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Is Panny G5 JPEG color as good as Oly color now, particularly skin tones?

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Hen3ry

Hen3ry

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I'm looking for real information here -- not theory.

I sacrificed a lot to shift from Panny to Oly E-PM1 then E-PL3 in pursuit of two things -- small size and good JPEG color.

Now I'm looking at the G5 and seeing a camera with great ergonomics (vs the Oly, made by people who are pretty much unaware of the term!) and size no bigger and heavier than the E-PL3 with VF2 attached.

So it comes down to the color. is G5 color up to snuff?

I would be most grateful for real info. Many thanks in anticipation.


Cheers, geoff
 
From what I have seen, it is more near to the Olympus colors, a bit less saturated, but I need to see more kinds of samples to confirm.

But I think Panasonic Lumix will never want to have the same output Olympus have or other brands. Each brand has it's own signature.
 
Hen3ry said:
Hen3ry wrote:

I'm looking for real information here -- not theory.

I sacrificed a lot to shift from Panny to Oly E-PM1 then E-PL3 in pursuit of two things -- small size and good JPEG color.

Now I'm looking at the G5 and seeing a camera with great ergonomics (vs the Oly, made by people who are pretty much unaware of the term!) and size no bigger and heavier than the E-PL3 with VF2 attached.

So it comes down to the color. is G5 color up to snuff?

I would be most grateful for real info. Many thanks in anticipation.

Cheers, geoff
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I have had the impression what what I have read that there has been change with each model.


Cheers, geoff
 
Hen3ry said:
Hen3ry wrote:

I have had the impression what what I have read that there has been change with each model.

Cheers, geoff
Click to expand...
 
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I still own the G1, Gh1, Gh2 and have now about a month of use of the G5.

Color may be a very subjective area for discussion. But for jpegs, the Oly jpeg default is superior to any of the Panasonic default settings in my judgement. But I shoot raw so this is not an issue for me, and as has been mentioned color is very easily tuned in Lightroom 4.3 or the earlier versions. As has also been mentioned in this thread, it's possible to set color preference in camera in advance of shooting. However, I couldn't get the realistic colors I wanted that way.

The various film modes that Panasonic incorporates also allow a lot of options. In the G5 I am shooting in Nature or Scenery modes (which also affect "raw" color outcomes) and I am pretty happy with both, less so with Standard film mode which is still a bit off...greens are too yellow but better than with the previous bodies.

The beauty of shooting raw is that you can really fine tune your colors and everything else. I usually turn down the contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction in each film mode (easily done) and then add them back in raw processing as needed, it's a better way to tune these aspects. There are sliders for red vs green and blue vs. yellow, etc. So you can get whatever you want.

Nevertheless, if you don't want to spend the time to process raws...Oly is a great way to go.

I do love the G5, especially for the price. The pinpoint crosshair focus and silent shutter are fabulous upgrades for wildlife and even street photos of people. The metering is also better, I am able to shoot at 0ev much more often. And the 5 might be a hair cleaner (new processor) than the GH2. So far, not regretting canceling my GH3 order.



gp
 
Colors are purely subjective with any camera. As many people dislike Olympus colors as those who love it, probably the same as the Panasonic.

Given all the internal color and white balance settings available in Panasonic's cameras as well as the ability to use native Lightroom corrections and custom profiles, it is certainly possible to obtain whatever colors you want from pretty much any m4/3 camera.

This is a way over analyzed topic in my opinion.

alan.
 
ADSinger said:
ADSinger wrote:

Given all the internal color and white balance settings available in Panasonic's cameras as well as the ability to use native Lightroom corrections and custom profiles, it is certainly possible to obtain whatever colors you want from pretty much any m4/3 camera.
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With the G1, Alan, I adjusted color balance internally but it was not really a solution. The problem was that you could adjust the balance for e.g. full sunlight, but when you took a pic under different circumstances the balance was wrong.

For example, early morning or late afternoon full sunlight is redder -- when I had adjusted the red of full sunlight correctly for the middle of the day, early or late pix came out yucky. The balance simply wasn't right.

Even at the optimum adjustment level, however, I could never match the Oly or Kodak (P880) colors.
ADSinger said:
This is a way over analyzed topic in my opinion.
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Frankly, I would have to disagree. Most users use JPEG color so it is very important, I think. Only a small proportion of users process RAW files in Lightroom. I certainly don't -- and won’t.


Cheers, geoff
 
for me I have little time for post processing so I want where possible great photos straight out of the camera. the Olympus jpegs are just fantastic and look great to me and so I have become obsessed with the colours their cameras produce. they aren't natural colours to me but they aren't too different to look unrealistic. no other camera to me produces images like my pen cameras. it is all subjective as not say but theirs something a bit special about them I can't find in other cameras
 
I had G3 and now G5. There is a subtle improvement in picture quality for G5 jpgs. And low ISO noise is much less in RAW. I shoot RAW because you can pull much more detail and play with colors. With G3 and G5 unless I underexpose the darker blues turn much lighter in jpgs. You can check it with DPR comparator. Here is a screen shot I created long time ago. That being said, I still like G5 for the interface and keep myself happy by shooting RAW.





In my opinion Panasonic out of camera jpgs still lag behind Oly.
 
mrkfm01 said:
mrkfm01 wrote:

for me I have little time for post processing so I want where possible great photos straight out of the camera. the Olympus jpegs are just fantastic and look great to me and so I have become obsessed with the colours their cameras produce. they aren't natural colours to me but they aren't too different to look unrealistic. no other camera to me produces images like my pen cameras. it is all subjective as not say but theirs something a bit special about them I can't find in other cameras
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That is exactly my problem! :)


Cheers, geoff
 
Hen3ry said:
Hen3ry wrote:
Hen3ry said:
ADSinger wrote:
Click to expand...
Hen3ry said:
This is a way over analyzed topic in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Frankly, I would have to disagree. Most users use JPEG color .... Only a small proportion of users process RAW files in Lightroom
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Holy cow! I was not aware that there were statistics on this.

Do you also have the data broken down by the percentage of enthusiasts that shoot and process RAW in LR / CS versus, say, the percentage of enthusiasts that let the camera do their job?

I would love to see the link where you got that info.

Thanks.
 
Schira said:
Schira wrote:

I had G3 and now G5. There is a subtle improvement in picture quality for G5 jpgs. And low ISO noise is much less in RAW. I shoot RAW because you can pull much more detail and play with colors. With G3 and G5 unless I underexpose the darker blues turn much lighter in jpgs. You can check it with DPR comparator. Here is a screen shot I created long time ago. That being said, I still like G5 for the interface and keep myself happy by shooting RAW.



In my opinion Panasonic out of camera jpgs still lag behind Oly.
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In the gallery, you entitle that screen shot "what the heck?" as if there should be some sort of expectation that the defaults that Adobe has programmed for the Panasonic RAW files should somehow match the default JPEG settings that Panasonic programmed into the JPEG engine.

Both sets of parameters are DEFAULTS and both were created by different companies (I believe.)

All of which is to say that there should be no expectation that colors and tones will magically match.

Further, there is an expectation that you intervene with either one and set them up the way you like to shoot and process.

So I don't see how you can express surprise ...

--

Nothing Special

This blog is my personal space. Do not confuse this with statements or opinions on behalf of any employer I have ever had, have now, or will ever have in the future.
kimletkeman.blogspot.com kimletkeman.blogspot.com
 
Kim Letkeman said:
Kim Letkeman wrote:
Kim Letkeman said:
Hen3ry wrote:
Kim Letkeman said:
ADSinger wrote:

This is a way over analyzed topic in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Frankly, I would have to disagree. Most users use JPEG color .... Only a small proportion of users process RAW files in Lightroom
Click to expand...
Holy cow! I was not aware that there were statistics on this.

Do you also have the data broken down by the percentage of enthusiasts that shoot and process RAW in LR / CS versus, say, the percentage of enthusiasts that let the camera do their job?

I would love to see the link where you got that info.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
The JPEGs from the G5 are fantastic. Its a very comfortable camera and the video quality is very good as well. Right now I'd say the G5 is one of the best values for the money.
 
I cannot compare to the Olympus camera, but do have the G5 - colours seem just fine to me. Forgive me, but why not simply edit colours in post-processing to get the result you want?
 
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