Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Surprising Low Noise Performance From the DMC-G3 at High iso (6400)

I used my G3 at iso6400 at a concert.  This was necessary to be able to use my Lumix 100-300 mm, f4.0-5.6 Mega OIS lens.  Not exactly a low-light lens, I was worried about having to use the camera at maximum iso.

Lumix DMC-G3 at iso6400 with Minor Noise Reduction Applied
Melissa Wright of the Acoustic Burgoo
Lumix DMC-G3, Lumix 100-300 f4.0-5.6 Mega OIS Lens at 100mm
iso6400, f4.0, 1/100 sec
Lightroom settings:  Sharpening 12,1.0,25,39
Luminance NR 11, Color NR 25

This first image (above) shows how it looks with a little Lightroom adjustment of sharpness and noise reduction (NR).

DMC-G3 high iso (6400) jpeg, right out of the camera.  Unbelievably good.
Jam - Jake and the Burtones, Hot Seats, Acoustic Burgoo
Lumix DMC-G3, Lumix 100-300 f4.0-5.6 Mega OIS Lens at 100mm
iso6400, f4.0, 1/100 sec
Lightroom settings:  Sharpening, Luminance and Color NR all ZERO!

This second image shows the performance with no adjustments, right out of the camera.

I am amazed, completely blown away by the performance of this camera at iso6400!  

Interestingly, I forgot to reset my image quality settings after playing around trying to learn the camera's controls before the concert.  As a result, both images were shot only as jpegs, no raw files involved.  There are more images on my flickr account here:

DMC-365.blogspot.com

2 comments:

  1. I have to say the noise performance at 6400 even in jpeg is pretty amazing for that size of a sensor. When looking at the original files on Flickr you can see some loss of sharpness due to the NR but hey, it's 6400! Even on the mighty D700/D3 Nikons you're going to have some loss of sharpness in jpeg and processed RAW shots at those ISO levels.

    It would be interesting to see some processed and unprocessed RAW shots in low light.

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  2. Jim,

    I agree. I am a D700 shooter as well, and had the same thought.

    I will try to get out and shoot some more, remembering to shoot raw this time!

    Thanks for your comment.

    Reed

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