Today I’ve made a comparison regarding High ISO Noise. The Micro Four Thirds Cameras were fitted with the LUMIX G 20mm/1:1.7, the APS-C Pentax Models were fitted with the PENTAX DA 21 Lim. Other Settings were on all Cameras AUTO WHITE BALANCE, Noise reduction settings turned OFF, Vignetting Corrections and Intelligent Contrast Settings turned OFF, Picture Styles NATURAL, Sharpening, Contrast, Saturation all to Zero, File Format JPG. So, it is a very fair test. See yourself, the Olympus E-P1 stands out! ISO is 3200 on all Cameras. Click the pictures for Original Size.
PANASONIC LUMIX GF1 [Firmware 1.0] | LUMIX G 20mm | ISO 3200
OLYMPUS E-P1 [Firmware 1.0] | LUMIX G 20mm | ISO 3200
PENTAX K7 [Firmware 1.0]| PENTAX DA 21 Lim. | ISO 3200
PENTAX K-X [Firmware 1.0]| PENTAX DA 21 Lim. | ISO 3200
Wow, I am overwhelmed of the Auto White Balance under this light source [neon tubes] and the very good noise performance [detail, grain, and chroma noise] from the E-P1. Quite cool performance. I thought the GF1 would also do a good job, but ISO 3200 is not a ISO i would use, also not on the Pentax K7. The new Pentax K-x also stands out against the K7. I think APS-C has not an advantage anymore compared to [Micro]Four Thirds. Feel free to comment.
Edit: I am no pixelpeeper, i am happy when a camera did ISO 1600 well and when i can make a good 20cm x 30cm print of it.
