ISO 400 Comparisons of Z Series & Other Cameras

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by ac.smith

...I hope you have the time at some point to do an ISO 400 and ISO 800 comparison between your Z712 and your Z1012 using a controlled scene as you're one few in this community that have the capability to run this comparison...

Thanks, A.C. I've been working on just that sort of thing since last November. It'll appear eventually, but don't hold your breath.

Alan T
(Harassed house-husband retiree & father of a teenager still at home).

[Mark1616]

Originally Posted by Alan T

But, as you say, if we're looking at image quality, a 100%, 1:1, pixel for pixel clip is what we need.

The other thing as well is not to apply USM for image quality comparison when working at 100%, this will increase the visibility of noise etc and the viewer can play with sharpening to get their own settings tested.

Taking this shot as an example, it looks amazing when resized but when we go to a 100% crop then you can see the noise and slight softness.

[ac.smith]

Originally Posted by Alan T

As you may have noticed, several folk we know to be excellent photographers here for many years have recently been posting images that look less than sharp as viewed on my screen, at least.

I'll share an observation that may be a factor for some. At some point, about 18 mo. ago (after a patch) IE 6 quit downloading images at full file size. When I attempt to save image 101_0029.jpg from Steve's Z1012 sample photos the downloaded file is 973KB rather than the listed 3915.04KB. This obviously plays havoc when trying to do comparisons or 100% evaluations. The IE7 on my home machine downloads at full file size and all the images above were downloaded/edited using that machine. I have also noticed visible anomalies on images linked from flickr etc. One day they will visible artifacts suggesting either way over sharpened or having been excessively compress anf the next day they'll appear fine.

A. C.

[ac.smith]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Thanks, A.C. I've been working on just that sort of thing since last November. It'll appear eventually, but don't hold your breath.

Alan T
(Harassed house-husband retiree & father of a teenager still at home).

I know that just because you're "retired" you still have a busy schedule. I'm down to just one full time job and I'm still at least a mo. behind in this set of projects as household projects that were deferred because of my work schedule must now be addressed. Still looking forward to a Z712/1012 comparison when you can work it into your schedule.

A. C.