Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

The Panasonic Lumix G5 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. It produces noise-free images at ISO 100 to 800, with limited noise starting to appear at ISO 1600. ISO 3200 exhibits quite visible noise and loss of fine detail, and the fastest settings of ISO 6400 and 12800 are even noisier but still usable for small prints and web use.

The images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening level and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting if you don't like the default results. The various Creative Controls and Photo Styles allow you to quickly and easily customise the look of the camera's JPEG images. The pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.

The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light. We struggled to see any differences between the Intelligent Resolution settings, but Intelligent D-range and the new HDR mode are effective features for capturing more detail in the shadows and highlights.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Panasonic Lumix G5. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 160 (100% Crop)	ISO 160 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Panasonic Lumix G5 has 2 different JPEG image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Fine (7.14Mb) (100% Crop)	Standard (3.14Mb) (100% Crop)
RAW (18.9Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting, and benefit from further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level by tweaking the Film Mode, with five different settings available.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Panasonic Lumix G5 are Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction and Forced Flash Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off (28mm)	Flash On (28mm)
Flash Off (84mm)	Flash On (84mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Panasonic Lumix G5 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds and there's also a Bulb option for exposures up to 4 minutes long, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 160. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at the 15 second setting the actual exposure takes 30 seconds.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation

The Panasonic Lumix G5 has an antishake mechanism which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with the stabilizer turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with image stabilisation turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Image Stabilisation Off (100% Crop)	Image Stabilisation On (100% Crop)
1/6th / 28mm
1/5th / 84mm

Intelligent Resolution

The Panasonic Lumix G5's Intelligent Resolution feature identifies outlines, texture areas and soft gradation areas of the image and then automatically optimizes the edges and detailed texture areas while using noise reduction to make the soft gradation areas smoother. There are three available strengths - low, standard and high.

Off	Low
Standard	High
Extended

HDR

The Panasonic Lumix G5's HDR mode combines three pictures taken at different exposures to create one image with greater dynamic range than a single shot.

Off	On

Intelligent D-Range

The Panasonic Lumix G5's Intelligent D-range setting adjusts the exposure setting to record more detail in the highlights and shadows, with three strengths available - low, standard and high.

Off	Low
Standard	High

Photo Styles

The Panasonic Lumix G5 has 6 preset Photo Styles, with Standard as the default setting. The contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction can be individually set for each picture style, and there is also a Custom style so that you can create your own look.

Standard	Vivid
Natural	Monochrome
Scenery	Portrait

Creative Controls

The Panasonic G5 has an extensive range of Creative Controls, denoted by an artist's palette on the shooting mode dial, with 14 different options on offer.

Expressive	Retro
High Key	Low Key
Sepia	Dynamic Monochrome
Impressive Art	High Dynamic
Cross Process	Toy Effect
Miniature Effect	Soft Focus
Star Filter	One Point Color

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Panasonic Lumix G5 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Panasonic Lumix G5 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Panasonic RAW (RW2) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Quick Menu

Rear of the Camera / Touchscreen Interface

Swivelling LCD Screen

Swivelling LCD Screen

Swivelling LCD Screen

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Panasonic Lumix G5 is an accomplished mirrorless camera that upgrades its excellent predecessor in a number of significant ways in order to keep up with the fast-moving competition. A higher price tag means that it's not quite the bargain that the G3 was, but we can still highly recommend this realistic alternative to a bigger and bulkier DSLR.

With a bigger handgrip the G5 isn't quite as small as the G3, but we prefer the extra ease-of-use and the repositioned shutter button. It's also still remarkably comparable in size to the company's original GF1 mirrorless camera, which didn't have either a built-in viewfinder or fold-out LCD screen, a real testament to the progress that Panasonic have made with its Lumix G range. We also really like the G5's higher resolution LCD screen faster burst shooting, eye proximity sensor, level gauge, although we can take or leave the curious function lever.

Image quality is on a par with the G3, with noise not rearing its ugly head until ISO 1600. DSLR users probably won't be impressed by this feat, but in the world of Micro Four Thirds it's crucially as good as the competition. We wouldn't bother using the new headline-grabbing 12,800 speed though.

The G5's touch-sensitive screen and increased number of external controls, many customisable to suit your way of working, combine to create a hybrid interface that genuinely speeds up the camera's operation, while the free-angle, rotating LCD and high-resolution electronic view-finder are still pretty rare to find together on a compact system camera. Completing the G5's impressive bag of tricks are the super-fast auto-focusing system, 6fps burst shooting, improved 1080/50p Full HD video mode, the silent electronic shutter and a bigger range of creative filter effects.

In summary the new G5 is more of a natural evolution rather than a radical departure from the still available G3, but that's actually a compliment rather than a criticism. One of our favourite compact system cameras from 2011 may have become more expensive, but it's also more accomplished than its predecessor, making the new Panasonic Lumix G5 one of the best DSLR pretenders and one of the best mirrorless cameras on the market.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Panasonic Lumix G5 from around the web.

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