Incredible Macro images with a compact Panasonic camera

Panasonic DMC-LX5 image
Canon 7d image
I took some studio shots of a Nalu Bead necklace the the SurfGirl product page today with my Canon EOS 7d with a 28-70mm L zoom lens. I had a single Bowens light with a large softbox and the beads were on a piece of white perspex. I fired off a few frames on the Canon and then thought I would try out the macro mode on my Panasonic DMC-LX5 to see how it performed.I took a few shots and then imported the lot into Adobe Lightroom. I was completely blown away by the amount of detail in the Panasonic DMC-LX5 raw images, it’s truly breathtaking. There’s a little bit of noise in the shadow areas which I didn’t get in the Canon 7d, but considering the size of the censor on the Panasonic DMC-LX5 and the fact that it less than half the price of the Canon lens alone, it’s astonishing! Check out the comparison images for yourself, and bear in mind that the silver clasp is about the size of a small coin — less than a US quarter.

 

I love getting close for macro shots and once spent an entire afternoon shooting extreme macro images of wetsuits in the studio. My favourite photo made the zipper look like an express train coming over a neoprene hill!
Canon closeup
Panasonic closeup