Digital cameras 101

[FancyLady]

I see this listed on the exif file for my Panasonic FZ18

Does anyone know what this is?

[bdery]

Hi,

I have made some research on the web, and it seems the gain control refers to the level of processing done on high ISO images. According to a reference I found (in French, sorry), there are three levels of noise processing : none, low, high.

This information is apparently stored by Panasonic in a non-standard way, however. It seems most EXIF readers decode it this way:

80 ISO and 100 ISO : Gain Control = none
200 ISO : Gain Control = Low gain up
400 to 3200 ISO : Gain Control = High gain up

However, whatever the value on this line, the camera uses the correct setting, as selected by the user.

In short, I would not worry much about it, and use this line of data only if a Panasonic program is used to read the EXIF.

[FancyLady]

Thanks.  That's just the info I wanted.  I've seen pictures I really liked on Flickr and wondered what the settings for Gain Control were.  Now I'll be able to interpret them.

Hi,


80 ISO and 100 ISO : Gain Control = none
200 ISO : Gain Control = Low gain up
400 to 3200 ISO : Gain Control = High gain up