Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1

Color (10.78)

The GH1 fared poorly in our color accuracy tests, trailing the other tested cameras by a substantial margin. Of course, what we’re testing here is color accuracy, not how pretty the colors look, but somewhere in the variety of color modes provided, we expect at least one to produce colors that match what we’re seeing. The best result we found with the GH1 was the Smooth film mode, which was nearly identical to the Standard mode but with much more accurate saturation (the Standard mode was nearly 10% oversaturated).

We test color accuracy by shooting a standard X-Rite ColorChecker chart under controlled studio illumination, testing each available color mode to find the most accurate one and basing our scoring on that result. Images are analyzed using Imatest software. More on how we test color.

Even in Smooth mode, the blue, green and orange hues were off substantially, though the flesh tones looked about right. Standard mode was about as inaccurate overall, but the color shifts were more prominent in the reds and oranges. The more specialized film modes performed as expected, with Vibrant pumping up the blues and reds in particular, with a whopping 124% saturation. Dynamic was strategically similar but a bit more restrained, with 110% saturation and shifts in the red and blue hues. The Nature mode boosted reds and oranges (though surprisingly did little to the greens), with nearly 110% saturation. As for the Nostalgic mode, it achieves an old-time faded photo feel by undersaturating to 90%.

The following table shows same-size crops from the ColorChecker chart from the Panasonic GH1 and four recently reviewed SLRs we’ve chosen for comparison purposes, each in the camera’s most accurate color mode. The patches in the Ideal column reflect the actual values from the original chart.

Camera Color Comparisons					Expand
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Olympus E-30
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Olympus E-30
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Olympus E-30
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.

The GH1 trails our group of comparison cameras in color accuracy.

Color Modes (5.00)

The GH1 supports a variety of ‘film modes,’ each of which includes adjustments for color, saturation and contrast. These include six settings in color (Standard, Dynamic, Nature, Smooth, Nostalgic and Vibrant) plus three in black and white (Standard, Dynamic and Smooth), plus the option to create and store two of your own settings combinations. There’s even a bracketing option called Multifilm that will take a shot in three different modes sequentially with three separate shutter presses (it would be more useful if the camera simply adjusted the settings for a single shot, the way it does with white balance bracketing).

Example still life shots of each of these modes are included in the Picture Effects section. Here we have taken same-size crops from our shots of the X-Rite ColorChecker chart, shot in five of the available color mode (excluding black and white and custom settings). The names along the left side are the official color patch titles X-Rite uses.

Color Mode Comparisons						Expand
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Nature	Smooth	Vibrant
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Nature	Smooth	Vibrant
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Standard	Dynamic	Nature	Smooth	Vibrant
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 (8.16)

The camera’s poor color accuracy performance naturally spills over into disappointing results for our white balance testing, where we compare images shot under different lighting conditions against the actual color values of the X-Rite ColorChecker chart. We use a Macbeth Judge II lighting box to maintain precise color temperature control, shooting under daylight, tungsten and compact fluorescent illumination. We test both the performance of the automatic white balance and custom white balance systems. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (8.39)

The automatic system consistently had difficulty producing accurately colored images. In each type of illumination we tested, the GH1 photos displayed significant color shift.

Custom White Balance (7.92)

Taking a custom white balance reading effectively eliminated the orange-red cast of photos shot under tungsten lighting, but the improvement under compact white fluorescents was minimal, and the automatic white balance system did about as well as the custom reading in daylight shots. The custom results aren’t bad, but we expect very high accuracy in this test, so the GH1 score is a bit low.

The color error when shooting under daylight was modest compared to the problems we found under incandescent and fluorescent lights, but the other cameras in our test group were more successful under the same conditions, with the exception of the Canon T1i.

The toughest test in our lineup is consistently incandescent lighting, which produces problems for virtually every camera. Here, while the Panasonic still can’t claim a good result, it was distinctly less bad than the competition.

Fluorescent lighting proved another significant obstacle for the GH1, producing overly warm results and a higher color error than the other cameras tested.

As shown below, the GH1 lags the field when it comes to white balance overall, though the difference isn’t extreme.

White Balance Options (9.25)

In addition to automatic white balance, the GH1 offers five white balance presets: Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent, and Flash.

On many cameras today we find a variety of fluorescent white balance presets, since fluorescent lighting can be hard to compensate for automatically and there are several different fluorescent bulb colors available. Strangely, there is no fluorescent preset at all on the GH1.

Taking a manual white balance reading is simple enough. You select one of the two custom white balance slots using the Quick Menu or the rightmost four-way controller button, then press up on the four-way controller to enter setting mode. Point the camera at a white or grey surface and press Menu/Set to take a reading. With two slots, you can save settings and return to them later if you like.

It’s also possible to directly enter a white balance setting in degrees Kelvin. This is a more valuable option here than with most cameras, since the Live View screen reflects changes to the setting as you make them, allowing you to eyeball the reading you’re after.

Custom and preset white balance settings can be finely adjusted along the amber-blue and green-magenta axes, with 18 increments for each.

White balance bracketing is also supported, recording three versions of a single shot, with the increment based on the fine white balance adjustment setting. This capability isn’t available when shooting RAW.

Long Exposure (5.31)

Our long exposure test combines color accuracy and image noise, neither of which is a strength of this camera even under normal shooting conditions, producing a result here that trails the competition by a substantial margin. We shoot the ColorChecker chart under low lighting (20 lux and below) with exposure times of 1, 5, 10, 15 and 30 seconds, with long exposure noise reduction turned off and turned on. The good news here is that, unlike most cameras we test, the long exposure noise reduction system did prove highly effective. However, since it takes a toll on timing (doubling the time it takes to shoot a photo) and image quality, our testing combines the scores under both shooting conditions. More on how we test long exposure.

Color error was at least consistent across shutter speeds, but it was very high throughout — roughly double what we found with the Nikon D5000, for example.

Even at one second the noise level is above 1% and, without long exposure noise reduction, reaches nearly 10% at 30 seconds. The moral of the story is simple: by all means make sure you have NR set to On when taking night shots.