The crops below show the performance of the Nikon Coolpix S600 next to the same ISO for the Fuji Finepix F100fd. These cameras have a large sensitivity range, starting at ISO 100 and going up to ISO 3200 for the S600 and up to ISO 12800 for the F100. This required a scene with very low-lighting which made taking the shots an exercise in tricking the cameras. The S600 behaved best in Auto mode where it slightly under-exposed the ISO 100 because the minimum shutter-speed it selects is 1s. The F100fd has a minimum shutter-speed of 1/4s in Auto mode (Called Manual on the F100fd) which causes severe under-exposure for the ISO 200 shot. Since all slow-shutter modes lock the ISO at 100, we got a bright ISO 100 shot in Night scene-mode.

All crops below are 100% from their respective camera taken at the highest image quality setting available. Besides the scene-mode used for the Fuiji's ISO 100 shot, all other settings were left on automatic or on their default values. These crops help determine which ISO settings can be acceptably used on these cameras. As noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print becomes unacceptably noisy is a matter of personal taste.

Nikon Coolpix S600

Fuji Finepix F100fd