Posted Jul 09, 2006 at 01:08AM by Remi M. Listed in: Canon Tags: J. Vincent
Ó

Canon S3 and 5DCanon has cameras for all sorts of people- cheapskates, photography aficionados, the middle-class consumer...and so on. Some could go as low as $200, while there would be those that would leave a $5000 dent in your bank account. But a more expensive camera could only mean that it takes crisper and better pictures than its cheaper brothers, right?

Well, judging from these pictures, that seems to be not the case. Photography aficionado, J. Vincent, decided to conduct a little experiment to see if the more costly and feature-packed Canon camera is really better at capturing objects and moments than the less expensive ones.

So what he did was he took pictures of a hot tub (sans the people, so don't overstimulate your imagination!) in various techniques. The two cameras that will be compared are the Canon S3 which has a $420-$480 price tag, and the Canon 5D which could cost you $3200 bucks without the lens and $4600 if you'd equip it with 100-400mm IS lens.

The results, well, see for yourself. If you ask me, I don't see much of a difference. Big waste of Benjamins? Well, let's hope not, for the sake of the consumers. To better compare the two Canon contraptions, the pictures from both cameras were  resized to 1280 pixels wide (which is common for emails and HD viewing), and 960 pixels tall. There were also full size crops from each camera and the pictures were also detailed at 300%. Go ahead and judge the pics and tell us your piece of mind.


Comparison of the Shots - Image 1 Comparison of the Shots - Image 2 

Comparison of the Shots - Image 3 Comparison of the Shots - Image 4




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6 Comments


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   by Fuu (Unregistered) - 2006-07-09
 » ...

I have a terrible eye for spotting differences in cases like this, so I'll take your word that they look similar. Image quality is only one criteria for judging a camera's ability. Custom functions, max iso/shutter speeds, etc. are also important for professional (not me) photographers. Otherwise you'd see a whole bunch of S3's on the sidelines at the World Cup :P

   by morsp (Unregistered) - 2006-07-09
 » Important information is left out....

Important information is left out in this test, such as the aperture and focal lengths of both pictures. These settings could very well effect the lack of sharpness in the 5d. longer shooting focal length = more camera shake and possibly softer images. this seems to be the case due to the short depth of field. also the aperture could cause the short depth of field. id say more tests need to be done before drawing conclusions...

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   by Fuu (Unregistered) - 2006-07-10
 » ...

Good points Morsp.
You (almost) always get what you pay for. I'm sure Canon wouldn't release a kit for $400 that would outperform $10000 worth of equipment.

   by Derin K (Unregistered) - 2006-07-10
 » That was a stupid comparison

That was without reason, there are so many independent affecting factors it isn't even worh taking a peek at. The 100-400 probably did shake a bit and we dont have a clue about the aperture and the exposure times. We don't know about image optimisation options, we don't know the format, we really don't know anything about it. You could have a bad lens and etc. I dont think this deserves a mainpage entry. At least not one with that content

   by RaiderX - 2006-07-10
 » hmmm

the 5G seems to get slightly better color to my eye but it also has the closer object burrier than what S3 got.

   by tigerallied (Unregistered) - 2006-08-14
 » welll

my english may be bad on this one
but you made this test on a sunny day - that means no noise no nothing - the best of thows lends is not shown here is shown when you photograph moveing object or in less light situations

so you're test here dosent prove anything

if you want to say that they are on the same level and they are onley marketing 100 photos and diferent light conditions and then post you're results

if you say that a 2 photos taken in very good conditons are very similar you dont prove anithing - the pro is not made for shooting in you're back yard is made for evey condition that is why the prices are higher (btw i took photos with a sony compact and an olympus e 500) and maaaan they ware diferent



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