Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Samples

These crops show the performance of the 20 megapixels Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 next to the 16 megapixels Olympus OM-D E-M1
Olympus OM-D E-M1 at the same ISO. Both these are weather-sealed and use a Four-Thirds CMOS sensor with 5-axis built-in image stabilization and an ISO 100-25600 sensitivity range. They are aimed at the same segment of the market with a built-in EVF and plenty of external buttons.

All images below are 100% crops from their respective camera taken at the highest image quality JPEG setting available. ISO, aperture and white-balance were set on camera. Other settings were left at their default values. These crops help determine which ISO settings is acceptable on these cameras. When noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print becomes too noisy is a matter of personal taste.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8	Olympus OM-D E-M5
ISO 100	ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 6400
ISO 12800	ISO 12800
ISO 25600	ISO 25600

While the 4 MP difference in resolution is marginal, the lack of anti-alias filter in the E-M1 really allows it to pick up more fine details. Despite its smaller pixels though, the GX8 manages to keep noise-levels lower by around 1 stop starting at ISO 1600. As usual though, dynamic-range remains higher with larger pixels.