Panasonic G7 Image Quality

At base sensitivity, there's not a whole lot of difference between the Panasonic G7 and its predecessor, the G6. That's to be expected, though, as both cameras have the same sensor resolution. Improvements in the G7's sensor were aimed at improving burst performance and high ISO noise levels. With that said, the earlier G6 shows a little greater contrast in our difficult red swatch, and perhaps holds onto just a touch more thread detail in the pink swatch. It's a close thing, though!

The comparison against Fuji's X-T10 is a little more interesting. Fuji uses its proprietary X-Trans color filter array rather than the more common Bayer filter used by the G7. Fuji's approach yields just slightly lower noise levels at base sensitivity, but the Panasonic G7 has a noticeable advantage in terms of fine detail, especially in the pink fabric swatch, and to a lesser extent in the mosaic label too.

Olympus' E-M10 II has the same sensor size and pixel count as in the Panasonic G7, but nevertheless there are some notable differences here. Panasonic is applying less sharpening than its rival, and the G7's crops also show less contrast and saturation. To our eye, the Panasonic G7 looks more natural here, while the E-M10 II caters more to consumers craving a punchier result.

The Samsung NX500 has the highest sensor resolution in this roundup, at 28.2 megapixels versus the 16 megapixels of the Panasonic G7. Not surprisingly, the Micro Four Thirds camera can't hold onto as much detail as does its higher-res, larger-sensored rival. That's most noticeable in the pink fabric swatch, but also in the mosaic label. The G7's image is also a little noisier and has slightly lower contrast, but in other respects, the image quality of both cameras is similar at base sensitivity. It's the resolution where the main difference can be found.

The Sony A6000, too, has quite a resolution advantage over the Panasonic G7, with a sensor bearing up an impressive 24.3 megapixels. And again, that difference is visible mostly in detail-gathering, with the Panasonic camera holding onto less of the thread pattern in the pink fabric swatch, and losing more of the finer details in the mosaic label. And that's despite Sony using just a little less sharpening than its rival, too. Look at the flatter areas of the image and you'll see a bit more noise in the G7's crops, as well as a touch less contrast. We're going to give the nod to Sony on this particular comparison.

Moving up to ISO 1600, it seems that Panasonic has accomplished its goal of reducing noise levels in the newer camera. The Panasonic G7's bottle crop shows noticeably less noise than did the G6, yet detail levels are pretty similar to those of the earlier camera. The G6 does have an edge on contrast, though, especially in that difficult red swatch.

Fuji's X-Trans technology looks to pay dividends in this comparison. The Bayer-filtered Panasonic G7 shows similar noise levels to its rival in the bottle crops, but that's achieved thanks to stronger noise processing which robs detail in the mosaic label and red fabric swatches in particular. The G7 does have a bit of an edge in the pink fabric swatch, though.

Now that we've cranked up the sensitivity a little, the Panasonic G7 again turns in a less-processed looking image than does the E-M10 II. The result is that there's a bit more noise in the G7's crops, but there's also more detail retained in the mosaic label. Olympus provides higher contrast and greater saturation, just as it did at base sensitivity.

At ISO 1600-equivalent, the Samsung NX500 has lost its edge against the lower-resolution Panasonic G7. There's still a touch more detail in the NX500's mosaic label and pink fabric swatch, but the Samsung's image -- especially the pink fabric swatch -- has more muted colors than those from the Panasonic.

Once again, the Sony A6000 has an edge at ISO 1600-equivalent. The Panasonic G7 yields similar saturation to the Sony, but lags a little in detail and contrast, especially in the red fabric swatch. The G7 does manage better in the bottle crop, though, where the A6000 turns in a slightly noiser, more mottled image.

Finally, at ISO 3200-equivalent, the newer Panasonic G7 shows significantly less noise than did its predecessor, and its image is less mottled to boot. Contrast and saturation are similar from both cameras, with the exception of the red swatch. The G7 loses almost all detail in this troublesome hue, where the G6 still holds onto just a little.

Now that we've dialed the sensitivity up by quite some way, the Panasonic G7's smaller sensor struggles to keep up with that in the Fuji X-T10, despite similar resolution. The Fuji's image has a little more detail and more appealing contrast / saturation. The G7 does best its rival in the pink fabric swatch, though.

Once again, the Panasonic G7 has an edge over the E-M10 II in terms of detail thanks to more subtle noise reduction processing, but the Olympus has a punchier result.

At ISO 3200-equivalent, the Samsung NX500 still holds onto a bit more detail than can the Panasonic G7 , but in other respects -- noise levels, saturation and artifacts -- we definitely prefer the G7's result.

It's harder to make a call either way against the Sony A6000. The Panasonic G7 has rather less noise and artifacts from noise processing, but the A6000 shows more contrast and holds onto far more of the pattern in the red swatch.