The G1 in low light conditions

S2C said:

To G1 owners:

How well does the G1 perform in low light conditions?

I currently own an LX3 and I'm really happy with how well it performs in such conditions thanks to its ƒ2.0 aperture, and am concerned if the G1 can do as well.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Living in Stockholm, where we´ve hardly even seen the sun since I bought my G1 on Nov 5 mad, I feel, if not qualified so at least motivated to answer...

As for the sensor, it beats the pants off any small sensors, even the LX3, at the same ISO settings.

That´s not the whole story, however, at least right now when the slow kit lens is the only available optics (and this is one of the reasons for the great interest in 3rd part adapters). If you shoot the LX3 wide open (f 2.0) at ISO 200, and shoot the G1 wide open (f 3.5), you have to use ISO 400 or so to get the same shutter speed. And that eats some (but certainly not all) of the difference in noise. Personally, I´ve all but stopped using my small sensor cameras since I bought the G1.

When the 20/1.7 pancake arrives, and when at last those Leica adapters are out, it will be quite another story....:clap:

Panasonic G1 + 4/3rds Adapter + ZD 14-35mm f2

1/80s f/2.0 iso640


This would print easily to 16" x 12" without any sign of noise.

I'm extremely happy with the G1.

Kind Regards

Brian

Brian Mosley said:

Panasonic G1 + 4/3rds Adapter + ZD 14-35mm f2

1/80s f/2.0 iso640

This would print easily to 16" x 12" without any sign of noise.

I'm extremely happy with the G1.

Kind Regards

Brian

Click to expand...

Lovely portrait Brian. Was that in auto ISO mode?

Regards,
Carl

This is just a test of long exposure noise reduction (auto dark frame subtraction) on the G1. Single 10W light bulb next to snow covered walkway. G1 with CV 90mm f/3.5 APO Lanthar, ISO 100, f/5.6, 15 sec exposure.

Hi Carl,

thank you, yes, I had it in Shutter Priority mode, Auto ISO.

Kind Regards

Brian

In even lower light...

Having fun digging out more old Hexanon legacy lenses... here's a shot with the Hex 50mm f1.4 wide open.

Panasonic G1 + 4/3rds Adapter + Hexanon 50mm f1.4
1/60s f/1.4 iso800


Kind Regards

Brian

Brian, have you discovered some good film mode settings for your portraits?
Standard? Smooth? with adjustments? I'm doing a CD cover portrait next month and want to get the best settings for indoor with and without flash.

Antara

Hi Antara,

it's been a while since I set things up, but I'm using the following film mode :

SMOOTH
Contrast -2
Sharpness +2
Saturation 0
Noise Reduction -2

But I'm shooting entirely RAW at the moment, processing in Qimage Studio, exporting to jpeg for noise reduction in Bibble Pro and finishing off in LightZone.

Ideally, I'd like for Bibble Pro to support the G1 native RAW files, but that will have to wait until February 2009 by the looks of it.

I suppose I could always take a serious look at lightroom?

Kind Regards

Brian

My first post since joining but I must comment.

That portrait is so sharp on the girl's eyes I swear I can see her contact lens! Am I mistaken?

Very nice work, either way.

Can somebody post ISO 1600 and 3200 images and crops?

Brian,
Thanks for the settings. Those settings aren't really relevant if you are shooting raw, right?
I'm beginning to use Lightroom more and more. Would save you all that software-hopping!:clap:
Its a fun program to get to know and is really made for the photographer, as I'm sure you know.
Happy Holidays!
Antara

wblynch said:

My first post since joining but I must comment.

That portrait is so sharp on the girl's eyes I swear I can see her contact lens! Am I mistaken?

Very nice work, either way.

Click to expand...

Thanks, she has lovely long eyelashes - that's a shadow from the light above.

The thing about the G1, is that you can get incredibly accurate manual focusing - this makes a huge difference imho.

Kind Regards

Brian

Jack Flesher said:

Can somebody post ISO 1600 and 3200 images and crops?

Click to expand...

Hi Jack,

here's a tough test - incandescent lighting above and behind my daughter... the catchlights in her eyes are the TV.

ISO 3200
G1 + 4/3rds adapter + ZD 50mm f2 wide open, 1/60s


ISO 3200 centre crop 1:1


ISO1600
G1 + 4/3rds adapter + ZD 50mm f2 wide open, 1/50s


ISO1600 centre crop 1:1


Hope that helps

Kind Regards

Brian

And just for fun, here's a shot with the ZD 50mm f2 plus built in pop-up flash.

Panasonic G1 + 4/3rds Adapter + ZD 50mm f2
1/25s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso160


Interestingly, f2 is so shallow dof at this range, that only one eye is in critical focus.

Kind Regards

Brian

Brian, that iso 1600 looks incredibly useable compared to anything similarly sized, how did you process it? Is this a jpg? Contrary to the 3200 shot there is almost zero colour noise.

Hi Ben,

I did the initial conversion using Qimage Studio, did the only noise reduction using Noise Ninja (built into Bibble Pro) and finished with levels and scaling / cropping using Lightzone.

Ideally, Bibble Pro will get G1 support in the next few weeks, and I'll be able to do the whole thing in Bibble 5.

The point is, you can get this end result with appropriate post processing.

Kind Regards

Brian

Brian,

Thanks for posting these -- 1600 looks very usable and 3200 isn't horrible if you really need it.

I took the liberty of running your 3200 crop through DFine. Realize this is not proper technique -- processing a jpeg post of an an already processed image, so like a 3rd generation result -- but wanted to give an idea of possibilities. Looking very promising to me!

Share the camera settings please....that little G1 seems to be a star...

Thanks Jack,

while I'm waiting for Bibble 5 to be released, I'm wondering whether to give Lightroom a go... would Dfine work with Lightroom? I don't want to load up Photoshop... hate the idea of bloatware.

Kind Regards

Brian