Not at all bad

To read the whole series on the Panasonic G1, click here

Here’s a snap from a puppet show my son attended the other day. The puppeteer is explaining how he works his magic:

G1, kit lens at 45mm, 1/40, f/5.6, ISO 1250

The sensor was cranked up to ISO 1250 in the poor incandescent indoor lighting, and the lens was at its maximum aperture, fully extended, at f/5.6.

Now here’s a section of that same picture which would make a 28″ x 42″ print – a size hardly anyone is going to print at:

Section of the above

All in all, not at all bad. I’m using firmware version 1.3, the current release and Auto White Balance. IS shake reduction does its job here, the only blur visible being motion blur. The Electronic Viewfinder just shines in this sort of situation, where it seems far more comfortable than outdoors in bright light.

Here, by contrast, is a similar presentation at ISO 100 from yesterday’s piece:

G1, kit lens @ 16mm, 1/80, f/4.5, ISO 100

Section of the above

No grain to speak of.

If big prints are your thing (by ‘big’ I mean the shortest dimension is at least 18″) then the G1 will not disappoint up to ISO 400. After that, fine detail begins to disappear – this is no Canon 5D, whose sensor is almost four times the area of the G1’s. The 5D’s sensor remains the standard to judge by in the digital domain. Some say the 5D Mark II is even better, but absent a broad consensus on this point it makes no difference for other than chart-on-a-lab-wall fiends. Beats me why anyone spends time on this sort of nonsense. I should add that I have not used the 5D Mark II.

An 18″ x 27″ print is an 18x enlargement for the 5D but a 34x ratio for the smaller sensor in the Panasonic G1. If I want super fine detail in large prints at high ISOs, the 5D is the camera to use. Horses for courses.