Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2

Noise Reduction (6.93)

On the G2, there is no simple setting to turn high-ISO noise reduction off, so we tweaked the options for custom Film Modes to select varying levels of noise reduction. (-1, +1, +2, and 0). The results you’ll see in the chart below are far less dramatic than those of last year’s G-series models from Panasonic, which measured up to nearly 5% noise at some settings. The G2 manages to keep noise under 2%, even at ISO 3200 with noise reduction set to -1.

At the lower ISOs, there’s a big difference between blue and green noise, but at 800 and above, it’s pretty much all the same. More on how we test noise.

As we’ve come to expect from Micro Four Thirds cameras, the G2 produces a noisier image than larger-format cameras. This is a trend we’ve seen since these cameras were released: compact size comes at a heavy price if noise-free photos are important to you. Even with bright illumination, the G2 records an undesirable level of speckling and artifacts. The G2 did, however, hang with the best of the Micro Four Thirds cameras, turning in very similar results to the Samsung NX10 and Sony NEX-5. It also bested the noise performance of 2009’s Panasonic GF1 and GH1.

ISO Options

The G2 offers settings from ISO 100-6400. If you prefer finer control, you can set ISO increments to 1/3 stop in the recording menu.

You can set the ISO manually or choose from two different automatic ISO settings: standard Auto ISO (based on the scene’s light level) and Intelligent ISO (factors in subject movement to boost ISO and shutter speed when needed). There is also an ISO limit set, which allows the user to cap ISO at 200, 400, 600, 800, or 1600. The limit can be used in conjunction with either Auto ISO or Intelligent ISO.

The following same-size crops are taken from photos of our standard still life, taken in aperture-priority mode with automatic white balance.

Focus Performance

Autofocus performance has been a key strength of the Lumix G series from the start, and this continues with the G2. The Live View autofocus on most digital SLRs is too slow to be practical when shooting moving subjects. Panasonic, though, has figured out how to make contrast detect autofocus nearly as fast as the standard SLR phase detect system, and certainly workable for all but the most sports-oriented photography. This is an area where the G2 has a clear advantage over the Olympus E-P1, which suffers from pokey autofocus speeds.

The continuous autofocus in video mode pioneered on the GH1 is also implemented on the G2. The autofocus system supports four modes, which may be selected via a dedicated dial on the top of the camera:

Beneath the Focus Modes dial is a secondary dial, which allows you to select between AF-S (autofocus single), AF-C (continuous), and MF (manual focus). AF-S focuses when you press the shutter halfway and maintains that setting, even if you move the camera. AF-C keeps refocusing as necessary while you hold the shutter down, even if your subject moves, or you move the camera. Yet another set of autofocus options are prefocus settings, available through the custom settings menu. Here you can choose from Q-AF (Quick Autofocus), which tries to autofocus whenever the camera is held still, and C-AF (Continuous Autofocus), which attempts to maintain focus at all times, even if the camera is moving and your finger is nowhere near the shutter button, with compatible lenses. Confusing terminology rules here: having both Autofocus Continuous and Continuous Autofocus as distinct choices isn’t playing fair.

There’s a bright red autofocus assist lamp on the front left, which does a nice job when the lights are low. However, the positioning isn’t perfect. It’s very easy to cover up the lamp with your right middle finger while shooting, especially if you have large hands. It’s also slightly off-center, so your subject won’t be evenly illuminated if s/he is in the center of the frame.

Panasonic continues with its odd variant to face detection, which it calls face recognition. You can register up to six faces in the camera’s built-in memory, complete with name, birthday and a priority rating if you choose. Then, when the feature is turned on during shooting, those registered faces will be given preferential treatment when focusing and setting exposure. The name can even be displayed on screen, for no apparent reason. The face recognition concept does have some interesting benefits, though. When taking group photos (at a school concert, for example), it will help make sure your little darling is in focus rather than some random kid. And during playback, it’s possible to view only images which include recognized faces.

Long Exposure (7.68)

In our long exposure test, which analyzes color accuracy and image noise over a range of shutter speeds, Panasonic has once again improved performance, granting the G2 less noise and more accurate colors than either of its previous G-system cameras. In general, however, Micro Four Thirds cameras do very poorly in this test compared to traditional DSLRs. The best mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras for long exposure seem to be from Samsung, whose NX10 performed as well as any SLR we’ve tested. More on how we test long exposure.

Color accuracy worsened significantly at shutter speeds of 5 seconds or longer.

The Panasonic G2 has a special ‘Long Shutter NR’ feature, which is designed to lower noise with longer exposures.The feature did improve color accuracy slightly (see above chart), but it actually seemed to make matters worse in the noise department. Long exposure noise reduction works by taking a second exposure with the shutter closed, then digitally removing the noise that appears in the second image from the first image. Unfortunately, in the case of the Panasonic G2, this digital noise reduction simply doesn’t work very well for long exposures.

As seen in the chart below, the G2 produces average results for a Micro Four Thirds camera. It performed better than the GF1, but not as well as the exceptional NX10. Compared to SLRs with APS-C format sensors, however, the G2 underperforms significantly.

Video: Low Light Sensitivity (0.80)

The G2 needed 24 lux of light to record an image that registered 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. This isn’t a great showing for the camera, but it matches up with what we saw from the other models in this set. Only the Samsung NX10 was able to produce the same IRE levels with less than 20 lux of light (it needed 19 lux to reach 50 IRE). What does this all mean? Well, it means that none of these models are top-notch performers when it comes to low light sensitivity, so the Panasonic G2’s performance isn’t all that bad in comparison. We should also note that there was no difference in the low light sensitivity on the Panasonic G2 when we shot using the camera’s MJPEG compression mode in comparison to its AVCHD setting.

Since all of these cameras feature interchangeable lens systems, you should keep in mind that much of what determines low light sensitivity has to do with the kind of lens you are using. Attaching a faster lens (with a wider aperture) should give any of these models a significant boost in low light as they would allow more light to hit the image sensor.