Sorry I didn't mean to imply 3 stops I said 3 x the exposure i.e 1/712 is about 1/3 of the 1/250 (which is a rounded figure anyway). The amount of light reaching the input of the lens was of course the same. The brightness of the image is a little different although the shadows are the same. there is probably 1 zone difference in the red doors, but highlights both clip at the same levels. It would seem that there was more longer wavelength light being measured by the sensor electronics for the DMC-LC5 camera, as the relative number of pixels is higher for the mid to high tones on the DMC-LC5 image - as can be seen on histograms of the images.
No there is nothing wrong with the metering. The same incident light at the camera, produced more electrons at the sensor on the DMC-LC5 - apparently more than twice that of the L10, because the exposure cut off so much faster, and there is a good technical reason for this - any more ideas?
I will tell you that the DMC-LC5 lens has fewer elements and there is less light loss within the lens.
But the main difference is in the sensor design which is, by the way, a non Bayer sensor. The sensor was designed so that there would be minimal noise levels at the base ISO of the camera, and there are a couple of factors that contribute to low image noise levels which makes the camera more sensitive.
By the way I have tested similar camera designs against Nikon D50, Fuji S100fs, F50fd, and other recent Panasonic camera. I found that in low light (very dim), I had to set the D50 to ISO 800 to get the same image brightness as an old Panasonic at ISO 100 for the same shutter speed. This was mostly a difference in the speed of the kit lens f2.4 vs f5 at that particular zoom level, but also due to differences in the light gathering design of the sensor. Of course a prime lens on the D50 would make it more sensitive, but as I was shooting church pageantry I needed a zoom.
In actual practice I could shoot the one camera hand held at 1/50 second f 2.4 full zoom at ISO 100 and to match it, I had to set the D50 to its widest aperture for the same zoom at ISO 800. Which image do you think showed the best color, best dynamic range, and lowest noise? The one at ISO 100.
Of course, today, with my $6,000 Leica lens package on a NEX-5, I can get really good images at ISO 1600, and shoot at F2, so that I can stop motion. But it's nice to know you can get just as good a picture in daylight with a well designed $50 camera from an auction on E-Bay.
Yes, It's hard to beat the images produced on a Camera with Leica vario Summicron 7-21 mm lens, and with a CMYG filter array, - pixel binning keeps down the noise. I have posted some 100 pictures on Rangefinderimages.com made with this camera design by both Leica and Lumix.
So, the increased sensitivity of the DMC-LC5 is due to its efficient lens design (worth half a stop I guess) its CMYG filter array which collects twice as many wavelengths as an RGBG Bayer filter array, and its binning software that sums the collected data from several photodiodes at lower resolutions (so the pixels are effectively bigger).
thanks for jumping in and contributing.
Waeshael.
