Olympus Brio D-100Olympus uses tricky optics to build a sleekly compact 1.3 megapixel digicam with excellent image quality!<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 5/6/2001 |
Test Results
In keeping with our standard test policy, the comments given here summarize only our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the D-100's "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource product tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the camera performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how D-100 images compare to other cameras you may be considering.
Overall, the D-100 performed well, producing nice photos with accurate color. The D-100's automatic white balance system handled most of our testing well, though it had some trouble with the incandescent lighting of our Indoor Portrait. That said, the Incandescent setting produced very nice results there, without any significant color casts. Throughout the rest of our testing, we noticed that the automatic and daylight white balance settings produced similar results, although the automatic setting was most accurate with our studio lighting. The large color blocks of the Davebox test target appeared very accurate, with good saturation. We saw just a little purple cast in the awkward blue flowers in our Outdoor test shot, but the overall color was about right (these blues are a common problem area for many cameras we've tested, including many high-end models). We also noticed a slight oversaturation of red / magenta in the skin tones. Still, the D-100 did a nice job, particularly given the lack of user controls.
In our laboratory resolution test, the D-100 resolves the target patterns cleanly (with no artifacts) out to 550 lines per picture height in both horizontal and vertical directions, with good detail showing to 600 lines in both directions. These are typical resolution numbers for a 1.3 megapixel digicam, so the D-100 does well in this regard.
Optical distortion on the D-100 was surprisingly low, as we noticed only about two pixels of barrel distortion from the wide angle lens, as seen on the lines in our Viewfinder Accuracy target below. Chromatic aberration is also pretty low, showing about two pixels of coloration on either side of the black target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) - The D-100's lens seems to be of pretty high quality.
We found the D-100's optical viewfinder to be a little tight, showing approximately 84.58 percent of the final image area (at the 640 x 480-pixel resolution size). We also noticed that the image framed with the optical viewfinder was slanted toward the lower left corner, indicating a slightly shifted CCD. The LCD monitor was much more accurate, showing approximately 98.96 percent of the final image area (also at the 640 x 480-pixel resolution size). We generally like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, so the D-100 did very well in this respect.
The D-100 had some trouble in the low-light category, as we were only able to obtain bright, clear images at a light level of eight foot-candles (0.88 lux). Images became progressively darker with each reduction in illumination, and the target was barely visible at one foot-candle (11 lux), which is where we stopped our testing. Noise is moderate at the eight foot-candle (88 lux) light level, with a somewhat small grain pattern. (We direct readers to Mike Chaney's excellent Qimage Pro program, for a tool with an amazing ability to remove image noise without significantly affecting detail.) To put the D-100's low-light performance into perspective, an average city night scene under modern street lighting corresponds to a light level of about one foot-candle, so night exposures will require use of the built-in flash.
The D-100 did about an average job in the macro category for its 1.3 megapixel class, capturing a minimum area of 4.75 x 3.56 inches (120.63 x 90.47 millimeters). Color, detail and resolution all looked pretty good, though the image appears slightly overexposed in the center. The D-100's built-in flash has a lot of trouble throttling down for the macro area, overexposing the image entirely. The flash image was also badly out of focus, but we're not sure why. (Could enabling the flash disable the macro mode setting?)
Though the D-100 offers fairly limited exposure control, we were quite pleased with the overall test results. This is clearly a point-and-shoot variety camera, meant for average, well-lit exposure situations. Despite its limited low-light capabilities and some trouble with the flash on the macro shot, the D-100 performed well, delivering nice images with good color and quality, and an absolute minimum of fuss in the process.
Conclusion
The D-100's small size makes it easy to carry along on just about any outing, fitting easily into shirt pockets, purses, or even hip pouches (great for hikers). The point-and-shoot design is very easy to use, with no adjustments necessary to make good overall exposures. The camera makes all of the exposure decisions, leaving you the option to change image size and quality, white balance, and exposure compensation. The D-100 handles most average shooting conditions well, making it a nice option for consumers who want to take good pictures without puzzling over details. A nice little camera with good photo quality at a budget price!
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