Noise, Resolution and Sensitivity
Image: Noise is well controlled up to ISO 1600, but at ISO 3200 luminance noise is more apparent
As there is no optical image stabilisation with the supplied kit lens, shooting sharp images in low light can be a bit tricky, placing an even greater emphasis on good performance as higher sensitivities will be more frequently employed.
By today’s standards, a maximum ISO of 3200 is fairly standard, but noise levels are well controlled up to ISO 800 and images are usable at ISO 1600. ISO settings beyond this should be used only as an emergency back up, especially the extended ISO 6400, as luminance noise begins to show. In this respect, the NX100 does not quite match the performance of the Sony NEX5. Chroma noise is very well controlled and even in the higher sensitivities there is little sign of it.
Image: Fine levels of detail can be recorded using the 14.6-million-effective-pixel APS-C sensor, as this cropped image shows
Our resolution charts show that the 14.6-million-pixel APS-C sensor is capable of resolving detail up to the 26 marker at ISO 100 and only really drops at the higher sensitivities, reaching the 22 marker at ISO 3200 in raw format and the 18 marker in JPEG format. This is a respectable performance for a camera of this level.
Resolution charts: These images show 72ppi (100% on a computer screen) sections of images of a resolution chart, captured using the 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. We show the section of the resolution chart where the camera starts to fail to reproduce the lines separately. The higher the number visible in these images, the better the camera’s detail resolution is at the specified sensitivity setting.
