DxO Labs introduces dxomark.com, the first digital camera benchmark based on RAW image quality

This free online resource created by DxO Labs delivers in-depth, objective RAW-based image quality data to enable fair analysis and comparison of digital cameras.

On November 17, 2008, DxO Labs launches www.dxomark.com, a new Internet-based image quality service that delivers key objective measurements of image sensor performance for a variety of high end digital cameras measured directly on the RAW data.  For the first time, dxomark.com makes it possible to assess the intrinsic quality of a digital camera before the impact of any RAW conversion.

There are many valuable resources available through traditional and web media to review the image quality of digital cameras, but none of them actually use the RAW signal data output from a digital camera’s image sensor. Until now, demanding photographers who shoot in RAW and who care very much about the genuine quality of their RAW images have had to rely solely on measurements based on converted RAW images; such measurements are obviously biased by the processing applied to them, whether embedded or performed offline with a software RAW converter.

Furthermore, as RAW converters evolve and improve, the latent potential of RAW images can only be gauged by analyzing the RAW images themselves, projecting the potential quality achievable with the ultimate RAW converter. This new image quality service, dxomark.com, will then dramatically change the way photographers evaluate digital cameras.

dxomark.com provides in-depth measurements of all the relevant characteristics of a sensor: actual ISO sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), dynamic range, tonal range, color depth and sensitivity, metamerism, color response, etc. Initially dxomark.com covers about 50 popular digital cameras, including Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLRs) and high-end bridge cameras offering RAW format. The site will be updated on a regular basis with new cameras and more image quality data.

dxomark.com RAW image quality database relies on DxO Analyzer, the world’s leading turn-key laboratory solution for image quality evaluation. Thanks to its accuracy, completeness, and reliability, DxO Analyzer has become the reference tool for numerous leading imaging industry manufacturers, photography magazines and websites.

DxOMark Sensor, a simple scale for RAW image quality evaluation

DxOMark Sensor aggregates dxomark.com’s large and complex set of measurements into a simple scale, allowing for easy comparison between camera performances. The DxOMark Sensor scale is built from real world photographic scenarios such as portrait, landscape and action photography, ensuring that the scale is relevant to photographers.
DxOMark Sensor is naturally an open scale, as it will need to cope with performance improvements driven by the evolution of image sensor technologies.

dxomark.com Insights, the view of an insider

To help understand the ramifications of this new tool, and to assist those who want to take advantage of the RAW image quality database, dxomark.com features a number of technical papers, collectively referred to as “Insights,” written by DxO Labs’ scientists. These technical articles aim in particular to give an original perspective on the technology challenges faced by the imaging industry.
Early Insights includes a paper on how pixel count impacts noise, providing an unexpected yet well-supported contribution to this controversial topic, along with an analysis of the evolution of camera sensor performance over the past few years.
The Insights section will be updated on a regular basis with more technical papers.

dxomark.com, a unique web resource serving the entire photographic community

Openly accessible on the public Internet, dxomark.com has been designed to serve the whole photographic community as a unique resource to evaluate the intrinsic performance of digital cameras straight from the RAW image, regardless of optics or processing considerations. It aims to become an industry reference providing the set of essential metrics that objectively report on image quality performance of commercial digital cameras.