Purpose:

Compare different sharpness levels (off, low, normal, high, auto) at different quality levels (Hi and Fine) with and without Digital Zoom

• All images: Contrast = (+), Saturation =  +2, Sensitivity = auto, Exposure compensation = 0

• Cloudy day, less than perfect visibility, with Marriott Hotel  about 8,000 ft away

• Photos taken from inside a local restaurant through an unclean window

• All original images 2270 x 1704 pixels were saved with 1 % jpeg compression except two above were saved with 25 %.

• Portion of all original images was selected and cropped to clearly show effects

• Non-Digital Zoom images were resized (enlarged) to 400 pixels wide with Paint Shop Pro 7.04 "Smart size" bicubic resampling

Conclusions:

1. Digital Zoom images are not at sharp at same sharpness settings as, and have less detail than Hi or Fine quality images, but have less noise and fewer jpeg artifacts than Fine quality

2. Best quality, in terms of sharpness, clarity and detail, is obtained by cropping and resizing Hi quality tiff images rather than using Digital Zoom

See also Test 1a-4a: Inside

Original Images:

Here's one of the original photos before cropping
(#5 Fine quality Test 2 auto sharpness, max zoom 30.9 mm fl, no Digital Zoom)
 

 

Here's one of the original photos before cropping
(#5 Fine quality Test 3 auto sharpness, max zoom 128 mm fl, with Digital Zoom)