After reading your glowing review of the new Olympus C2500 L, I went to the images page and the Comparometer. I am going to buy a digital camera soon, and had been thinking of the Nikon Coolpix 950, but liked the features of the Olympus (IR remote, memory cards, etc.). I was surprised, after your review of the Olympus, to note that the Nikon sample image of the lady indoors with the flowers (without flash)appeared to have far better resolution (check the hair). This, in spite of the fact that the Nikon image is around 800 KB and the Olympus is around 1700. Am I missing something, or is there still a clear advantage to the Nikon on image quality? I will really look forward to your answer, since my wife wants me to go ahead and "buy something." Thanks for all your exceptional help in explaining these mysteries to novices like me.

Corky Haisten

-- Corky Haisten (chaisten@series2000.com), November 15, 1999

Answers

The nikon 950 has tons of in camera "sharpening". This is much like the sharpening (or unsharp mask) of photoshop. Doesn't mean the 950 has truly better image quality, it doesn't (though still top notch for the price range). There are also image quality downsides to applying sharp masks. Play around with it in photoshop and see for yourself.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), November 15, 1999.