Panasonic Lumix CM1 Review - The CM1 set Photokina 2014 alight with the implementation of a 1in, 20MP sensor in a smartphone body. We finally get the chance to put it through its paces in our full review.
Panasonic Lumix CM1 Review
Panasonic Lumix CM1 Review – Image Quality
Panasonic Lumix CM1 sample image gallery
It’s instantly clear when shooting with the CM1 that it’s a smartphone / camera combination which has been developed by those with expertise in the latter.
Thanks to the capacity provided by the larger sensor and Venus Engine image processor, the CM1 is capable of capturing a good level of detail throughout the frame. If you are to compare the images captured by the CM1 to, say, the iPhone 6 Plus, it’s instantly apparent that they’re in a different league.
A much larger amount of detail is captured by the CM1 then the iPhone, and when you take a closer look at the Raw files produced by the CM1 the gap grows even wider still thanks to the extra dynamic range and the detail you can recover from the shadows.
One slight disappointment in this area is the absence of any form of optical image stabilisation, no doubt in some part to keep the size of the CM1 down. As a result of this omission, to get the shutter speeds you might require at times you’ll have to bump the ISO setting right up.
The issue with this is that despite the larger sensor size, above ISO 800 or 1000 noise becomes a serious issue on images.
Other features perform well however – the CM1’s AWB renders colours naturally and manages to deliver a pleasing level of vibrancy without over-saturating the shot.