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Canon Powershot A5 Test Images

(All images are presented in original camera JPEG format, except for the Outdoor Portrait, which was rotated in Photoshop, and saved with a JPEG quality setting of 8.)

Outdoor portrait: (289k) Outdoor portrait only needed about 1/3 stop +EV adjustment (less than most cameras) to compensate for bright background. Great detail, excellent tonal range. A slight greenish-yellow cast detracts slightly from the otherwise superb image. Here's a shot (288k) taken without any EV compensation.

Indoor portrait, flash: (160k) With variable sensitivity up to ~ISO 400, we actually had to force the A5 flash on in our well-lit interior scene. Flash behavior was average to better-than-average, but was also obviously capable of great subtlety with the right settings. We don't know what we did in this shot (154k), but notice how the flash just barely fills in the shadow under the flowers.

Indoor portrait, no flash: (169k) We were quite surprised at how sensitive the A5's CCD was. This shot was taken with about +2/3 EV exposure compensation: Cranked all the way up to +2EV, the CCD gathered enough light to totally wash out the scene! We found we could get very usable images even in quite dimly lit interior scenes. (Incident light of EV5-6!) (Couldn't resist this shot(168k), even though framed too loosely: If I could get the model to smile this naturally after 100 shots all the time, I could maybe make a living wage at this game!)

House shot: (319k) Good color balance, slightly lower color saturation than some, but very natural color overall. Detail is comparable to other 1024x768 cameras tested, but edge-enhancement is slightly heavy. Virtually no compression artifacts.

"Musicians" poster: (218k) VERY nice color! Probably the best handling of this image, of any camera shot to date! (As of 5/1/98)

Macro shot: (233k) Excellent macro capability, again, one of the best to date. The moderate wide-angle lens (35mm equivalent focal length) meant a short working distance for a given degree of magnification, making lighting tricky for extreme close-ups. Minimum working distance is 3.5 inches (8.9 cm). Autofocus works all the way in though. Flash is good to about 8 inches, but is a bit strong and uneven that close.

"Davebox" test target: (156k) Color rendition of "MacBeth" target confirms slightly lower color saturation than some other cameras in its class. Overall color is very natural though, with no artificial cast. Excellent shadow detail. Although highlights appear slightly blown-out in a cursory examination, closer inspection with Photoshop(tm) reveals good detail even in the white-on-white fabric.

"WG-18" resolution target: (186k) (Technoids only) - Visual resolution of ~550 line pairs/picture height is comparable to other 1024x768 cameras tested. Relatively little aliasing. The A5 has four resolution modes - Large Fine(186k), Large Coarse(94k), Small Fine(66k), Small Coarse(36k) (our terms). Large images are all 1024x768, small are 512x384; fine/coarse difference is in JPEG compression. Small mode is noticeably more jaggy than most cameras in this class, perhaps reflecting the smaller pixel count. The combination of "Large/Coarse" compression with the large 8MB memory card eliminates the need for "Small" mode for most uses, though.

Viewfinder accuracy/flash uniformity target: (65k) Actual image captured is very slightly down and to the right from that shown in the viewfinder. Optical viewfinder shows very slightly larger area than does LCD. Both crop actual capture area by the ~5% we've found typical on most other point & shoots. Flash coverage is a little uneven, with slightly more light falloff toward the corners than we've found in most cameras.

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		Outdoor portrait: (289k) Outdoor portrait only needed about 1/3 stop +EV adjustment (less than most cameras) to compensate for bright background. Great detail, excellent tonal range. A slight greenish-yellow cast detracts slightly from the otherwise superb image. Here's a shot (288k) taken without any EV compensation.
		Indoor portrait, flash: (160k) With variable sensitivity up to ~ISO 400, we actually had to force the A5 flash on in our well-lit interior scene. Flash behavior was average to better-than-average, but was also obviously capable of great subtlety with the right settings. We don't know what we did in this shot (154k), but notice how the flash just barely fills in the shadow under the flowers.
		Indoor portrait, no flash: (169k) We were quite surprised at how sensitive the A5's CCD was. This shot was taken with about +2/3 EV exposure compensation: Cranked all the way up to +2EV, the CCD gathered enough light to totally wash out the scene! We found we could get very usable images even in quite dimly lit interior scenes. (Incident light of EV5-6!) (Couldn't resist this shot(168k), even though framed too loosely: If I could get the model to smile this naturally after 100 shots all the time, I could maybe make a living wage at this game!)
		House shot: (319k) Good color balance, slightly lower color saturation than some, but very natural color overall. Detail is comparable to other 1024x768 cameras tested, but edge-enhancement is slightly heavy. Virtually no compression artifacts.
		"Musicians" poster: (218k) VERY nice color! Probably the best handling of this image, of any camera shot to date! (As of 5/1/98)
		Macro shot: (233k) Excellent macro capability, again, one of the best to date. The moderate wide-angle lens (35mm equivalent focal length) meant a short working distance for a given degree of magnification, making lighting tricky for extreme close-ups. Minimum working distance is 3.5 inches (8.9 cm). Autofocus works all the way in though. Flash is good to about 8 inches, but is a bit strong and uneven that close.
		"Davebox" test target: (156k) Color rendition of "MacBeth" target confirms slightly lower color saturation than some other cameras in its class. Overall color is very natural though, with no artificial cast. Excellent shadow detail. Although highlights appear slightly blown-out in a cursory examination, closer inspection with Photoshop(tm) reveals good detail even in the white-on-white fabric.
		"WG-18" resolution target: (186k) (Technoids only) - Visual resolution of ~550 line pairs/picture height is comparable to other 1024x768 cameras tested. Relatively little aliasing. The A5 has four resolution modes - Large Fine(186k), Large Coarse(94k), Small Fine(66k), Small Coarse(36k) (our terms). Large images are all 1024x768, small are 512x384; fine/coarse difference is in JPEG compression. Small mode is noticeably more jaggy than most cameras in this class, perhaps reflecting the smaller pixel count. The combination of "Large/Coarse" compression with the large 8MB memory card eliminates the need for "Small" mode for most uses, though.
		Viewfinder accuracy/flash uniformity target: (65k) Actual image captured is very slightly down and to the right from that shown in the viewfinder. Optical viewfinder shows very slightly larger area than does LCD. Both crop actual capture area by the ~5% we've found typical on most other point & shoots. Flash coverage is a little uneven, with slightly more light falloff toward the corners than we've found in most cameras.