Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1 review – White balance and colour
Image: Using Wi-Fi, images can be sent from the camera to a smart device and quickly adjusted using Adobe Photoshop Touch
Inside the GM1’s white balance menu is a wealth of different options. These include auto (AWB), daylight, cloudy, shadow, incandescent, flash, white set 1 and 2, and a custom colour temperature setting. The custom setting is very good and was the one I opted for the most. It allows users to view the scene in real time and adjust the colour temperature between 2,500K and 10,000K in 100K steps. This is a very precise and easy way to adjust the white balance.
By simply tapping down on the D-pad while in a white balance setting, the blue/yellow and magenta/green bias can be adjusted, which is very useful. I found that in AWB the tungsten white balance was often too cold, so nudging towards the yellow axis added a welcome warmth to the image.
Overall, colour rendition is good, although in some scenes colours appear a bit flat. Thankfully, under the photostyle option, it is easy to boost the image saturation to bring back some of the punch. A host of other picture styles can also be applied from this menu, including portrait, vivid and monochrome.
The scene modes have a variety of different options, including cross-process, silky monochrome and dynamic monochrome.
Image: In its standard mode, colours look natural, although slightly muted
