Olympus Camedia D-510 ZoomOlympus updates its popular 2.1 megapixel D-490 model with a new user interface and improved features.<<Reference: Datasheet :(Previous) | (Next): Print-Friendly Review Version>> Camedia D-510 Zoom Sample ImagesReview First Posted: 6/18/2001 |
| We've begun including links in our reviews to a Thumber-generated index page for our test shots. The Thumber data includes a host of information on the images, including shutter speed, ISO setting, compression setting, etc. Rather than clutter the page below with *all* that detail, we're posting the Thumber index so only those interested in the information need wade through it! ;) |
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Outdoor portrait: (1047 k) The extreme tonal range of this image makes it a tough shot for many digicams, which is precisely why we set it up this way. The object is to hold highlight and shadow detail without producing a "flat" picture with muddy colors, and the Olympus D-510 handles the challenge well. We shot samples of this image with the automatic (1042 k) and daylight (1051 k) white balance settings, both of which produced slight color casts. The automatic setting resulted in a cool image, with a bluish cast, while the daylight white balance produced much warmer results, with a slight reddish cast. We felt that the warmer skin tones appeared more natural, and chose the daylight setting for our main series. Color looks good, though the blue flowers are a little greenish. The good news though, is there's none of the tendency shown by many digicams to push the blue hues of the flowers towards purple. The red flowers are a little bright, but not so bright that they lose detail. Resolution is moderately high, with a lot of fine detail visible throughout the image, particularly in the flower bouquet. Details are also reasonably sharp, although fine details in the model's hair are a bit softer than we're accustomed to for a two megapixel camera. The shadow areas show great detail, with pretty low noise, except for the very darkest areas. Our main image was taken with a +0.5 EV exposure adjustment to get a good exposure in the shadow areas without overexposing the bright highlight areas. The table below shows the results of a range of exposure settings from zero to +1.5 EV. Exposure Compensation Settings:
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Closer portrait: (1071 k) The D-510 also does a nice job with this closer portrait shot, thanks in part to its 3x lens. (Shorter focal length lenses tend to distort facial features in close-up shots like this and the availability of longer focal lengths is a key feature if you're going to be shooting close-up people shots.) We again shot with the daylight white balance setting, because of the more accurate skin tones and overall color balance. Resolution is much higher in this close-up shot, with excellent detail in the model's face and hair. The strands of hair are very sharp, particularly those in the sunlight. Noise is moderate in the shadow areas, with a fairly tight grain pattern. Our main shot was taken with no exposure adjustment, as the smallest adjustment overexposed the highlight areas. The table below shows the results of a range of exposure settings from zero to +1.5 EV. Exposure Compensation Settings:
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Indoor Portrait, Flash: (957 k) The D-510's built-in, pop-up flash produces fairly bright exposures, though the background incandescent lighting causes a noticeable color cast. We first shot with the flash in its normal exposure mode, adjusting the exposure compensation to brighten the image. We obtained the best results with a +0.5 EV (957 k) adjustment, though the light from the flash produces a bluish cast on the model. A slight orange cast appears on the white wall from the incandescent lighting, but isn't too strong. Next, we shot with the slow synchro flash mode, which combines the flash with a slower shutter speed, allowing more ambient light into the exposure. Again, we obtained the most natural results with the +0.5 EV (1052 k) adjustment. A bluish cast from the flash is still present on the model, and the orangish color cast from the incandescent lighting is a little stronger. However, the brighter image produces better looking color overall, with increased saturation and more normal skin tones. Because the D-510's exposure compensation is only adjustable in half-step increments, raising the exposure to +1.0 EV makes the image much too bright in both flash modes. The table below shows the results from a range of exposures (from zero to +1.0 EV) in both flash modes.
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Indoor portrait, no flash: (1050 k) This shot is always a very tough test of a camera's white balance capability, given the strong, yellowish color cast of the household incandescent bulbs used for the lighting, and the D-510's white balance system had a little trouble with it. We shot samples of this image with the automatic (1117 k) and incandescent (1051 k) white balance settings, both of which produced warm results. The automatic setting produced a very strong orange (almost sepia) cast in response to the lighting, while the incandescent setting resulted in a better color balance, but still with somewhat of a sepia affect in the skin tones. Because the incandescent setting produced the most accurate results, we chose it for our main series. The warm cast produces brownish skin tones and deepens the blue flowers to near violet. Saturation is a little low, except in the red flowers, which appear very bright. (This is a perfect example of where our favorite photo-tweaking tool PhotoGenetics can come into play. For more info, read our review of PhotoGenetics, which has a link where you can download a free trial version of the application. Click here to download a Genotype we made to adjust the D510's incandescent color balance. (Click and hold on Macs to download the Genotype file, right-click on PCs.)) Resolution is moderately high, and details are reasonably sharp. We chose an exposure adjustment of +1.0 EV for our main image, which just slightly overexposes some of the highlights on the model's right shoulder. We also shot with the 100 (1048 k), 200 (1151 k) and 400 (1248 k) ISO settings, noticing higher noise levels as the ISO setting increased. Noise is moderate at the 100 ISO setting, increasing to a very high level at the 400 ISO setting. We also noticed that saturation decreased with the 200 and 400 ISO settings, reducing the orangish tone. The table below shows a range of exposures from zero to +1.5 EV. Exposure Compensation Settings:
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House shot: (1248 k) We shot this image with the automatic (1245 k) and daylight (1245 k) white balance settings, choosing the automatic setting for our main series. The daylight setting produced a very warm image, with a red cast. Color balance is more accurate with the automatic white balance, though the red bricks are a little warm. Resolution is moderate, with good detail visible in the bricks and shrubbery, and in the tree limbs above the roof. Details are slightly soft, and we noticed some corner softness at all four corners (though the strongest evidence is on the right side of the frame). In-camera sharpening is barely detectable, showing up as one faint pixel's worth of the halo effect around the light and dark edges of the white trim along the roof line. (Although not shown here, we found that strong, small-radius (150%, 0.4pixel) sharpening in Photoshop(tm) revealed much more detail in the photo than was evident in the raw camera images.) The roof shingles and shadows show moderately low noise. The table below shows our standard resolution and quality series. Resolution Series
Sharpness Series We also shot a series with the D-510's Sharpness setting, which did a nice job of altering the overall image sharpness without affecting brightness or contrast too much. The Hard setting only barely affected the halo around the light and dark edges of the roof line, brightening the overall appearance of the halo without increasing its size. Effects of the Hard setting were much more evident in the garden foliage in front of the house.
Contrast Series We also shot with the D-510's adjustable Contrast settings, which affected the saturation as well. Lowering the contrast also appeared to brighten the image, most evident in the shadow areas.
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Far-Field Test (1197 k) This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio. The rendering of detail in the poster will be very different than in this shot, and color values (and even the presence or absence of leaves on the trees!) will vary in this subject as the seasons progress. In general though, you can evaluate detail in the bricks, shingles and window detail, and in the tree branches against the sky. Compression artifacts are most likely to show in the trim along the edge of the roof, in the bricks, or in the relatively "flat" areas in the windows. We shot this image with the automatic white balance setting, which produced good color, without any strong color casts. This shot is a strong test of detail, given the practically infinite range of fine detail in a natural scene like this, viewed from a distance. Resolution is moderately high, with a fair amount of fine detail in the front shrubbery and house details, as well as in the tree branches above the house. Details are slightly soft throughout the image, with increased softness in the corners of the frame. We also judge a camera's dynamic range in this shot, comparing how well the camera holds detail in both the shadow and highlight areas. The D-510 did a pretty good job here, maintaining a reasonable level of detail in the strong highlights of the bay window on the front of the house. Shadow detail is pretty good too, as the camera managed to pick out the brick pattern in the shadowed doorway, and details of the dark-colored door itself. We shot with the 100 (1180 k), 200 (1200 k), and 400 (1258 k) ISO settings, noticing that as the ISO setting increased, color saturation decreased and brightness increased. Noise also increases with the sensitivity setting, going from moderately low at the 100 ISO setting to very high at 400 ISO. The table below shows our standard resolution and quality series.
Sharpness Series We again shot with the D-510's adjustable Sharpness setting, which produced nice results.
Contrast Series The D-510's Contrast adjustments produced similar results to the House poster, altering the saturation and brightness in addition to the overall image contrast. (The "contrast" adjustment seems to actually adjust the gamma of the image, which is actually more what you'd want such an adjustment to do...)
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Lens Zoom Range We've received a number of requests from readers to take shots showing the lens focal length range of those cameras with zoom lenses. Thus, we're happy to present you here with the following series of shots, showing the field of view with the lens at full wide angle, the lens at full 3x telephoto, and the lens at full telephoto with 3x digital zoom enabled. The wide angle setting captures a very wide field of view, with significant space on either side of the house in the frame. Resolution is moderate, and details are a little soft. A hint of barrel distortion from the wide angle lens setting is visible along the curb of the street. The 3x telephoto shows good sharpness and resolution. As is always the case with digital zoom, the 3x digital zoom setting trades off sharpness for magnification, creating a larger but much softer image. Following are the results at each zoom setting.
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Musicians Poster (1315 k) For this test, we shot with the automatic (1315 k) and daylight (1313 k) white balance settings, which produced nearly identical results. The large amount of blue in the image often tricks digicams into overcompensating, but the D-510 does a nice job. Both images are a little warm, with reddish tints in the blue background. The daylight setting produces slightly cooler skin tones, so we chose the automatic setting for our main image. The Oriental model's blue robe is slightly greenish from the warm cast, but still looks nearly accurate (this is a difficult blue for digicams to reproduce accurately). Resolution is moderately high, with a lot of fine detail visible in the bird's wings and silver threads on the model's robe. Overall image sharpness is slightly soft, though the violin strings are fairly distinct, with a hint of a moire pattern. Noise is moderately high throughout the image, mainly noticeable in the blue background and in the red vest. |
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Macro Shot (1235 k) The D-510 performs quite well in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of just 2.78 x 2.09 inches (70.65 x 52.99 millimeters). Resolution is high, with great detail visible throughout the image. Details are also sharp, particularly on the brooch and coins. Corner softness is again visible in all four corners of the frame though. Color balance is about correct, without any strong color casts present. The D-510's built-in flash (1290 k) does a good job throttling down for the macro area, though a reflection off of the brooch causes a hot spot. Still, the flash exposure looks good, though slightly bluish from the dimmer lighting. |
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"Davebox" Test Target (820 k) We shot samples of this target using the automatic (820 k) and daylight (815 k) white balance settings, choosing the automatic setting as the most accurate. The daylight setting resulting in a warm image, with a yellowish cast, while the automatic setting gave somewhat more accurate results. Color overall is a bit undersaturated: The large blocks of the target are a little warm but nearly accurate, though the cyan, magenta, and yellow blocks appear a little undersaturated. Likewise, the kelly green square appears yellowish and quite weak. The D-510 picks up the subtle difference between the red and magenta color blocks on the middle, horizontal color chart (which is a common problem area for many digicams), though both blocks have an orange tint. Exposure is a little bright, as the subtle tonal variations of the Q60 chart are visible as far as the "B" range, but very faintly. The tonal gradations of the smaller, vertical gray scales also look good, with a very faint distinction between the two darkest blocks. Detail looks great in the shadow area of the charcoal briquettes, with fairly low noise. The white gauze area also shows good detail, though the brighter highlights are on the verge of washing out. Resolution is moderately high, with good detail in the mini-resolution target, as well as in the box hinges and silver disk. We also shot with the 100 (817 k), 200 (901 k), and 400 (1023 k) ISO settings, noticing that while exposure stayed relatively the same, image noise increased with the higher sensitivity settings. Contrast Series We also shot this target with the D-510's adjustable Contrast settings, which again brightened the exposure and decreased saturation at the Low setting. The High setting produced very similar results to Normal, though with a hint of increased saturation.
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Low-Light Tests The D-510 turned in an adequate if not outstanding low light performance, capturing bright, usable images at light levels as low as one foot-candle (11 lux) at the 400 ISO setting. As the camera's ISO sensitivity setting decreased, so did its low-light shooting capability. At 200 ISO, we only obtained a reasonably bright image at the two foot-candle (22 lux) light level, and at 100 ISO, images were bright only as low as four foot-candles (44 lux). The D-510 does a good job with noise level, as noise is moderately low at the 100 ISO setting, and increases only to a moderately high level at the 400 ISO setting. To put the D-510'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 darker shooting situations will require the camera's built-in flash, particularly at lower ISO settings. (The availability of variable ISO in a relatively inexpensive digicam is laudable though: We wish more manufacturers would incorporate this capability at the lower end of their product lines.) The table below shows the best exposure we were able to obtain for each of a range of illumination levels, at all three ISO settings. Images in this table (like all of our sample photos) are untouched, exactly as they came from the camera.
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Flash Range Test In our testing, we found the D-510's flash brightest at eight feet from the target. Intensity decreased only slightly from nine feet all the way out to 13 feet, becoming markedly dimmer at the 14 foot distance. Below is our flash range series, with distances from eight to 14 feet from the target.
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ISO-12233 (WG-18) Resolution Test (978 k) The D-510 did well in the resolution test, although the image softness we noted in our other shots persisted here. It's important and interesting to note though that the softness appears to be only the result of under-aggressive in-camera sharpening, not a lack of actual resolution. The D-510 cleanly resolved 550 lines per picture height, with strong detail to 750 lines, and "extinction" occurring between 850 and 900 lines, a good performance overall for a 2 megapixel camera. Optical distortion on the D-510 is fairly high at the wide angle end, where we measured an approximate 1.0 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared much better, as we measured a .25 percent pincushion distortion. Chromatic aberration varies from low in the upper left-hand corner to moderate in the lower right. (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.) We'd like to see less geometric distortion in the lens, but it turns in a good performance otherwise.
Resolution Series, Telephoto
Sharpness Series
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Viewfinder Accuracy/Flash Uniformity The D-510's optical viewfinder is a little tight, showing approximately 90.25 percent frame accuracy at wide angle (807 k), and about 88.41 percent at telephoto (849 k). Images framed with the optical viewfinder are slanted a little toward the lower left corner, and shifted toward the upper left corner in position. Still, the D-510's optical viewfinder is more accurate than many we've seen in the past. The LCD monitor fares a bit better, showing approximately 94.8 percent of the image area at wide angle (790 k) setting, and approximately 96 percent at telephoto (816 k). Since we generally like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the D-510 performs fairly well in this respect. Flash distribution is fairly even at the center of the target in wide angle, with some falloff at the corners of the frame. At the telephoto setting, flash distribution is more even, with a tiny reflection in the center of the target.
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