Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Noise Reduction (5.26)

Image noise starts at a high level (around 1%) even at ISO 100, and nearly 1.5% with noise reduction at its lowest setting. Once you get past ISO 800 the noise levels render the images pretty much unusable unless you crank the noise reduction settings up all the way. The good news here, as shown in our sample photos, is that the noise reduction processing doesn’t obliterate too much image detail.

Image noise in the blue channel is slightly elevated above the rest, bad news for clean reproduction of those lovely blue skies in your photos. More on how we test noise.

We expect to see Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds format cameras to produce more image noise than larger-format cameras, due to the small pixel size on the sensor, and the GF1 follows the pattern, with an undesirable level of speckling and artifacts even with bright illumination. It did, however, surpass the results we found when testing the Olympus E-P1. We test for image noise by shooting the X-Rite ColorChecker chart under bright 3000 lux studio illumination at all standard ISO levels and noise reduction settings. In the case of the GF1, Panasonic doesn’t allow high-ISO noise reduction to be turned off completely, so we shot at each of the five available levels by adjusting the Film Mode settings.

With noise reduction turned off (or, in the case of the two Panasonic cameras, set to its lowest level), the Olympus E-P1 goes off the rails at high ISOs, while the GF1 performance is still bad, but less awful.

Turning noise reduction up to its highest level, the GF1 outperforms the Olympus E-P1 at high ISO levels, but produces more noise at low ISOs. When compared to the GH1 the situation is reversed: the older camera has lower noise levels at low ISOs, but the GF1 does a better job when the ISO level is raised.

There is a clear divide when comparing scores between the small-sensor and large-sensor cameras in our roundup. The Panasonic cameras score marginally higher than the Olympus E-P1, the Canon and Nikon are a significant step above.

ISO Options

The GF1 offers settings from ISO 100-3200. If you prefer finer control, you can set ISO increments to 1/3 stop in the recording menu.

There are two flavors of automatic ISO adjustment, the standard Auto ISO based on light level and an additional Intelligent ISO system that factors in subject movement to boost ISO and shutter speed when called for. In either case, the user can set an upper ISO limit to prevent excessive image noise.

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

ISO Comparisons
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO Low
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 200
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 400
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 800
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 1600
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 3200
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 6400
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000
ISO 12800
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1	Olympus PEN E-P1	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000

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.