My First Week With my Lumix G7

It’s great to see that you’re enjoying your new camera! I particularly like the visual patterns and composition in your black and white shot of the winding road. The exposure bracketed clouds have some great colours too!

I typically try to shoot around ISO 200, and rarely ever exceed 1600. As you’ve already noticed, noise becomes a problem rather quickly!

To compensate for keeping the ISO as low as possible, I shoot wide open (most of my lenses are around f2.8, but on a kit lens that’s usually around f3.5-f5.6). Combined with proper handling (multiple points of contact with the camera and well-braced arms), I can usually survive with some slightly longer shutter speeds. Even 1/30 of a second shutter speed if the lens is zoomed out.

Back when I shot film (35mm and medium format), the general rule I was taught for hand held shutter speeds was 1/focal length. Because of the crop factor, that would double for MFT. So if you’re zoomed out to 14mm on your kit lens, you might be able to shoot with a shutter speed as slow as 1/28 of a second without noticeable motion blur. I’m sure more experienced photographers than I will have plenty to say about this approach! Haha.

If you’re shooting on a tripod and not trying to capture motion (especially at night!), the good news is that you can use really long exposures (no handheld rules). Keep the ISO at 200, set your aperture for a depth of field that’s appropriate for your subject, and then use the shutter speed to control the exposure. That should help control noise significantly.