The crops are taken from the original images, saved as High Quality JPEGs in Photoshop CS2 and presented here at 100%. Each number represents 100 lines per picture height (lpph), so a figure of 20 means a resolution of 2000 lpph.

In terms of resolving power, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 delivers 1975 lpph of horizontal and vertical resolution. This ranks it second of the four cameras compared below. Of its main superzoom rivals, the H9 is comfortably ahead of the Olympus SP-550UZ for resolving fine detail, although the Panasonic FZ8 is very close behind. Indeed in our outdoor tests the FZ8 often recorded greater detail due to less aggressive compression and noise reduction – at least at the lowest sensitivities. That said, it’s still a good result for the H9 here which manages to make the most of its 8.1 Megapixel sensor given optimal conditions.