Canon PowerShot G1 X Review Discussion

[Jim Keenan]

Announced at CES 2012 as the new flagship of Canon's Powershot lineup, the G1 X was "scheduled" to be available in February, but that timeframe has now slipped a bit. For folks anxiously awaiting its arrival, the first week of March now looks like the best possible scenario.

A major cause of the anticipation generated for this new camera is sensor-based - the G1 X carries the largest physically-sized sensor to date in any Powershot digital, a 1.5-inch model sized much closer to a Canon DSLR than its G-series relative, the G12. The 1/1.7-inch sensor in the G12 is one of the largest in all of the compact digital ranks and measures 7.6 x 5.7mm; the G1 X sensor measures 18.7 x 14mm and the APS-C sensor of the Canon 60D 22.3 x 14.9mm.

Read the full content of this Article: Canon PowerShot G1 X Review

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[kelsci]

I examined one of the pictures taken at the amusement park. I thought the sharpness,color quality and a thingy I call image liveliness was first rate. When I get a chance I will go to youtube and see in anyone posted videos taken with this unit.

[Jim Keenan]

There's a video clip in our review.

[Vogelbung]

Thanks for the review. Pretty much in line with other sites in terms of the overall conclusion. Probably a 'should get' for me, but I think I'll wait for an opportunity to try one out somewhere and shoot it off against the X1 - as I think it'd be an either/or proposition for me, no point in having both.

I do love the simple accessibility of the controls on the X1 though, the G1X doesn't appear to replicate that feature, dial-festooned as it may be.

[Jim Keenan]

"Should get" implies your Sony doesn't do everything you need it to and the common thread with what you're looking at seems to be wider and faster than the Sony with a kit lens. If size/weight or having a backup is the issue then read no further and good luck - I don't think you'll go wrong with either camera.

Not trying to talk you out of either the G1 X or X1 as both are fine cameras, but if I was trying to make an A65 shoot wider and/or faster I'd be tempted to get another lens and forego another camera.

Sony's got some wide angle zooms that start in the 16-18mm range that translate to 24-27mm in 35mm terms - about the same as the G1 X and not quite as wide as the X1. The Sony zooms are also a bit slower, but their cost is a bit less than a G1 X or X1. Sony's also got a Zeiss zoom starting at 16mm for about the same as the G1 X. And there's a Zeiss budget buster 16-35/2.8 zoom that will cost you twice the G1 X and about 1.5X the X1, but good glass is forever. When/if you move from the A65 that Zeiss will still be good, and if you get a full frame Sony then it's truly wide as well.

I recently picked up a Nikon V1 simply for its crop factor and viewfinder. It also has good image quality and quite good AF performance, but mostly I needed something to maximize 35mm equivalent focal length of my 600mm lens for the upcoming May eclipse of the sun. I could go with a 2X teleconverter and get 1800mm with a D300S at the expense of two stops of speed, or simply pop on a J1/V1 with its 2.7X crop and have a 1620mm at f/4 if needed. The V1 is the more expensive option by about double, but then I've also got 1620mm on our next trip to Alaska with the Dall rams standing on peaks 1000 yards away..........your fix might be a lens, not a camera.

[Vogelbung]

My fix is an X1 with zoom, really. I find myself missing the feature quite often, but I also realise that will make the reason I bought the X1 - an actually compact APS-C camera - less viable, in that a zoom lens will make the camera deeper.

I actually don't use the DSLR's that often in absolute terms, although when I do use them I like to cover the common bases. Any DSLR is not a replacement for the role of the compact large-sensor camera at least in my usage.

So the G1X is taller and deeper than I'd like, but I'm not really seeing anything else that's capable of throwing out an image of this class, allied with a decent focal range. And before anyone mentions the X10, it's nowhere near in the same league even with the lens speed advantage.

You're kind of right though in that I'm trying to figure out what works for me best through gaining personal experience and not through inference - and to that end I'm not looking for long-term investment potential in mind but getting what might work for me at the current point in time, or what I think might work so that I can see whether I've made an error in my choice or not. I acknowledge it's not the cheapest way to gain experience but I do think it's the most absolute way.

It's just that given those factors, the G1X is not a no-brainer choice - if it was e.g. the same size as the X1 when stowed and had the features it does now, it would have been a no-brainer for me. But sizewise it's bigger than a Fuji X100 - which I rejected as too large as an everyday camera after buying both the X1 and the X100 and spending a few weeks with each.

The Fuji X10's image quality is too low for what I'd like. The Leica X1 delivers in the IQ / usability aspect but I miss the zoom - also I think the lack of features like video is more a marketing decision than a functional one, and even though it does throw out decent images it's far from perfect or even accomplished in terms of things like AF speed. The G1X might be too bulky. A NEX-7 is compact in itself, delivers in IQ/features stakes, but add a decent lens and it becomes larger than any of these - and I also managed to spend time on one and I have a few ergonomic issues with it which might be dealbreakers down the line. I dunno - Might look into micro 4/3rds as well.

[Jim Keenan]

Yeah, size is not a consideration for me as I'm perfectly happy to haul around a D3S or D300S with an MB-D10 battery pack. About my only concession to weight is there are days I'll take only the lens on the camera and plan to shoot to the strength of the lens.

Your approach to finding a combination that suits your needs and style seems reasonable - while a showroom demo with a camera is of some use nothing compares with living with one for a while to see if it's truly the one.

[KCook]

Hey, don't butter Vogelbung up too much Jim. I'm still waiting on his user report for the A65

wizeguy