Canon A640 v Nikon P5100

[rob lee]

I have finally got my adapter sorted for my Canon & have been giving it a bit of a run out. Unfortunately we have been under what they call "anti-cyclonic gloom" the last few days & light has been pretty poor. I took some comparison shots with a friends P5100 today, using the same scope & SD card & then gave them a light edit in picasa, two are posted here. I dont know what conclusions, if any can be drawn here except to say that it is easier to digiscope with the Nikon. To my eyes theres not a lot betwen the two images, although they both have a diferent tone to them. Not exactly scientific i know.

[charlierocky]

Hello Rob, Please tell me that the second photo is the P5100 as I think it looks softer, the first picture although not a great difference has a blue hue?
I am hoping my new P5100 arrives in the morning!

[Neil]

Rob,
Nice comparison. As you say , not much in it.
Neil.

[rob lee]

Hi Charlierocky, Yes, the 2nd image is the Nikon. If you hold your cursor over the pictures the title comes up, but why would you want it to be softer?
I took about 6 pics with both cameras of this female Mallard that was c10 metres away & all of the Canon images had a blueish hue. I think the white balance was probably on auto as i tend to leave it on that except under artificial light. What the WB was on the Nikon i dont know as i have now deleted the original. Out of interest i wish i had taken some pics with my Sony P200 as well to see how that coped, I suspect it would have done just as well, as in truth i dont think there is much between a lot of these cameras. If the sensor & lens are good then they can more than hold their own, witness Neils recent revisit of the CP4500 & the still excellent macro capabilities of the 990 (how old ? & how many MPs?)
As an aside I have recently been checking out the Canon G9, in the resolution tests on DPReview the Fuji F50fd outperformed it !

[charlierocky]

Hi Rob, Perhaps 'softer' was the wrong choice of word. 'Natural' is probably better as the Canon shot with the blue hue looks like it was taken under artificial lighting where the Nikon looks more daylight colours?

[erniehatt]

As an A640 user I can honestly say, the blue colour cast is not normal, I have my wb set on auto all the time and don´t have this problem. Ernie

[Neil]

I agree on Ernie with this. I find the A640 WB to be much more accurate than the Nikon 8400. Neil.