Canon PowerShot S110 vs Panasonic Lumix LX7 Noise RAW
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To compare RAW noise levels under real-life conditions, I shot this scene with the Canon PowerShot S110 and the Panasonic Lumix LX7, within a few moments of each other using their RAW modes at each of their ISO sensitivity settings.
Both cameras were mounted on a tripod and image stabilisation was disabled. The lenses were set to their maximum wide angle focal lengths, equivalent to 24mm for both cameras.
Both cameras were set to Aperture Priority mode and tone enhancement features were left on the default settings. |
The image above was taken with the PowerShot S110. The sensitivity was manually set to 80 ISO and the aperture set to f4. To achieve a better exposure more closely matched to the Lumix LX7, I applied 0.67EV exposure compensation on the PowerShot S110, resulting in a shutter speed of 0.8s at f4. The Lumix LX7, also manually set to 80 ISO and f4 in Aperture Priority mode metered 0.6s at f4.
I processed both sets of files in Adobe Camera RAW using identical settings: Sharpening at 70 / 0.5 / 36 / 10, Luminance and Colour Noise Reduction both set to zero, and the Process to 2012 with the Adobe Standard profile. To further reduce any distracting visual differences between the crops I also set custom white balance to 4500K and tint to 0. These settings were chosen to reveal the differences in sensor quality and isolate them from in-camera processing. The high degree of sharpening with a small radius enhances the finest details without causing undesirable artefacts, while the zero noise reduction unveils what's really going on behind the scenes - as such the visible noise levels at higher ISOs will be much greater than you're used to seeing in many of my comparisons, but again it's an approach that's designed to show the actual detail that's being recorded before you start work on processing and cleaning it up if desired.
The first thing to say about these RAW crops from the PowerShot S110 is that even at the base 80 ISO setting there's some noise present and, as I mentioned on the JPEG results page, it increases perceptibly from 80 to 100 ISO. By 200 ISO the colour component of the noise is also on the increase and compared to the 10 Megapixel Lumix LX7 crops the PowerShot S110 looks a little noisier.
From 400 ISO upwards though, if there is any difference in noise levels it's fairly marginal. You can only marvel at the ability of noise reduction algorithms when you see what the 1600 ISO crop looks like with no noise reduction applied. While the in-camera JPEG processing makes a great job of things at this level and arguably at 3200 ISO, it can't perform miracles; the 6400 and 12800 settings are revealed for what they are, more noise than image data.
I'm left wondering whether in its zeal to supress noise on JPEGs Canon hasn't been a little too aggressive at the base ISO setting. That's good news for RAW shooters, as I pointed out on the RAW results page, it means there's ample scope for squeezing better image quality for 80 and 100 ISO shots. But I'm not sure I'd fancy my chances of doing better with noise suppression and squeezing more detail from these RAW files higher up the ISO sensitivity scale.
Now head over to my Canon PowerShot S110 sample images to see some more real-life shots in a variety of conditions, or head straight for my Verdict.
Canon PowerShot S110 RAW |
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Panasonic Lumix LX7 RAW |
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80 ISO |
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80 ISO |
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100 ISO |
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100 ISO |
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200 ISO |
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200 ISO |
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400 ISO |
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400 ISO |
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800 ISO |
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800 ISO |
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1600 ISO |
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1600 ISO |
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3200 ISO |
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3200 ISO |
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6400 ISO |
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6400 ISO |
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12800 ISO |
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12800 ISO Not Available |
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