To compare real-life performance we shot this scene with the Canon PowerShot A2100 IS, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W270 / W300 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS25 wthin a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings, lowest ISO sensitivities and default processing options. The lenses on each camera were set to aproximate the same field of view and each was set to program or auto mode with manual ISO override.

The above image was taken with the Canon PowerShot A2100 IS set to 80 ISO. The lens was set to 6.4mm and the evaluative metering set the exposure to 1/125th of a second at f9. The original 4000x3000 pixel image had a file size of 2.9MB.

The four crops are taken from the upper left, the centre right edge, the lower right and the centre of the image

The A2100's Digic 4 processor has done an excellent job of rendering detail in the image across the entire frame. Details are sharp and show good contrast but there's no evidence of over-sharpening.

We'd expect detail to be pin sharp in the central areas, but definition at the edges is also good with little evidence of fringing, so the lens has proved itself capable of resolving sufficent detail for the Digic 4 processor to work with.

Compared with the results from the other two cameras, the A2100 crops look punchier, cleaner and better defined.

Now head over to our Canon Powershot A2100 IS Noise results to see how it compares in terms of high sensitivities.