Panasonic DMC-FZ8 High ISO comparison

the FZ8 improves on the FZ7 when it comes to high ISO performance by offering ISO 800 and ISO 1250 at full resolution (the FZ7 uses pixel binning to produce very low res ISO 800 / 1600 output). There is a pixel-binned, low resolution ISO 3200 option (which you can only get via a special scene mode) - the output is only suitable for a very small print (click here to download a studio sample).

Below you will find studio shots taken with the FZ8 at ISO 800 and ISO 1250.

Studio scene comparison (@ ISO 800 & 1250)

• Panasonic DMC-FZ8 : Aperture Priority mode (F5.0), ISO 800, Default Image Parameters, Manual white balance, +0.33 EV compensation

• Panasonic DMC-FZ8: Aperture Priority mode (F5.0), ISO 1250, Default Image Parameters, Manual (preset) white balance, +0.33 EV compensation

• Lighting: Daylight simulation, >98% CRI

Panasonic DMC-FZ8	Panasonic DMC-FZ8
ISO 800, 1/400 sec, F5.0	ISO 1250, 1/640 sec, F5.0
2,631 KB JPEG	2,788 KB JPEG

When you get to ISO 800 and 1250 it's very much the same story as ISO 400, just more so. For many purposes the ISO 800 output is actually reasonably usable - for social snaps there's enough detail to produce a perfectly acceptable small print, just don't expect miracles. I'd steer clear of ISO 1250 unless you really have to. It's worth noting that the FZ8's high ISO output might not be fantastic - or to your taste - but it's a lot, lot better than the FZ7.