Head to Head Comparison

Below you can find a studio comparison between the Waitec IXO 334 and the BenQ DC S30 . We have included samples for the lowest and higher ISO settings for each camera. There is no Aperture priority or full Manual exposure mode on these cameras, so "Auto" was used for both of them with tweaks for using the appropriate WB, ISO and exposure compensation setting s. The shots where difficult to match as the IXO 334 had no tripod mount and we had to mount it using double sided tape on the tripods head. Both shots where taken at approximately the same distance from the subject (110cm +/- 1%).

Low ISO performance

• Waitec IXO 334 : Single Shot mode, ISO 100, Fine Quality, Tungsten White Balance, Default Image parameters +0.5EV Compensation - (Note ISO is based on EXIF data. The in-camera menu has only "Auto", 200 and 400 ISO steps available).
• BenQ DC S-30 : "Manual" Shoot mode, ISO 100, Fine Quality, Tungsten White Balance, Default Image parameters +0.3EV Compensation
• Lighting: 2x500W Tungsten 3200K studio lamps with diffusion umbrellas

Waitec IXO 334	BenQ DC S30
ISO 100, F2.8, 1/90sec	ISO 100, F6.2, 1/160sec
Original Image (1.08 MB)	Original Image (1.04MB)

Apart from a slight warm color cast, the Waitec IXO 334 clearly produces much more detailed and cleaner images. The detail difference is noticeable in almost all of the included 100% crops, as is the noise produced by the DC S30 even in this low ISO setting. Much worse than the DC C50 of the same stable.

Waitec's JPEG algorithm does a good job, providing almost noise free images. Sharpness could be better by default, but notice that the much smaller aperture the DC S30 program chooses helped it produce superior sharpness in some areas, but the noise spoils the overall impression.

Color is bright in both cases, and perhaps the S30 could give better results if Exposure was set to +0,7EV. The Waitec camera still seams to render more realistic colors.