Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 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 DMC-G80 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. It produces noise-free images at ISO 100 to 1600, with limited noise starting to appear at ISO 3200. ISO 6400 exhibits quite visible noise and loss of fine detail, and the faster setting of ISO 12,800 is even noisier but still usable for small prints and web use. We'd avoid using the headline-grabbing ISO 25,600 setting though.

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 HDR mode are effective features for capturing more detail in the shadows and highlights.

Noise

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (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)
ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 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 (6.57Mb) (100% Crop)	Standard (3.03Mb) (100% Crop)
RAW (18.9Mb) (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 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 (24mm)	Flash On (24mm)
Flash Off (120mm)	Flash On (120mm)

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 DMC-G80 maximum shutter speed is 60 seconds and there's also a Bulb option for exposures up to 127 seconds long, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 160. 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	Night (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 has an antishake mechanism which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, we 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)
1/8th / 24mm
1/8th / 120mm

Intelligent Resolution

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80'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 four available strengths - low, standard, high and extended.

Off	Low
Standard	High
Extended

HDR

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80's HDR mode combines three pictures taken at different exposures to create one image with greater dynamic range than a single shot.

Off	+1EV
+2EV	+3EV

Intelligent Dynamic Range

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80'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

Multiple Exposure

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100's Multiple Exposure mode combines two or three different pictures to create one composite image.

Multiple Exposure

Photo Styles

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 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

Filters

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 has an extensive range of creative Filters with 22 different options on offer.

Expressive	Retro
Old Days	High Key
Low Key	Sepia
Monochrome	Dynamic Monochrome
Rough Monochrome	Silky Monochrome
Impressive Art	High Dynamic
Cross Process	Toy Effect
Toy Pop	Bleach Bypass
Miniature Effect	Soft Focus
Fantasy	Star Filter
One Point Color	Sunshine

Panoramas

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching and even successfully compensates for moving subjects.