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 = auto, Saturation =  +2, Sensitivity = auto, Exposure compensation = 0

• Photos taken inside a local restaurant about 1 foot from advertising brochures, no flash

• All original images 2270 x 1704 pixels were saved with 1 % jpeg compression except three below 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 high 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 1-4: Outside

Original Images:

Here's one of the original photos before cropping
(#5 Fine quality Test 2 auto sharpness, max zoom 32 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) 

 

Here's a portion (letter "A") scanned at 2400 dpi to show actual quality photographed