Sony V3 Was Steve on Drugs when he reviewed it?

[Meryl Arbing]

Imaging-resource.com (in all of their recent reviews) useImatest software to evaluate technical aspects of the cameras they review. Noise is one of the parameters that is measured.

Surprisingly to most people is that the V3 scores significantly less noisy than the Canon G6 at equivalent ISO levels.

The full test results are at:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/V3/V3IMATEST.HTM

[Kenny_Leong]

I trust Steve's reviews. Maybe 6 or 7 years ago, it was Steve's review that convinced me to buy a nikon 950. After 7 years, I still love this camera!! And now, it was Steve's review that convinced me to buy the Canon G6, and the camera is on it's way to me at this moment. The nikon 950 can have a disadvantage in low light conditions. So the canon should make a very good complement.

[Kenny_Leong]

The skin colour looks somewhat pinky and waxy.

v3tester wrote:

I wish you could see the above image of the baby in full quality, then you'd see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, here is a macro shot I took of my eye:

[Kenny_Leong]

This just goes to show that when somebody is trying to back something intensely....they'll even say something that's incorrect, without first carefully checking out the real details.

nicke2323 wrote:

stallen wrote:

Actually the reverse is true: G6 has slightly lower noise than V3 at every ISO - if you plot against true ISO instead of reported ISO. See the review at dpreview linked just above.

Don't get me wrong, I love what I see in the V3 and I'm getting one for myself. Just wanted to point this out.

[nicke2323]

Meryl Arbing wrote:

Imaging-resource.com (in all of their recent reviews) use Imatest software to evaluate technical aspects of the cameras they review. Noise is one of the parameters that is measured.

Surprisingly to most people is that the V3 scores significantly less noisy than the Canon G6 at equivalent ISO levels.

The full test results are at:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/V3/V3IMATEST.HTM

Yes, but as I mentioned earlier in this thread, that test is based on ISO reported by the manufacturer. The test at dpreview shows the reverse: the G6 has slightly lower noise than V3 at every ISO, if you plot against true ISO instead of reported ISO.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscv3/page12.asp

Come on Meryl, you read the dpreview test too, you know this. The V3 is an amazing camera - better than the G6 in my opinion, though others may disagree. No need to sweeten the deal further by selective quoting.

[Whoops, Kenny_Leong beat me by 2 minutes ... ]

[Meryl Arbing]

Sorry but, if you move the G6 line up to the real ISO levels (Where ISO50 on the G6 = ISO100) you'll still see the V3 producing lower noise levels.

We know the ISO ratings for the G6 are exactly half of what the V3 reports...and both are different from reality. The G6 tries to pretend it has a low ISO and a fast lens while the V3 tries to claim it can go up to ISO800.

The Sony is at least accurate at ISO100 (while the G6 claims ISO50)

Here is the list of claimed ISO for each camera versus REAL ISO

V3: 100, 200, 400, 800

G6: 50, 100, 200, 400

REAL: 100, 160, 320, 640

If you shift the IMATEST figures to conform to the REAL ISO levels, the V3 still has less noise. Actually, you can see it yourself in Steve's Side by Side images.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_...3_samples.html

Take the first pair for example. They both have a large amount of blue sky (it is easy to spot noise in wide expanses of color) and you will see, as the full size images are loading, that the G6 has more noticible noise in the sky than the V3.

Are the differences important? Does it really matter in the end if one camera has 1% more luminosity noise value that the other at a given ISO? Probably not for the majority of uses. I have said that the cameras are remarkably similar in image quality and, without side by side comparison, I doubt if the average user would notice or care.

[Meryl Arbing]

Let's stop comparing and get out there and take some pictures!!

:|

[kski]

Took a couple pics in Downtown Toronto, wish I could do more but I was in a hurry, I just took them out my car window.

Interesting, not sure if you can view it on such a small size that's allowed here, but the glass building to the right caught the reflection of the CN Tower.

This camera really takes beautiful pictures!

[kski]

Here's another pic.

[v3tester]

Kenny_Leong wrote:

The skin colour looks somewhat pinky and waxy.

Hey man what can I say? My skin is pinky! "Rose colored skin is the correct term". That's the way my eye looks in the mirror. You can adjust the contrast if you want, but I think it's a great picture!