures and small size because I hate carrying stuff around.