Olympus C4040 and C5050 noise test

Olympus 4040 and 5050 noise test

Back to the Olympus 5050 online resource

Here you'll find the results of a brief test which compares the noise levels of the Olympus C4040 and C5050 digital cameras.
For questions or comments send me an email.

Conclusions

In this test the C4040 has less noise at ISO 100 than the C5050 at ISO 64 (slightly less) and sharpness -3. At ISO 100 the C4040 has substantially less noise than the C5050 at ISO 100 and sharpness -3. However at ISO 200 noise in the C4040 increases sharply and reaches the level of the C5050 (at sharpness -3). At ISO 400 the C4040 has substantially more noise than the C5050 (both at sharpness 0 and -3).
In other words the C4040 has a very low noise at ISO 100, but a quite high noise at ISO 400. With the C5050 the noise increases sustantially less when the ISO increases (the curve is considerably flatter).

Test procedure

I prepared a scene containing an objects with smooth, non-reflective surfaces with homogeneous colour and no texture.

Ricola sweets box; macro shot without flash

I measured the noise in an image area with no texture and homogeneous colour.

In a noiseless image, the standard deviation in an area of homogeneous colour should be zero. Therefore, the higher the standard deviation, the bigger the noise.

With an Olympus C5050 I took a series of shots at different ISO levels (ISO 64, 100, 200 and 400) and at sharpening 0 and -3. With the C4040 I took three shots at ISO 100, 200 and 400.

**Exposure data**
Olympus C-4040Z Shutter priority at 1/50S F2.6 - 5.0 depending on ISO Auto white balance No flash HQ JPEG 2272x1704 daylight illumination	Olympus C-5050Z Shutter priority at 1/50S F2.6 - 5.0 depending on ISO Auto white balance No flash SHQ JPEG 2560x1920 daylight illumination

With the histogram function I measured the standard deviation in the noise measurement areas of each image. The results are shown in the graphs below.

In this test the C4040 has less noise at ISO 100 than the C5050 at ISO 64 (slightly less) and sharpness -3. At ISO 100 the C4040 has substantially less noise than the C5050 at ISO 100 and sharpness -3. However at ISO 200 noise in the C4040 increases sharply and reaches the level of the C5050 (at sharpness -3). At ISO 400 the C4040 has substantially more noise than the C5050 (both at sharpness 0 and -3).
In other words the C4040 has a very low noise at ISO 100, but a quite high noise at ISO 400. With the C5050 the noise increases sustantially less when the ISO increases (the curve is considerably flatter).
Important note: noise was measured in image areas containing no detail. The C5050 apparently applies a noise reduction filter which flattens noise at ISO 400, but only in image areas containing no details (see this page for more information).

Back to the Olympus 5050 online resource