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 Canon PowerShot SX10 IS at 15mm f4 delivers 2150 lpph of horizontal and vertical resolution. This is is comfortably higher than the 1750 and 1900 lpph measured for its predecessor the PowerShot S5 IS, although unsurprisingly lower than the PowerShot G10 which sports 50% more pixels in total.

Compared to the Panasonic Lumix FZ28, the SX10 IS scores roughly the same. The Canon result is again cleaner and sharper, but in terms of measured detail, there’s little in it here. But do also compare the results on the previous and following pages to see how they compare on real-life detail taken from more typical distances.

Like most compacts and superzooms though, diffraction is an issue for the SX10 IS. At the focal length tested, the best result was measured at the maximum aperture of f4. As the aperture was closed, the resolution steadily decreased until we measured 1600 lpph at f8. Since the SX10 IS offers a brighter maximum aperture when fully zoomed-out, we repeated the test at a closer range with the lens at 5mm f2.8. Here we measured a slight boost in resolution of 2225 lpph. Most compacts with smaller sensors and high resolutions suffer from the same effect, so for the maximum resolution (albeit also the smallest depth of field), always try and shoot with the SX10 IS with its aperture wide open.

Since there’s no RAW mode to test, it’s now time to check out the camera’s performance across its sensitivity range in our Canon SX10 IS High ISO results page.