Panasonic G7 Flash

Coverage and Range
A fairly weak flash but with decent coverage. Above average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage is a little uneven at wide angle, leaving the corners of our flash target a little dim at 14mm, though results are actually better than average. Some of the corner shading can also attributable to the lens itself. We no longer test flash coverage at telephoto, as it is invariably better.

Exposure. Indoors under incandescent background lighting, the Panasonic G7's flash underexposed our indoor portrait scene slightly at ISO 200, despite the +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation used. (An average of +0.7 EV is normally needed for this shot.) You'll likely need to boost ISO (or enable Auto ISO) for typical indoor shots. The camera's slow-sync flash mode required no compensation to produce a bright shot, though the longer shutter time (1/15s vs 1/60s) resulted in a strong orange cast from the ambient background lighting.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range Test. The Panasonic G7's built-in flash has a Guide Number of 6.6m at ISO 100, or 9.3m at ISO 200. That works out to a range of 5.5 feet at ISO 200 and f/5.6, the maximum aperture of the kit lens at full telephoto. As you can see above, the G7 produced a flash target that was just slightly underexposed, which means Panasonic's flash rating is pretty accurate, though perhaps just a bit optimistic.

Our standard test method for flash range uses either a fixed setting of ISO 200 when a Guide Number is given, or the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera (at Auto ISO if so specified), to assess the validity of the specific claims.