good job Min, have a question for you, why the GRD picture are brighter than the other two?

Another great comparison set. Thanks so much, amin. Keep it up.

Interesting bit of work there. It would be interesting to throw a Sigma DP1 into the mix. After all it has the same equivalent focal length as the GRD, but a large sensor.

On the the subject of the bright image from the GRD, to my eyes at least it appears that the GRD image is "correct" since the newspaper renders as white, whereas it renders as grey on the other two. Correct exposure is to some extent a matter of personal taste, but the GRF image does look right to me.

Great work Amin! To me the GRDIII is actually showing more detail than the S90, but has a much lower contrast lens. I can actually read the small newspaper type in the Ricoh file, but it's almost impossible in the S90 file.

Thanks Amin, I just opened the Ricoh file with Irfanview, and it seems like the size is smaller than it should be? 1836x1374x24bbp? Am I doing something wrong here? I'm sure your crops were 100%, I see smaller image size and IQ is really bad. I must be doing something wrong here, maybe you can clarify.
Thanks

Amin, very detailed and good tests as always. I see your processed samples are much better than the S90 jpeg samples post in the different reviews. I see the noise reduction artifacts in other S90 samples esp from ISO 400 and above. Can you reduce the NR in camera jpegs like you can do with Panasonic LX3/ Leica D-lux 4?

Also I see that David Pogue at NY Times already posted S90 and GF1 as his favorite cameras replacing the Panasonic LX3/ Leica D-lux 4 from last year. So when will we see your 2009 serious compacts ranks? :)

Hi Amin,

So, did the G1 win?

-Prince

What really jumps out in my eyes, is that the text is somewhat more readable on the G1 at ISO 1600, than the GRD or S90 at even base ISO. I wasn't expecting such a difference in resolution across 4 stops. And this is with one of the somewhat lesser reknowned Micro 4/3 lenses- the difference would be even greater with the 20mm f/1.7 (fair comparison since the GRD has a prime lens.)

Amin, are these samples indicative of the resolution differences between the cameras? Maybe the Micro 4/3 bodies aren't as overpriced as I thought...

Throwing the G1 into the mix, while somewhat interesting, is hardly fair in a 'shootout'. The G1 is anywhere from $200-$400 more expensive than the S90 and uses a much larger sensor. If the G1 hadn't blown away the other 2 cameras in detail and low light shooting I would have suspected something was wrong with your settings. The G1 is arguably not a pocketable camera especially dependent on which kit lens is being used.

Great review. Do you have any comment on the relative shutter lag on each camera? I am looking for the least amount anywhere. Canon suggested that I put my S90 on PROGRAM and thinks that it should be about half a second. I really wish I could shoot more quickly.

Thanks!

FYI... This is not a fair comparison when you compare cameras of different sensor sizes with same aperture.

A fair one would be comparing at same shutter speed, aperture adjusted for sensor size for same DOF (e.g., f/1.9 for GRD3/S90, but f/4.5 for G1), and whatever ISO's that provide the right exposure.