I know it’s not a fair comparison but it’s a chance to see side-by-side photos taken with each camera. Also I get to play with my new toy. I’m a point and shoot photographer, nothing fancy.

All the photos are cropped and worked over with Microsoft picture it. The compression is done with Image Optimizer.

The Sony FD7 is about 4 years old. It’s got 10x optical zoom and about 380,000-pixel resolution. I bought it new and have had no problems with it.

The new camera is a Nikon Coolpix 4500. It’s got 4x optical zoom and 4-mega-pixel resolution. It’s a factory refurbish.

The pictures below are compressed to the 34,000kb level. Both are taken with the same lighting and distance (approx. 18 inches).

Back ground change and moved into 12 inches. The Sony flash is not usable in closer shots. You need to supply all and plenty of external light. The Nikon flash is working well so far.

All settings are out of the box. These are compressed to 35,000kb as well.

Wynter,

Congrats on your new camera and great pics! Wait until you start taking some close-in macro shots. It will truly amaze you.

I can't remember for sure but do you have an Elgin balance screw scale? If so, could you please post some pictures of it?

Thanks!

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

Here are shots of something that never seems to photogragh well, reverse painted signs. The Nikon did better than expected but still washed out the lower gold lettering. A change in lighting may help.

John, I'll dig out the scale next.