Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Color (12.38)

The Panasonic GF1 produced more accurate color than the GH1, but still fared poorly against the Olympus, Canon and Nikon competition. We shoot the X-Rite ColorChecker chart in each available color mode under controlled studio lighting. The resulting images are analyzed using Imatest software to determine which setting produced the most accurate color reproduction. That mode is used for scoring purposes. More on how we test color.

The GF1 offers nine film modes, six in color and three in black and white. The Smooth mode produced the most accurate results, slightly undersaturated at about 96% and with spot-on hues for the dark skin, foliage, blue flower and purple color patches. However, the yellow and yellow green reproduction were way off the actual color values, with cyan and orange also significantly off.

The following chart shows same size crops of each color patch from the test chart, shot in the most accurate mode for each comparison camera.

Camera Color Comparisons					Expand
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
Blue
Green
Red
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

As seen in the chart, the Panasonic GF1 improves on the color accuracy performance of its brand mate GH1, but still lags the competition overall.

Color Modes (5.00)

The GF1 offers nine preset ‘film modes,’ each of which affects contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction. Six of these presets are in color, as shown in the swatches below, taken from our test shots under studio lighting. There are also three black and white film modes, Standard, Dynamic and Smooth.

Including high-ISO noise reduction settings as part of color mode settings is a Panasonic peculiarity, and not one we favor. It would make much more sense to maintain a separate noise reduction control, as found on most SLRs. It would also be nice to be able to turn off noise reduction altogether, to maximize image detail, but this isn’t allowed.

The contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction settings for each preset can be adjusted along a five-step scale. These customized versions can then be stored in one of two My Film slots for future access.

The chart below shows same-size crops from test shots of the ColorChecker chart in each color mode. Dynamic and Vibrant modes were highly oversaturated to produce more dramatic results (112% and 123% respectively), while the Nostalgic mode damps down saturation to about 93.5% for a muted tone. The Nature setting tweaks blue and red reproduction but produces a pretty accurate green value, albeit 10% oversaturated.

Color Mode Comparisons						Expand
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Vibrant	Nature	Smooth
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Vibrant	Nature	Smooth
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Vibrant	Nature	Smooth
Blue
Green
Red
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

White Balance (13.52)

White balance accuracy is a definite strength of the GF1: it outscored all the other cameras in our comparison group by a healthy margin. The automatic white balance system is the strong suit here, with extraordinarily accurate results under often-tricky fluorescent lighting, and very little of that orange tint that seems almost inevitable when shooting with auto white balance using standard household incandescent bulbs.

We test white balance both using the camera’s automatic setting and by taking a custom white balance reading under three different lighting conditions. Consistent illumination for test purposes is provided by an X-Rite Judge II lightbox. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (15.33)

The overall results here are exceptionally accurate, with minimal color shift even under difficult lighting conditions. The daylight test shots produced colors that were slightly cool, but it’s very unlikely you’d notice the difference in an actual photograph. Incandescent lighting is the bane of every digital camera, consistently causing higher color error than other types of illumination. For the GF1, though, the shift toward warmer tones is barely noticeable. The automatic white balance system produced nearly flawless results under fluorescent lighting.

Custom White Balance (11.7)

Taking a custom white balance reading essentially eliminated the already modest warm shift under incandescent lighting, and didn’t really make much difference under fluorescent and daylight illumination, which were already pretty spot-on using the automatic white balance system.

The GF1 scored significantly better than the competition here. It’s interesting to note that the E-P1 also showed better-than-average performance in our white balance testing.

White Balance Options (9.50)

It’s a good thing that the automatic white balance system performed so well, because there are only five presets to use as a fallback. Strangely, this doesn’t include a fluorescent option; we often see several fluorescent choices, to compensate for the variety of available bulbs.

The GF1 has two manual white balance slots, so readings can be saved for later use. Taking a reading is fast and easy, with clear on-screen prompts.

The white balance can be set directly in degrees Kelvin, ordinarily a pretty esoteric procedure, but useful here because the Live View display changes as you change the setting the preview the effect of your adjustments. Similarly, preset and custom white balance settings can be finely adjusted along the green-magenta and amber-blue axes, with a live on-screen preview.

White balance bracketing is also available, using the WB fine adjustment system to set the bracketing increments. Three versions of the shot are taken with a single press of the shutter.

Long Exposure (6.97)

In our long exposure test, which analyzes color accuracy and image noise over a range of shutter speeds, the GF1 again shows improvement over the GH1, but still comes up short compared to other cameras. We shoot the X-Rite ColorChecker chart under dim 20-lux illumination at shutter speeds ranging from 1 second to 30 seconds, with long exposure noise reduction on and off, then use Imatest software to determine the camera’s performance. More on how we test long exposure.

Color error is high across the board, with the long exposure filter having little effect. Saturation wasn’t bad, hovering around 100% before dipping significantly at the two longest exposure settings, but the color values are off throughout.

Image noise is quite high too and, as we sometimes see, the long exposure noise reduction system makes matters slightly worse. Long exposure noise reduction works by taking a second exposure with the shutter closed, then digitally removing the noise that appears in that second exposure from the image. Problem is, image noise is inherently random, so this approach is hit-and-miss at best.

The GF1 produced better results than the GH1, but comes up short compared to the Olympus E-P1, which also relies on a small Micro Four Thirds sensor, and substantially behind the Canon and Nikon with their APS-C format sensors.

The GF1 produced better results than the GH1, but comes up short compared to the Olympus E-P1, which also relies on a small Micro Four Thirds sensor, and substantially behind the Canon and Nikon with their APS-C format sensors.