G6 ISO performance...

Can anyone tell me how the G6 performs in low light/high ISO settings? The Sony V3 seems to do a pretty decent job, from the samples posted on this site. Was wondering if the G6 is able to do as well.

If any owners could let me know, would greatly appreciate it...

Thx,
Alberto Lopez

yes, the G6 does well in low light, by virtue of having an F2.0 lens which is 2x brighter than the Sony V3 lens. In Phil's tests, the Sony ISO 800 is approximately ISO640, and the G6 ISO400 is also approximately ISO640, so both cameras have the same highest ISO and the roughly the same noise charaecteristics. But the G6 wins by virtue of a 2x brighter lens.

• Shel

Thanks Shel. Your comments make a lot of sense. I'm a big fan of Canon, and so will probably go with the G6.

Regards,
Albert

I use ISO 100 on my G6 all the time. I can see noise relative to ISO 50 when pixel peeping, but there is no difference with prints. I usually can not get fast enough shutter speeds for anything but portraits though...

aperture 2.5
shutter 1/5
custom white balance

Wow.. beautiful shot. Obviously with a tripod at 1/5 shutter?

BTW -- what did you use for a reference then to set your white balance ?

Thank you.

Jeff Fritsche said:

Wow.. beautiful shot. Obviously with a tripod at 1/5 shutter?

Click to expand...

I used my patented knee tripod. It is very nifty. You sit down stick the camera on your knee and push the shutter button while exhaling )

Jeff Fritsche said:

BTW -- what did you use for a reference then to set your white
balance ?

Thank you.

Click to expand...

Errr, sorry Jeff. I missed this post this morning (happens going back and forth between work and home 'puters).

Anyway, for the custom WB, I took 4 sheets of white paper and laid two sheets right next to each other (double layered). I then composed the auto white balance as described in the G6 manual (cursor up and use the "st" button). Its amazing what you can do with the custom setting. The room the pic was taken in is red and the lighting is recessed, adjustable flood lamps. For relaxing etc., the lighting/paint provide a nice warm feeling, but for non-flash pictures you get very strange colors unless you custom balance.

ISO100 all the time unless it's so bright out that it's above the shutter speed limit.

G6 has a nice fast lens which is very sharp wide open. As a matter of fact the sharpness drops down below f4 so unless you are after a huge DOF don't go that far. Fortunately, because of a small sensor the DOF is large to begin with.

Gena said:

ISO100 all the time unless it's so bright out that it's above the
shutter speed limit.

G6 has a nice fast lens which is very sharp wide open. As a matter
of fact the sharpness drops down below f4 so unless you are after a
huge DOF don't go that far. Fortunately, because of a small sensor
the DOF is large to begin with.

Click to expand...

Actually, the thing I like most about my G6 is that I can get a clear crisp picture at any aperture. What's more is that I can do this at ISO 100. The catch 22 is that the lense has certain sweet spots relative to the aperture. I guess this is true of any camera, but it seems to be especially true for the G6. Anyway, my G6 hardly ever comes out of the 2.2 – 3.2 aperture. There are three conditions that force me into a smaller aperture:
1. exposure (ie outdoors in sunlight)
2. landscapes and other unlimited focal distances

3. the need to have the focal length at a distance that is not optimal for the sensor and aperture combo

The G6 really got a bad wrap for soft images early on and that was because most people didn't understand where the sweet spots are on the lens. These sweet sposts are limiting, but when managed the G6 is an amazing tool.

Anyway, that just my opinion. YMMV )

I agree Scott, G6 is a sweet camera:



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Greetings,
Roumen