I’ll be picking up the G85 shortly and selling off the G6 and the G7, since I am again consolidating down to a small set of cameras. Before I do that, though, I would like to see how different they really are at high ISO. I chose 12800 because that really stretches a sensor and is what you need to shoot in really dark venues.
This might actually be a little silly when you consider the size of the sensors, but I’ve never been shy about capturing images in the dark at extreme ISOs. I’d rather get one decent image in an evening than not try. And yes, I could just bounce a flash, but these three are all superb at lower ISOs, so there is little point in that exercise.
I crafted an animated GIF and I think it is clear that the G6 is the worst by quite a bit, yet not completely horrible. I think the G6 sensor – which is the most refined version of the GH2 sensor ever shipped in a camera – is amazing in good light and adequate in low light. Shadows are where it suffers, but nothing like the blue channel poison of the old GH2. It was a just horrid in shadows.
The G7, on the other hand, is much cleaner. The shadows are quite clean and the brighter areas (this is pretty low light) are very clean for such an elevated ISO.
The GX85 looks very similar to the G7. I think the G7 eeks out a slight victory, but it is hard to really see a difference, and the G7 should be very slightly softer, owing to its AA filter.
Anyway … you be the judge.
Note: Same settings in camera, same settings in Lightroom.
