Can a digital camera really outclass color film? According to tests done by Popular Photography, Canon's new 16.7 megapixel EOS 1Ds Mark II took better pictures than a regular SLR camera (Canon's EOS 3) shooting high-quality ISO 100 film.

Interesting, as a few years ago Popular Photography predicted that digital cameras would have to reach at least 24 to 30 megapixels before they'd compete against film cameras in quality. But that stance seems to have changed, as they are now claiming the better color and lower noise of the EOS 1Ds Mark II gives digital cameras the winning edge.

Let's Back it Up ...

Popular Photography has always maintained the image quality of any photographic system -- whether film, digital or otherwise -- can't be determined by testing resolution alone. That's because there are other important aspects, such as:

• Color accuracy
• Noise level (grain)
• Highlight and shadow detail (dynamic range)
• Contrast

Additionally, camera sensors have pixels arrayed in two separate dimensions, horizontal and vertical, meaning it takes four times as many pixels to double the resolution of a digital camera (saving all other aspects such as noise, lens quality and focus accuracy are equal).

Camera Test

With that in mind, Popular Photography compared the resolution, color accuracy and noise ratings of EOS 1Ds Mark II images to those of ISO 100 film shot two years prior. After an uproar in reader feedback, researchers re-evaluated film resolution, using a new roll of Kodak Gold 100 loaded in a Canon EOS 3 SLR and found:

• The Gold 100 film captured 3,000 lines in all directions when shot using the test lab's daylight-balanced HMI lights.

• Using daylight-balanced Elinchrom 1200S flash units, film delivered 2,700 lines in all directions.

• These results compared to 2,400 lines captured by the older ISO 100 film and to the EOS 1Ds Mark II's 2760 Vertical x 2810 Horizontal x 2220 Diagonal lines.

So, while ISO 100 color negative film may capture slightly more detail than the 1Ds Mark II under ideal lighting conditions, with a great lens, and on a supersteady tripod, for its better color and lower noise, the "Color Image Quality" award goes to Canon's digital SLR, hands down.

Popular Photography April 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Over my winter vacation I made the decision to take up a new hobby: digital photography. In February, I decided to upgrade my Nikon D70 to the top digital camera in the world, the Canon EOS 1DS Mark II. Unfortunately, even though I have had my camera for months, I have not had any time to use it as I have so many projects on my plate. If you're interested, you can also purchase the new Adobe Photoshop CS2 that even further enhances this camera as it has a new feature called Merge to High Dynamic Range, which radically improves the dynamic range far beyond film capabilities. Normally, film only has five to seven stops of dynamic range, but using this feature along with multiple exposures, you can increase it to an unheard-of 15 stops. If you'd like to learn more about it, Luminous Landscape has a great article on this subject. Related Articles: Free Photo Editing and Album Software Digital Cameras