Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 - Test shots: ISO performance

The GH2 offers a wide range of manually selectable ISO settings - some 20 incremental choices in all - starting out at ISO160 and finishing at top whack ISO12800 equivalent, with Auto ISO and 'intelligent' ISO for those who want to leave the camera to decide, and with commendable consistency as it happens. Rather than bombard you with a myriad ISO examples, we've chosen a few choice ones to illustrate the more pronounced changes as we move through the settings.

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Examining the full frame at ISO160 and all, expectedly, is well with the GH2's performance

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Same crisp and clean subject at ISO400 and similarly no image noise to report.

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ISO800 and there's noise, but again, as we found with the GF2, it's hardly at a noticeable level.

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We're getting a very mild sandpaper effect at ISO1600, but a very usable image nonetheless.

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It's at ISO3200 that matters start to go noticeably awry, with the image softer in terms of detail, grittier in terms of grain, and with a green-ish colour tint to boot.

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Worse again at ISO6400 with a distinctly speckled look to the entire image.

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A simply horrible result at maximum ISO12800 equivalent setting, with our 'photo' looking more like a cheap and crude photocopy of an image. Certainly no match for the results achievable with mid range DSLRs that offer equivalent ISO expansion settings.

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