Panasonic Lumix GX7 vs GX1 Camera Comparison with Barney Sykes (Lumix G product manager).
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GX7 preorders are still high at Amazon (ranking here). But let’s take a look to some interesting new GX7 info: On top you can watch a nice interview with Barney Sykes from Panasonic. Barney says this is the best sensor in the area “we are competing” (I guess he means MFT). And if you want to check if what he tells is true check out the first ISO Full Size image sample posted by ePhotozine (Click here). To make it easier for you I linked you to the direct E-P5 and GX7 Full size ISO images:
ISO 100 E-P5 and GX7 (actually 125 for the Panasonic).
ISO 200 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 400 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 800 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 1600 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 3200 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 6400 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 12800 E-P5 and GX7
ISO 25600 E-P5 and GX7
Of course these are JPG results and we know Olympus usually is a tiny bit better here. That said..
[poll id=”205″]
GX7 preorder list (Click on store name to open the GX7 price, specs and preorder page):
Silver GX7 body at Amazon US, BHphoto, Adorama, Samys, Henrys and Wex Deutschland, Wex UK ,and Amazon JP.
Silver GX7 with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Samys, Henrys and Wex Deutschland, WexUK.
Black GX7 body at Henrys, Wex Deutschland, Wex UK and Amazon Japan.
Black GX7 with 14-42mm lens at Henrys, Wex Deutschland, Wex UK.
Black GX7 with 20mm lens at Henrys, Wex UK and Amazon Japan.
Silver GX7 with 20mm lens at Henrys, Wex UK and Amazon Japan.
116 Responses
ick!!!!! why is the color balance soooooooo far off on the GX7 images? Its disgusting?
To be clear I am talking about the still image comparison samples at the different ISO’s to the OMD…The OMD shots are color-balanced with white whites.
As these sample are ..the color balance is so far off from the GX7 I can’t really compare them to one another.
Having had a GF1 and a GH2 in the past, I always felt like the colors were a bit funky, and white balance has always been a problem with Panasonic as well. Comparing to my E-M5, there’s a night and day difference. The E-M5 RAW files can be almost used straight OOC with regards to color. That’s a lot to say.
Yes, the color balance is awful and makes this test not that useful. The good news is that the GX7 appears to achieve much less noise than the Sony sensor in the EP5, and furthermore, it is mostly luminance noise, with very little of the overpowering color noise in the Oly…
However, this test does nothing about the question that’s been itching everyone. Panasonic’s last-gen sensors were already almost on par with the OMD-EM5 in high-ISO noise levels. The problem with the GH2/G5 sensor is how its dynamic range falls off a cliff at high ISO, dipping to 7 EV while the new Olys manage to stay above 10 EV in such conditions. In every other way, Panasonic was still pretty competitive… If they have managed to fix the loss of dynamic range at high ISO, they have gold on their hands. Gold, I tell you!
“The good news is that the GX7 appears to achieve much less noise than the Sony sensor in the EP5”
Come on, it is ridiculous. Look at the full magnification at the grey background of the words “ColorChecker” (which looks brown on GX7). At ISO 100, E-P5 has almost no noise there, while GX7 has significant amount of noise, meaning base ISO DR will be worse again.
At 25,600, both are not pretty in the shadows (although GX7’s shadows are simply brighter, not suppressing reds and greens as it should for good WB), but white letters are brighter and cleaner on E-P5, although with more color noise visible (but again, tones are not the same, contrast is much higher on E-P5).
Are we looking at the same ISO 25600 picture? The white text and the crosses look much sharper in the GX7 sample to me, while also displaying much finer and weaker noise grain. Granted, this might just be the JPEG engine’s doing, but I don’t think it’s controversial at all to expect the GX7 to outdo the Sony sensor in this area -after all, the GH2/G5 were tailing the OMD-EM5 pretty closely in ISO noise, and the one thing Panasonic has stated about the new design in the GX7 is that it is brighter.
Nothing Lightroom can’t handle.
The GX7 is clearly sharper at the 100 ISO sample. Look at the rendering of the letters.
Olympus have never been very sharp. Lets hold hands and cross our fingers for the OMDEM1. It better not be to cheap. And it better be crystal clear!
Do agree. Its seems sharper.
lol, if Olympus isn’t sharp you’re doing it wrong, which is quite a challenge.
+1
Same thing with white balance was in ePhotozine GH3 review – see colorchecker shots here: http://www.ephotozine.com/article/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gh3-review-20489
I have part 1 of my review online – http://www.smallcamerabigpicture.com/lumix-gx7-review/
Thanks!
I’m thrilled that the GX7 has the same Constant Preview feature of the GH2 and GH3!
Does it only work in M mode or has Panasonic expanded it to A and S, as well?
I shoot in M mode 99%, so for me it’s not an issue.
In the version I have constant preview only works in M mode. I’m guessing it will stay that way but it might not. The GX7 I have is firmware 0.3 so it’s not finished and there are some things missing. I’ll be getting a final version this Sunday.
We don’t give a F*** of your crappy review, you pannyslut.
I don’t want to associate myself with manics like you.. I’ll miss the 45mm, but Panasonic got me covered soon.
Whoa! WTF, pal? what you’ve contributed so far? you whinyslut.
Such a reasoned response. NOT.
Why are a$$holes like this allowed to post here?
+1 agree. This guy sucks.
a summary of the tone that prevails in this site. If its not a oly fanatism post youll get insulted
+1000
It’s a real shame.
If it were Robin Wong they’d be offering to have his babies.
giulio sicocorio likes EVERY pana bodies. This guys has zero credibility. So I’m agree he sucks.
Just out of curiosity: Which Lumix G does _not_ have the tripod thread in line with the lens? I know the GF1 and GF2 have it in line with the lens and didn’t notice other models not having it off the lens’s axis, so I was thinking it’s something Panasonic is always doing right.
The GX7 still is notable, though, since the placement of the battery and SD card slots within the protruding grip probably will avoid even better that a tripod or quick release plate get in the way of the battery door.
video is nice!
Worst pictures ever. This camera sucks. Panasonic should stick with vacuum cleaners bla bla bla bla bla
goodbye olympus , hello panasonic ……and dont whine i didnt give you a chance ,
your congregation have been waiting since the ep1 in 2009….
preordered from canada , black body and kit not available in nyc , ……corporate morons
But my reserve is with Amazon and I have Prime, so I’m good..
Besides, It’s not all silver, so I’ll live.
If the EP5’s ISO is as bloated and misaligned as the OMD keep in mind Olympus 6400 ISO is more like Panasonic 3200 ISO. I actually compared my GH2 to OMD before I sold my GH2 and it was infact that far off. I can expose correctly with the same shutter / f-stop at Panasonic’s 3200 and Olympus’s 6400. Good news is Olympus was noticeably less noisy and the color representation was far better which is why I decided to stick with the OMD.
JPEG ISO is correct (brightness of 18% grey, as per standard). Don’t “keep in mind” anything regarding JPEGs, if shutter speed and aperture are the same, the tests are valid.
“If the EP5′s ISO is as bloated and misaligned as the OMD keep in mind….”
Ah, yet another poster who doesn’t understand that DXO ISO measures are totally unrelated to how cameras actually meter. Your statement is not only factually wrong, it demonstrates your ignorance or the technical aspects of both DXO and ISO.
LOL ok, I read through DXOs technical process several times but whatever. Bottom line given the same exposure GH2 was iso 3200 and OMD was 6400 so I can’t compare apples to apples with the same iso displayed on the camera to get real world results.
You need to read it again.
I think GX7 is ca. one step better so i think before, but the colour to Panasonic is not true. 😉
Someone could take the samples from both cameras and color balance them equally so we could have a better comparison, even if it’s done on top of the JPEG.
The slanted color card, and ePhotozine’s failure to adequately tweak the color balance makes it seem like they are trying to slant the review against the Panasonic GX7 camera right from the get go.
The real loser here is the credibility of ePhotzine. They should have adjusted the white balance and noted it as requiring adjustment for their copy of the camera. Then they should have done a fair test. Shame.
I agree…very sloppy…I do not need to hear ‘well that is the color balance out of the camera’ (although that is a little disturbing). It is really impossible for me to cast a vote. Unfair comparison.
After the bad handling of the G6 video they did.. It was worse than an amateur!! The reviewer was flipping the camera around with one hand and shaky cam-holding in the other! It was like a kid filming himself playing with a Hot-wheels car!
Horrible Job!
They are both slanted to some degree. Can’t rule out the cameras are tilted as well.
Sigh. Could someone PLEASE finally post some RAW samples for comparison?
YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!!!!!!! It would be so simple..and please color balance them first! 🙂
Maybe they can hire him in the marketing division of Oly or Panny..
jpg are useless as far as true sensor IQ comparison is concerned. What these samples show us is how the jpeg engines compare, nothing more.
I wish someone would post actually GX7 RAW files!
Well…if it shows a jpeg engine comparison then the Oly wins hands down!
Maybe, if Panasonic actually goes live with version 0.3 of the firmware. Of course, they’re not as stupid as you appear to be.
Only if Panasonic releases the camera with version 0.3 firmware. Unlike you, I doubt they’re that stupid.
I hope these aren’t indicative of the accuracy of the Auto White Balance on the GX7. It’s really off.
I pray this is a case of way, way pre-production firmware D=
At least the jpeg engine of the GX7 seems to produce slightly cleaner results but awful colors.
If its jpeg engine you like, the camera is likely configurable to your taste.
Is it me or do the GX7 samples not really look any better than the EP5’s? At first glance, I thought it really was better, but then it looks like it is just the noise reduction algorithm difference. At EP5 seem to have better dynamic range (i.e. the black squares are more easily discernible from the blackish background) especially at higher ISOs.
Comparing ISOs between cameras value per value doesn’t work since manufacturers aren’t calibrating them accurately. It’s hard to consider any ISO comparisons until I see DXO mark’s data on what the true ISO is compared to manuf listed ISO.
Well Techradar used DXO software to do both raw and jpeg signal-to-noise chart on the OMD and GH3 sensor and they looked completely different as if they were different sensors.
It took DXO a long time to get the bottom of “OMD’s too good to be true results”, in the end OMD and GH3 sensor shows the same ratings and characteristics but only on the DXO site. Techradar’s DXO software analysis was totally off!
Use your own eyesight and make your own judgement!
Eyesite is NOT enough because the same exposure via shutter speed and f-stop has a different resulting ISO. Only way to compare outside of DXO is to have the cameras expose the same then compare.
Isn’t your eyesight the one thing that matters most when looking at photographs?
“I can’t say for sure if I like this photo until I see some graphs”
+1 with a LOL!
Another victim of DxO brainwashing…
The color aside the Panasonic looks excellent.
Wish they had photographed fine details so one could see the amount of NR going on.
You can’t compare when you don’t know the default NR or sharpening of the jpeg engine. It all time wasting, wait for RAW samples.
The interviewer should have asked why there is no microphone input in GX7. It would be almost perfect with microphone input and perfect with 5 axis IBIS.
First of all both cameras look stunning.
However, the color balancing issue completely screws the test. Also, if you overlay the images in Photoshop you’ll notice that there is a scaling issue. On top of that the Olympus seems to be using a lens that causes a lot of aberrations which is really not good in this test. And finally, what’s the point of running this test in JPG with different noise reduction settings?
Clearly significant advantage Panasonic @25600.. The poll results are pretty funny..
GX7 files have much more aggressive NR applied so it may look better at first. But look at ugly rendered blue squares at ISO 6400 with ugly artifacts … We’ll have to wait for RAW files, but this samples do not tell a very nice story about GX7, at least compared to EP5…
I have to disagree with that.
To my eyes the GX7 has more detail, less grain, and far less chroma noise.
Regards
I guess someone in ePhotozine must have been drunk when publishing the comparison 🙂
Interestingly, the video is better in terms of marketing videos. It’s not another “presentation of specification” 😉
I’m getting the GX7, but I’m so used to that same exact white balance issue from my GF1 that it seems comfortable to me. Now that’s continuity!
Crappy colors from panasonic… as usual
If these people (ePhotozine) are using actual color charts and calibrated monitors (as it says on their web site) to test cameras to compare them, why is the white balance so WAY off between the two. Any novice can set a custom WB based on the color chart that they are using for the test. Isn’t that what the big white blank area on the top half is for? If they don’t even know how to do that then I question these results in general.
The EP5 looks like it has more color finging at low ISO.
The GX7 looks more grainy at high ISO.
The gx7 is looking better at the high iso. But they are close and only a raw test can really be used to tell.
1600 ISO is really amazing for GX7.
I have to wonder about the ISO accuracy. The color is off sure, but so is the brightness. Now the Panasonic was shot at 1/100 and te Olympus at 1/80, but that’s not enough to account for the difference. Panasonic may need a higher ISO to compensate at the same shutter speed.
It looks like some noise reduction is also taking place, because subtle dust visible on the Olympus shot is barely visible if at all on the Panasonic.
The Panasonic looks sharper, but I think a lot of that is software.
Did they use the same lens? Borders of the PEN look really soft while they look alright on the GX7. Also, is it just me or there are slight hint of CA on the E-P5?
That aside, real world difference will not be significant. They both look good till ISO6400. It make me believe that they use the same sensor despite what Pana have said.
Martians must see the colours in a very similar way to panasonic. 😉
Stupid waste of time to even look at these. For those with short memories and an inability to reason:
The GX-7 shots are jpegs from pre-release software. These tell us NOTHING about how the sensor performs, or how the final firmware will render jpegs.
Watching reruns of I Love Lucy would be a better use of your time than studying these images!
I am surprised that the GX7 does not have mic input or not compatible with Olympus Sema-1 mic adapter.
The company too heavy criticism with the GX1 for this.
It is inexcusable to release a camera in 2013 of this caliber without mic input of some sort.
Trying to make any judgments based on version 0.3 firmware and OOC jpegs is a fools game. I can’t believe people here don’t understand that, and are really arguing about these images.
Nah, at least it won’t be worse, will it? Potential GX7 buyers (me included) are so hungry that we will chow down everything we’re fed
+1 +2 +3 +…
On the other hand, how hard can it be to get the right white balance? After so many cameras, nonetheless.
With JPEG from v0.3 and minus the obvious WB problem: Doesn’t look bad.
And a little wishful thinking: If it’s really a Panasonic sensor they managed to close the gap, and thats good for all m43 companies and users.
Very good point. It would be really great if this is a Pana sensor because it would give me confidence that they are really hard to catch up at all fronts. Which is important as far as future development of the mft system is concerned.
How much does the iq change between v0.3 and v1.0, really?
Lots of people dislike Panasonic ooc jpeg in their other models so why are we supposed to think that this camera will be different, when the see v0.3 has the same problem?
It is legit to look at ooc jpeg because Olympus can make them look very good.
And they do look very good. I voted for both being on par but I sligtly tend to prefer the Oly shots nonetheless. Looks like Pana does a lot more agressive processing incl. smoothing and I would really like to see the RAWs.
Not having actually examined the samples yet, I just want to note that the fact that all three results in the poll have nearly identical percentages at this point seem to indicate that “they’re about on par” is the accurate answer.
They could be different enough that it’s hard to compare or which you prefer depends on what you’re looking for, but the numbers wouldn’t be that close if one was substantially better than the other.
If you actually look at the samples you will notice that the testers obviously pulled the results from the GX7 through their pants before posting to give them a nice yellowish brown hue so it don’t skunk the EP5.
You will also see some blue fringing on the EP5 samples but not on the GX7 samples which means they likely used different lenses or the GX7 has CA compensation enabled and the EP5 didn’t.
The comparison is pretty pointless anyway if different lenses were used.
For E-M5 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R were used (from file exif info).
For GX7 LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II were used (from file exif info).
Unfortunatelly, lenses are really different if exifs were not modified.
admin did you see this?? a limited edition pen for 16000 pounds!!! hahahahahha
http://www.dailycameranews.com/2013/08/olympus-pen-art-edition/
GX7 looks half a stop ahead when comparing ISOs 1600 and 3200! Good enough ISO 1600 for me concerning noise and sharpness. One cannot judge how good color reproduction is because GX7 WB is not set properly – a pity.
Today I feel too lazy even to open some boring test charts .. I’ll wait for some nice shot from some good photographer or to try it by myself.
Did any good photographer use m43?
People say I am, and I can say that noone ever complained about my work. 😉 Can we see some example from you?
Typical Panasonic POS. Do they know what white balance is? I feel sorry for all you poor folks who plunked your cash down to preorder this one. PANA has never made a camera that was worth the money much less competition for OLY.
They will never even deliver it on time- another PANA certainty.
Really, this is a joke and what’s funnier is how many nits think it looks better.
Panasonic knows what wb is, the person who took those sample photos obviously doesn’t know. Pana never made camera worth the money? That’s just plain silly, way too hardcore oly fanaticism over here
Ok. Which PANA exactly was that which could measure up to its peers? No OLY fanaticism here. I have an OMD as my benchmark 4/3 but I also shoot Leica, Sigma, Canon and Fuji. Fact is, Olympus rules m4/3 right now. I could care less, but after all these years you would think Panasonic would learn a thing or two. Nope. Just as DAS as Sigma. Only difference, you can actually take good photos with a Sigma.
Also, Barney “Keen” Skies needs to return that shirt to the picnic table he stole it from.
Ugh, and you completely ignore the time before omd em-5? What about GH2 for example? Was best for quite a while and still is quite close to em-5, difference in most cases is very difficult to spot. Only with heavy post processing and really high iso difference can be visible. Current GH3 is as good as the omd and in terms of handling is imo far superior, em-5 without grip is just plain horrible. Even pens have better handling than em-5 without grip.
Ok, next the simple and cheap g3 that i used for quite a while, for the money it delivered lots of functionality and build in viewfinder. Panasonic G series still delivers lots of features at a low price.
Tell me, how it’s not oly fanaticism, if you could ignore all cameras up to e-m5? You did say, that pana never made a camera worth the money or not strong enough competition for oly.
The differences are very easy to spot.GH2 has more noise and far less DR.
Far less DR? Complete BS. It’s quite small difference. Try to compare raw files for a change. The difference of 1EV that dxo shows is only for extreme shadows, for most part of the photo difference is less than 0.5ev.
First of all, you will notice this difference only by pushing shadows by quite a bit in post processing.
Panny Fanny, Just admit you made a mistake and sell your PANA gear. It’s ok. Life is too short to try and keep convincing yourself that your Dora the Explorer kit is really cool. Keep the lenses, though.
Hard to swallow, that you were wrong? That GH2 was leading for quite a while and now GH3 delivers same performance as e-m5 and in video is even better?
Or you don’t know, that oly had to use old pany sensors for some time, when pana already released many with new
Pana has always been known to have very good auto WB. And the new Pana sensor is superior to the Sony in High ISO. That much id clear already IMO, and will be proven beyond doubt later.
The Panasonic looked sharper at 3,200 ISO, but then I looked again at 200 ISO and the Olympus seems slightly OOF or soft; which would get worse as you up the ISO. Without knowing more about the shooting setup, and as others have said, this test is pretty useless to compare.
It’s interesting that he states that the aim is to be the best at high ISO. I take it that high ISO is the new marketing gimmic to replace MP counts?
Does no one care about performance at low sensitivities?
How does this camera perform at base ISO and what are the implications of raising the base to 200 and adding a “low” for shooting with wide apertures in good light?
From the comparison, GX-7 really looks sharper…, but ….
Do they use the same lens in the test?
I’m quite sure that for GX-7 they are using Panny new 14-42
But for E-P5, if they used Oly 14-42II…. which is just a not-so-good lens, it might not be fair to E-P5
Yeah, I could confirm this – see my reply to djmdgk earlier.
If exifs are right (and they usually are) those are 14-42II R and new Panny 14-42.
Giuliani u suck and the. Gx7 tooo ……
This is waste of time, useless comparison.
Thanks AlexTR for your info…
As using different lens, this comparison is really useless… This gives a pro to GX-7… not fair….
The quality of Oly 14-42 is not in the same league to panny 14-42, and the relatively soft result from E-P5 should be due to the optic quality.
So, we have a preproduction camera with an early firmware, compared in a rush (the panasonic was apparently shot during the demo or shortly afterward, not at their studios. Ephotozine mentions they will test more when they have a production camera. So a quick field shoot, both cameras probably at default jpeg settings, different lenses, GX7 is pre-production. This is really just more for show and to satisify all the people whining to see some comparisons.
Yea, this comparison is not really a comparison at all. AS has been said, until we have production cameras for both, and RAW files shot with the same lens under identical lighting conditions, we really can’t compare. Keep in mind the even with JPEG’s, both camera settings can be adjusted to completely skew results either way. We don’t even know if they used default settings or not. Considering the GX7 was a demo, who know what had been done with the settings.
Be patient folks. We’ll get good comparisons, one day, but only after there are production grade GX7’s out in the wild. But then we may have to wait for RAW conversions. Who knows? Patience, patience.
Compared to the Sony Nex 6, the GX7 high ISO looks a lot cleaner in that it has less noise and a tighter grain structure. Yes, these are JPEG but I’m impressed nonetheless from what I’m seeing so far.
IS03200
Sony Nex 6: http://www.ephotozine.com/articles/sony-nex-6-review-20566/images/sony-nex-6-iso3200_1351679643.jpg
Pansonic GX7: http://www.magezinepublishing.com/equipment/images/equipment/Lumix-GX7-5236/highres/Panasonic-Lumix-GX7-ISO3200-P1250010_1375969440.jpg
ISO6400
Sony Nex 6: http://www.ephotozine.com/articles/sony-nex-6-review-20566/images/sony-nex-6-iso6400_1351679680.jpg
Panasonic GX7: http://www.magezinepublishing.com/equipment/images/equipment/Lumix-GX7-5236/highres/Panasonic-Lumix-GX7-ISO6400-P1250011_1375969457.jpg
I simply don’t like the colour and that was my gripe when I owned a panny p&s.
This camera may need a little tweaking initially, nevertheless this camera remains a unique proposition for m43 users because of it’s unique rf styling, good high iso performance, good feature set.
Even as an olympus user I would have considered this camera which has so much going for it had it not been for what looks to me to be a lack of pleasing colour or a decent jpeg engine which comes in handy.
When this camera drops to bargain basement price like the GX1 I’ll grab one, as it stands my 43 & m43 lenses need a cutting edge hybrid and that’s on the way.
Seriously though, credit to panny for releasing this camera becausr it may force Olys arm to give their version of it in the epx next iteration.
The RAW files are available for download:
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx7-sample-photos-22642
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/olympus-pen-e-p5-csc-review-22370
So, stop being lazy, bitching, and start doing your own conversion comparisons…
We should compare the pics with the e-m5, they are looking better than these of the P5. Germanys Colorfoto has just published better results for omd, too, esp. at high iso.
I simply correct the white balance and I made a 100% cut comparison at 3200 iso.
Here the result:
http://www.ivanisevic82.com/media/Fotocamere/GX7.jpg
GX7 is sharper.
PS: GX7 is on the left.
No. Panasonic is well known for producing poor white balance and noticeable color casts. They make fine cameras and lenses, but the color reproduction and WB have always been horrendous.