Three camera image quality comparison 10 April 2026

 

Western MacDonnell Ranges Northern Territory Australia Auto pano with Lumix FZ1000

Canon EOS R7 with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8

Canon EOS R10 with RF-S 18-45mm f4.5-6.3

Sony RX100-7 with integral Zeiss 9-72mm f2.8-4.5

I have these three camera kits each of which has its uses. Out of interest I ran a little test to see which has the best image quality in bright light.

That is the R7 with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8, as expected. 

The surprise for me is that the other two cameras which rate about equal on this test are so close in quality to the R7 that I have to check test images at 200% on a very sharp monitor to pick the difference.

Sony RX100-7 

The first test subject is front-lit casuarina trees lining a creek. These trees have very fine needle-like structures in place of leaves. These provide lots of fine detail to stress test the resolving capability of the lens-sensor-processor combination. 

Sony RX100-7

The second test is a back-lit bush scene with high subject brightness range, lots of fine detail and specular reflections off shiny leaves.

All the test exposures were made in bright sunny conditions within a few minutes of each other. I hand-held the cameras using f8 for the Canons and f5.6 for the Sony, apertures which I had previously determined to give best resolution across the frame in each case.

I reduced the R7 files and increased the RX100-7 files to 6000x4000 pixels to match the R10.

The new price in Australia of each of the kits at the time of writing is 

* Canon EOS R7 with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN:  AUD2614

* Sony RX100-7 with Zeiss 9-72mm f2.8-4.5 lens: AUD1800

* Canon EOS R10 with RF-S 18-45mm f4.5-6.3 lens: AUD1300

This little exercise can tell us several things:

1. Each of the kits used can transfer a remarkable amount of fine detail from a complex subject to the photo file. When I look at the images I have to wonder why anybody might think they want or could use any more detail in a photo. Each of the image files can be scaled up either with or without AI in Adobe Photoshop (it makes little difference) for reproduction at pretty much any desired size at all.  

There is a cognitive limit, albeit imprecise, to the amount of detail most humans can assimilate in one viewing of a photograph.  I think each of these camera kits can easily exceed that. Most people who view photographs are not image quality tragics. They view the photo as a gestalt, a single cognitive summary of the whole image. The details can come later if ever.

2. The R10 with RF-S 18-45mm kit lens performs very well indeed. Lens test afficionados generally ignore this lens,  which is very inexpensive especially when purchased with a camera body in a kit. Perhaps they should pay it a bit more attention as it performs really well within its focal length and aperture limitations.

3. The biggest surprise for me is the imaging capability of the Sony RX100-7. This camera uses a BSI-Stacked version of the Sony 20Mp, 15.9mm diagonal so-called “one inch” sensor. Less advanced versions of this sensor have appeared in many compact and bridge cameras from Sony, Canon and Pana-Lumix which I have owned and used over the years. Some of these such as the Canon G7X-3 and Lumix TZ300 are current models with the same image quality potential as the RX100-7 but with lower spec lenses, contrast detect AF only and lower performance capability.

The Sony sensor has an area of 116 square millimeters. The Canons each have an APSC sensor with an area of 332 square millimeters. The R7 has 32 Mpx, the R10 has 24 Mpx and the Sony has 20Mpx.

With more pixels and three times the sensor area we might assume the Canons should have much better image quality than the Sony. And at the limit, the R7 with the excellent Sigma lens is indeed slightly better. But not so much that we might notice this in most photographs.

The RX100-7 has as much image quality as most photographers and most subjects can realistically utilise to advantage. The dynamic range (DR) is a about 1.5 EV steps lower than the APSC Canons but at low ISO settings the RX100-7 has enough DR for most subjects. 

4. We get diminishing returns from larger sensors and more pixels. The increase in cost of more pixels and bigger sensors is out of proportion to the real-world gains.

5. The EOS R10 with the basic 18-45mm kit lens delivers really good value for money. It is the least expensive of the kits tested here but still has very good image quality, performance and ergonomics. It is also small enough to serve as a compact camera when small size is required.

6. Sony released the RX100-7 in 2019 but has not developed the RX100 series since then. They could house the excellent sensor, processor and lens of the RX100-7 in a slightly larger and more ergonomically appealing body with a proper handle and an always-ready EVF with a proper eyecup. I think this would be very attractive to a cohort of enthusiast photographers.

I could make the same observation about the RX10-4 bridge cam which uses the same sensor. Sony could have improved the ergonomics of this model but they just abandoned it. I guess they might say that it was discontinued due to falling sales. But if they release products then fail to upgrade them then declining consumer interest would seem inevitable.

I would very much like to see new compact and bridge type zoom cameras from Sony or Canon using a stacked BSI version of this so-called “one inch” sensor which is capable of very good image quality and performance.

Postscript

I had just written this on 10 April 2026 when Canon Rumors published a post suggesting that is exactly what Canon might be planning for later in 2026. I live in hope. Canon Rumors suggests that Canon will make the sensor which I guess they have to if they want to use dual pixel Phase Detect AF.

Post-post script

Image quality on the casuarina and bush scenes has been smashed by passage of the files through the Blogger process. Sorry about that. The originals are much better.