DSC-L1: Sony's Latest Ultra-Compact Digicam
by Stephen Caston on January 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Color Reproduction
* For all of our color tests, we reset the DSC-L1 to its factory default settings. It was then set to record using the highest image quality option. All images are sRGB.We took a picture of our color chart using each of the following WB settings: Auto, Incandescent, and Manual. Click on a thumbnail below to view a larger image.
Incandescent WB
| Auto WB | Incandescent WB | |
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 Click to enlarge. |
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 Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Incandescent WB |
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Under our tungsten lights, the L1 shows a rather strong, yellowish cast when set to Auto WB. When we changed the WB to Incandescent, the colors are more accurate. However, there is still a slight yellowish cast.
Daylight WB
| Auto WB | Daylight WB | |
 Click to enlarge. |
 Click to enlarge. |
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| Reference Chart ("actual colors") |
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| Auto WB | Daylight WB |
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In direct sunlight, the L1 reproduces our color chart with bright colors. There is a very slight bluish color cast when the camera is set to Auto WB. With Daylight WB, the colors are extremely accurate.
Studio Shot
In this shot, we tested the camera's ability to reproduce colors in our studio shot using different WB settings under tungsten light.| Auto WB | Incandescent WB |
 Click to enlarge. |
 Click to enlarge. |
In this comparison under tungsten light, the difference between the Auto and Incandescent settings is more obvious. The Auto WB setting produces an image with a fairly strong yellowish cast and the Incandescent setting is considerably more accurate while still displaying a yellowish cast.
Built-in Flash
For the flash test, we set the camera to Auto mode w/Auto flash. The picture was taken from 5 feet away.
Click to enlarge.
In our flash test, we found that the L1 produced a slight yellowish-orange cast over the entire image.
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ksherman - Sunday, January 30, 2005 - link
BTW #6-- to get to contact information, click on 'about' on the left hadn menu (second down) and then click on 'contactAnandtech'Xmate - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Good review, camera seems weak to me (being a photographer) but for a digicam its good, and a good review of it.I notice that Anandtech has taken a liking to digital photography, having several reviews and essays on how to take better photographs and what to take them with. This is all very good. I am really happy that more people are getting involved into the world of photography.
What I ask of Anandtech now, is to continue on their photography reviews, but to add some computer software preformance reviews. I am in the market for a new computer, and i am completely torn as to what CPU, motherboard, ram, graphics card HD to get. I will be using almost exclusively Adobe products on the computer (photoshop, illustrator, Golive Indesign, The whole Creative suite). I'd GREATLY aoreicate if Anandtech could have some benchmarkings of how different Hardware preforms in photoshop and more importantly their ram converter.
Also, I ask that you could perhaps have some reviews of colour calibration devices, such as the Gretagmacbeth ones (www.gretagmacbeth.com) and also if you could tell us what monitors are the best to use for the most acurate colour rendition.
It's great that you have more photographers articles, but people like me (you'd be surprised how many of us visit this site) really need advice on what PC hardware to get for the best and faster results, from cpu to graphics card to monitor to printer. I hope you take this into consideration.
Stefan
PS: I was looking for the 'Contact Us' for Anandtech, but I was unable to find it. If someone could tell me how to contact them directly then I'd greatly apreciate it. Thank you once again.
melgross - Friday, January 28, 2005 - link
As far as I am concerned, all of the test pictures are unacceptable. The outdoor pics aren't bad, though there are better images from others cameras in this price range.The indoor pics are all underexposed badly, and the flash calibration esp. at close distances is very poor.
segagenesis - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Better and less than half the price of my old (4 years old?) DSC-P1. Guess it shows how quickly cameras are evolving.There will always be some edge distortion in smaller cameras, so when buying one this is a given. The lens is just too damn small!
stephencaston - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
#1 thanks, its corrected nowarfan - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Maybe it will be better if there is review for all digital camera from entry level until high-end. What about Canon A75 compare with this Sony ?cosmotic - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Are you sure you meant that the release date was Feb 2004?