Olympus PEN E-P1

Noise Reduction (5.04)

The noise levels at ISO 100 and 200 are about what we’ve seen with other Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras, but the rapid escalation that starts at ISO 800 is more severe than competitive models we’ve tested.

We look at levels for each of the component parts of the overall noise: red, green, blue, yellow and luma (gray). If one of these components is significantly higher than the others it can create noticeable problems, but that’s not the case here.

Turning noise reduction off provides the highest level of detail ordinarily, though with the E-P1 the level of noise this produces will obscure whatever detail lurks among the speckles anyway. More on how we test noise.

This camera has considerable image noise issues, raising a red flag for anyone likely to make sizable enlargments or crop an image tightly. The good news is that the noise reduction system is effective up to ISO 800. However, at higher ISO settings it’s overwhelmed and, what’s more, clobbers image detail badly (see the Sample Photos section for side-by-side examples shot at each noise reduction level). Why Olympus decided to include an ISO 6400 level at all is a mystery, since the noise levels here make it all but unusable.

The other factor that affects the noise levels in Olympus cameras is the inability to turn off dynamic range enhancement, which Olympus calls ‘gradation’ adjustment. There are four settings for gradation, Auto, Normal, High Key and Low Key, but ‘Off’ isn’t on the menu, and digitally manipulating dynamic range inevitably adds noise to an image. We shot with the Normal setting, since this does the least damage.

Our noise reduction testing involves shooting the color chart under bright 3000 lux illumination at each standard ISO level and each available noise reduction setting, then running the test photos through Imatest to derive image noise scores.

When we cranked the noise reduction system to its highest level for each of our comparison cameras, the Panasonic GH1 actually had more difficulty than the E-P1 at high ISO levels.

Our overall score takes into account all noise reduction levels and ISO settings offered, which didn’t help the E-P1 with its astronomical noise levels at ISO 6400.

ISO Options

Available ISOs range from 100-6400, which can be to set 1/3 EV or 1 EV increments. ISO bracketing is available, an unusual feature and one that comes in handy when shooting with a relatively noisy camera and trying to see how much sensitivity you can get away with. ISO bracketing saves three versions of a single exposure, one below the set value, one above, with increments of 0.3 EV, 0,7 EV or 1 EV.

There is an Auto ISO system which can be set with a default value (to be used if it allows an acceptable exposure) and an upper limit, so you can avoid overly high settings when shooting with Auto ISO.

ISO Comparisons
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO Low
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 100	ISO 100
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 100	ISO 100
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 200
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 400
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 800
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 1600
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 3200
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 6400
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
ISO 12800
Olympus PEN E-P1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Olympus E-620	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1

NOTE: The images above are not used in our testing or scoring, but are included here to show real-world examples of the differences between cameras at the various ISO settings.