Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 Indoor Crops

The crops below show the performance of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 next to the same ISO for the Pentax K-5
Pentax K-5. Both these cameras use a 16 megapixels CMOS sensor which at least covers the ISO sensitivity range from 160 to 12800, the K-5 also support ISO 80, 100, 25600 and 51200. The K-5 is presently the top-performing APS-C sensor (1.5X FLM) DSLR, while the GH2 is the highest-reslution SLD using a Four-Thirds sensor (2X FLM).

All images below are 100% crops from their respective camera taken at the highest image quality JPEG setting available. ISO, aperture and white-balance were set on camera. Other settings were left at their default values. These crops help determine which ISO settings is acceptable on these cameras. As noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print become unacceptably noisy is a matter of personal taste.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2	Pentax K-5
ISO 160	ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 6400
ISO 12800	ISO 12800

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 does very well in this series of indoor shots but its smaller sensor gives in to the top APS-C sensor. The sensor output, even with noise-reduction at its minimal setting produces soft output compared the the K-5. Still, the GH2 keeps noise well under control until ISO 800 which it appears with minimal damage. ISO 1600 is still relatively good but a yellow color-shift starts appearing. By then we notice the K-5 taking a 2-stop lead in terms of details and at least one in terms of image noise. This being two 16 megapixels camera, these differences will not be visible except on moderately large prints.