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Raw and Raw ConversionSupplied softwareThe DMC-G2 is supplied with a Software CD containing:
As with other Lumix models the G2 ships with a special (fully featured) edition of SILKYPIX, a rather quirky, though surprisingly well-featured, raw development application for Windows and Mac. The (on-screen) manual is very comprehensive, but doesn't really explain the features very well, and first-time users may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options on offer. This isn't helped by the slightly dodgy translations and the plethora of sliders with names that don't really indicate what they actually do. But there is lots here to get stuck into, and the default settings produce perfectly acceptable results. But after some experimentation and adapting you'll discover that the SILKYPIX can produce far superior results - and can be fine-tuned to produce output that suits your own needs / tastes. In fact there's easily as much tweaking on offer than you get with Adobe Camera Raw, and compared to what you get with most cameras it's hard to complain. You can save parameter sets (for some reason you put them in the 'cloakroom', but hey ho) once you've found out what works for you, which combined with batch processing and extensive output options (TIFF or JPEG), takes some of the grind out of the business of developing large numbers of raw files. RAW conversionAs is normal in our digital SLR reviews we like to compare the supplied RAW conversion software, any optional manufacturer RAW conversion software and some third party RAW converter. In the case of the G2 we used the supplied SilkyPix, Adobe Camera RAW 6.1 and Bibble Pro 5.1. We also tried Graphic Converter, which provides a handy GUI for DCRaw on the Mac platform (these files were converted without sharpening and sharpened / saved to JPEG in Photoshop CS5).
Color reproductionPlace your mouse over the label below the image to see the color from a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker chart produced using a the supplied RAW converter and ACR. Unusually there's quite a difference between the default color output produced by SilkyPix and the in-camera JPEG - in fact with the deeper blues and overall higher saturation it looks a lot more like ACR.
Sharpness and DetailThere's not a huge difference, but the most detailed image was produced by DCRaw running in Graphic Converter (with a bit of Photoshop sharpening), followed closely by Bibble and ACR (running a near third despite the lower sharpening). By default the supplied software (SilkyPix) produces output that's very close to the camera JPEGs. You can obviously eke a little more detail out of the sensor by shooting raw if you play around with the sharpening settings, but the real benefit is going to be in the flexibility offered by raw files when it comes to color, white balance and noise reduction.
ResolutionThese crops demonstrate that more detail is available from the RAW converters than can be obtained from JPEG. That said, a lot of this detail could be described as 'false' (produced beyond Nyquist), although frankly the majority of the time this is useful as it improves the appearance of 'texture'. The ACR output looks a little softer than the other Raw converters. Again, Graphic Converter and Bibble Pro produce the highest resolution output.
Real world advantagesAs with most cameras the advantages to shooting raw with the G2 are mainly concerned with the increased post-processing flexibility and color / white balance / tonality and (to a certain extent) exposure. If you're looking for the absolute maximum detail at a pixel level, however, you'll also want to shoot raw, as the G2's JPEG engine - in common with most Panasonic's we've tested - doesn't really make the most of the sensor's capabilities, and can produce rather smudgy results in low contrast situations. As the quick example below shows you can retain texture (at a pixel level) a lot better if you manually tweak the settings in ACR, bypassing the G2's overaggressive noise reduction and less than optimal demoasicing.
At higher ISOs (1600 up) the G2's Venus engine tends to obliterate fine detail and can smear colors, even at the lowest setting. Although you're always going to have the noise itself to contend with there's no doubt that shooting raw and using Adobe's latest ACR (6.1 or higher) gives you a lot more control over how you deal with it. It's up to you to decide what balance of noise and detail you're happiest with.
Even at ISO 800 the G2's JPEG engine (using the default settings) produces unpleasant noise and noise reduction artefacts in shadows, particularly in skin tones. ACR lets you go for a grainy but clean look (or, if you prefer, to obliterate noise altogether).
RAW headroom (Dynamic Range)As we saw when reviewing the G1 and GF1, the G2 delivers virtually all its usable dynamic range in JPEG images, and there's little headroom in the highlights if you do get clipping on bright days (or due to exposure errors). There's maybe half a stop of fully usable headroom, but the general rule is that if it looks clipped in the JPEG, it's probably clipped in the raw file too. Taking the exposure compensation further than about -1.0EV tends to produce color errors (or more usually, the lack of any color information at all) in extreme highlights. You can, of course, use a more gentle curve to reduce the abruptness of the clipping (and Photoshop's recovery slider can help with very contrasty scenes), but if it wasn't captured, you can't get it back. As the examples below show, there's a point beyond which no amount of raw exposure compensation will bring back useful highlight information. A modest exposure compensation (-1.0EV) has helped this shot (though there are still clipped areas)
But the highlights in the next two examples are too over-exposed to recover, and the clipped areas simply turn grey.
Shooting raw does give you exposure flexibility, but the lack of dynamic range means that its usefulness will vary from shot to shot, according to how clipped (if at all) the highlights are.
RAW files for downloadHere we provide RAW files, both from the review and the sample shots we take, to allow you to apply your own workflow techniques and see whether your experiences match ours. |
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