X10 vs X20 Studio Comparison

Please show an example of the luminance noise or tell us where to look for it. I admit that I mostly looked for information/detail/resolution here, which is where the X10 images are clearly better (except for that oversharpened cloth background). I will take another look for the luminance noise signature.

That being said: The X10 always exhibited more luminance noise and reticulation like demosaicing patterns, but give excellent chroma noise results in return (in its weight class and even above). I prefer luminance noise to chroma noise any day.

The pepper like noise is something you can see on the E-M5, too. I'd say it's a result of oversharpening combined with heavy noise reduction of a certain kind. If I remember correctly I could get similar results with certain Raw Therapee and maybe DXO settings. It's not a bad algorithm, but at least in this comparison shots it blurs away too much fine detail that is still present in the X10 shot.

Again I would like to stress that these comparison shots with undocumented JPG settings and not fully controlled light and angle are not the best possible basis for such a discussion. And no need to rationalize here, I got me an E-M5 several months ago.