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To compare real-life performance we shot this scene with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55, the Nikon COOLPIX S8000 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8 / ZS5 within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings. The lenses on each camera were set to approximately the same field of view, the Sony and Panasonic cameras were set to Program mode and the COOLPIX S8000 was set to Auto mode. All three cameras were set to manual ISO and the lowest available sensitivity - 80 ISO on the Cyber-shot DSC-H55 and the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ8 / ZS5 and 100 ISO on the COOLPIX S8000.

The above image was taken with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55 in Program mode. The lens was set to 5.1 mm (30mm equivalent) and the metering selected an exposure of 1/320th of a second at f4 with an ISO setting of 80. The original 4320 x 3240 pixel image had a file size of 5.45MB.

These test images were shot in cloudy bright conditions so the subject doesn't present the same kind of exposure challenges as it does in bright sunlight with a high dynamic range encompassing bright highlights on the white walls and deep shadow in the foreground vegetation. The Cyber-shot H55 has made a pretty good job of the exposure, however there is a degree of clipping of the highlights with some detail lost in the white clouds in the top right corner of the frame. There's good detail in the shadows though and we think a slightly better result might have resulted had the Cyber-shot's multi metering mode chosen an exposure half a stop lower.

The Cyber-shot H55 has got the white balance spot on though. Where both the Nikon COOLPIX S8000 and Panasonic Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 have produced results with a slight blue cast, the Cyber-shot H55's whites are neutral resulting in other colours being correctly rendered and producing a pleasing warmer result.

Now let's look at the detailed crops. Generally, the crops from the Cyber-shot DSC-H55 show a good level of detail that's consistent accross the frame from the centre to the edges. There's little evidence of chromatic aberration, even right at the edges and fine detail is quite well resolved. There is a slight clumpiness to the pixels, though, and if you look closely at the first crop of the chapel on the hill you'll notice a faint white halo that extends along the top of the wall and down the hill. This is the result of sharpening or some other digital processing. While you're not likely to notice it other than when looking at full sized pictures on screen or printed (even then you have to look quite hard) it does show that Sony has had to work very hard (perhaps too hard) on the image data delivered by the lens and sensor combination in order to produce acceptable results.

Compared with the COOLPIX S8000, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55, is ahead on all counts. Firstly, the Cyber-shot H55 has nailed the while balance spot whereas the COOLPIX crops have a very pronounced blue cast. And though the Sony crops look a little clumpy and the halo is just visible on the horizon, the COOLPIX S8000 exhibits these artifacts to a much greater extent and the difference shows in reduced image detail. Probably the best example of the difference in image detail is in the lighthouse crop, where the Sony has clearly made a better job of resolving the detail in both the foreground houses and the landscape beyond.

Like the COOLPIX S8000, the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 has also had a bad day where the white balance is concerned and produced an image with a slight blue bias. And the halo effect that's visible in both the Sony H55 and Nikon S8000 crops is here on the Lumix TZ8 / ZS5 crops as well. Looking at the entire image, the Lumix halo is not so bad as the COOLPIX one, but worse than the Sony H55. The overall level of image detail in the Lumix crops also does't quite match up to what the Cyber-shot H55 can produce and it lacks consistency, while it's good at the centre, it deteriorates towards the edges. Compare the top (chapel) crops from the two cameras and you can't see much difference but in the lighthouse crop from nearer the edge of the frame the Cyber-shot detail is clearer and sharper. Now let's check out how they compare at higher sensitivities in our High ISO Noise results.