Rongnongno Loc: FL

I am about to purchase a small camera to use on the side of my D800e.

If you are using it, can you share your experience with this camera and post unedited real life pictures taken with it? (check upload original)

Thank you.

mvy Loc: New Hampshire

Ahoy Ronongno,

If you are considering a Canon G1 X, permit me to comment.

First off, I just bought and tested one. At the same time, I bought a Canon G15 for situations where the G1X would not be adequate--absolutely no good with macros, and too slow for birds in flight.

The test shots from these two cameras were marvelous, but for IQ the G1x won the day. The scene was fast running water falling over a dam, and into a brook. If photos could sing, those G1 images would gurgle and bubble right off the computer monitor.

In sum, I'm delightd with the G1X's image quality which also compliments my efforts to photograph New Hampshire's beautiful landscape.

All the best,

Martin

saichiez Loc: Beautiful Central Oregon

Splitting hairs here, but.... Are you talking about the OLD Canon Powershot G1, which debuted in the year 2000... or are you talking about the current Canon Powershot G1 X?

Assumption.... the mother of all problems.... presumes you are talking about the new model, which appears to be a continuation of the G series Canon Powershots, but with a larger sensor (APSc), which again by Assumption would be the better picture taker.

DPreview.com has done a nice review on the X model. For me, I go to the conclusion page on DPreview reviews immediately and look at the Pros/Cons list.

There are some vital deal breakers for me on the Con list of the G1 X model... two being speed of focus and speed of zoom:

Conclusion - Pros

Good detail and resolution at low sensitivities
Excellent high ISO performance, very clean output with good detail
Compact dimensions for sensor size and lens range
Intuitive user interface with good number of external controls and customizability
Excellent build quality with metal body and comfortable rubber grips
Articulated screen useful for waist-level and high angle shooting
Very impressive image stabilization system
Good-quality built-in lens with versatile zoom range
Optical viewfinder is not great to work with but good to have in very bright light
Virtually silent shooting
Built-in 3-stop ND filter
Efficient CA and distortion correction with only minimal loss of quality at the edges of the frame
Good bundled raw converter with comprehensive feature set (Digital Photo Pro)

Conclusion - Cons

Very slow continuous shooting for this class of camera, no control over parameters in High-Speed Burst scene mode
Comparatively slow AF, slowing down further in macro mode
Limited close focusing capabilities require frequent switches to macro focus mode
Built-in zoom lens is relatively slow, especially at the tele-end
Slightly steep tone curve in the highlights can lead to blown highlights in high contrast scenes
DR correction, digital filters, noise reduction and other image parameters not available when shooting raw
Noise reduction not adjustable when shooting Raw+JPEG
Slightly 'conservative' feature set, no panorama mode or high speed video/stills modes
Simple video mode, no manual controls or external microphone socket
Jagged lines and other artifacts in video output
Below average battery life
Auto ISO only goes up to ISO 1600
Not possible to fit filters and a lens hood at the same time

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Thank you for your input and comments.

bonjac Loc: Santa Ynez, CA 93460

Not to be a nit picker but your comment about the sensor being the size of APSc is off a bit. While the G1X sensor is larger, it is 20% smaller that Canon's APSC sensor which in turn is smaller by a similar percent than the standard APSc sensor. Nonetheless, substantially larger than G16, just not as large as APSC.

saichiez Loc: Beautiful Central Oregon

That's very interesting, and sorry I missed that.

It turns out that the dimension is almost identical to the Oly/Pana Sony 4/3 and micro 4/3 sensor. Interesting to me in that I have been outperforming most APSc sensors with my Olympus PEN camera's and Oly DSLR's for some time.

Now if the canon could only deliver the award winning focus speed, and stabilization that Oly has been offering for some time, my answer to the OP would be a clear suggestion to not overlook the Olympus PEN mirrorless micro 4/3.

I don't believe any other maker in that sensor size can outperform the Olympus PENs, particularly the OM-D EM-5, or the new Olympus mirrorless pro camera, the EM1, just announced.

I use the Olympus PEN E-PL5. with the basic IIR 14-42 zoom and the Panasonic 20mm f1.7. Smaller than the Canon Powershot GX-1 with the lens extended and far more shooting performance. I paid $475 refurb for the camera and zoom lens from the refurb dept of Olympus.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

The macro issue is a deal killer!

I like small stuff!!!