Studio resolution: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1   To measure and compare the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1's resolving power we photographed the Enhanced Digital Camera Resolution Chart with it and a number of rival cameras, each using their best quality JPEG and default image tone and sharpening settings; RAW comparisons can be found lower down on this page. The lenses used were tested at every aperture setting and the best results selected for this page. Magnified assistance in Live View was used to confirm the focusing. The crops are taken from the converted RAW images, saved as High Quality JPEGs in Photoshop CS4 and presented here at 100%. Each number represents 100 lines per picture height (lpph), so a figure of 20 means a resolution of 2000 lpph.

Perhaps more revealingly, the GH1 with the 14-140mm scored lower in this test than the earlier G1 with the 14-45mm kit lens. We know the GH1’s sensor is different to its video-less counterpart, but it does share the same pixel density and resolution when using the 4:3 aspect ratio tested here. We believe the G1’s higher score of 2450 lpph for both horizontal and vertical resolution is simply down to the difference in their kit optics: the G VARIO 14-45mm kit lens appears to be sharper than the G VARIO 14-140mm. Sadly we were unable to test the GH1 with the same 14-45mm lens to confirm, but hope to present results from other lenses in the future.

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise though, as super-zooms rarely match the quality of lenses with shorter ranges: what you gain in convenience, you lose in ultimate quality.

But some of the GH1’s softness is down to image processing, as you’ll see in our RAW results at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, head straight on over to our High ISO Noise results page to see how it compares across its sensitivity range.