Tuesday February 3
 
17:34
 
G1 Review: High ISO

ISO 3200, Lightroom 2.2 default conversion. I forgot to change the ISO back to something lower before taking the shot (I do this fairly frequently). I liked the texture the grain gave the photo, so I decided not to reshoot.

Before I bought the G1, I’d seen some samples online – and there was one thing that worried me: at high ISO, some of the G1 samples exhibited banding. What does banding look like? Look at this 5Dii sample, here.

Of course the G1 doesn’t go up to ISO12800, but from all the photos I’ve taken with the G1 – about half of which are ISO1600 or ISO3200 – I’ve yet to see anything approaching banding.

I’m pleased – very pleased.

Up to ISO400, the G1 is comparable with the D60 and other entry level DSLRs. There’s slightly more grain noise at ISO200 and ISO400 than the D60, but that’s a very Panasonic trait (it’s exactly the same in their P&S cameras).

As the camera moves from ISO800 to ISO 3200, noise becomes a touch intrusive than the D60, but it’s still nicely fine grained, and images have a lot of detail. It’s far preferable, to me, than the blotchy chroma noise and loss of detail of Sony DSLRs.

In DSLR terms, then, the G1 can definitely hold its own. It’s a bit below Canon and Nikon, but above everything else.

What I wanted was a P&S replacement for when I can’t be bothered to carry around my Nikon D90 or D60 kit, and a camera which works well on a tripod. For those tasks, I can accept the quality of the G1 – it may not be as good as my D60, but it’s better than any P&S out there, and I can stick with lower ISO for tripod work. If I need higher quality high ISO, I’ll take out my D90.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Review
1. Introduction
2. EVF, LCD, and Focus
3. RAW Magnification
4. RAW vs JPEG
5. High ISO
6. Kit lens – Barrel Distortion
7. Kit lens – Purple Fringing
8. Miscellaneous Observations
9. Conclusion

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 – Main Page