Canon PowerShot G1 X Announced

[dolina]

 

[neuroanatomist]

In use, true. But body only (no battery/card), the G1X is actually 3 g heavier than the T3.

 

[takeapic]

So the G1X JOINS, not replaces the G12.

Then would a G12 successor materialize?

As for the G1X, too expensive, too big, and too slow of a lens.

 

[Jan]

If this camera would have existed in 2006, I had bought one. But for now, I'll live with my 400D.

I'm wondering what the next Rebel will look like... apart from the interchangable lenses, the G1X comes pretty close to the entry level DSLRs.
I would love seeing a 650D with, lets say 5fps and a better AF... 8) Or what about FF in a Rebel? ???

 

[wickidwombat]

I think this camera will fail, the fuji X10 lens is a full stop faster at the wide end and 2 full stops faster at the long end! not to mention its smaller, and the fuji looks retro

 

[pwp]

Clunky appearance, disappointing slow lens, great feature set, and yes, that roomy sensor...I'll be getting one for sure.

Paul Wright

 

[elflord]

I think this camera will fail, the fuji X10 lens is a full stop faster at the wide end and 2 full stops faster at the long end! not to mention its smaller, and the fuji looks retro

I'm pretty impressed with this. I laughed at predictions that it would be close to APS-C but it looks like the last laugh is on me.

The lens needs to be "slow" because of the big sensor. The maximum aperture is around 10mm -- that is about the same as the 18-55mm rebel kit lens, or the 20mm f/1.7 pancake prime that is popular on micro 4/3. So for those who are used to fast lenses on an SLR, nothing to write home about, but Canon are probably trying to pick off the crowd who would otherwise buy a big sensor camera with the kit lens and never change lenses.

How many lenses are there which come close to getting an aperture this size in a compact form factor ? Off the top of my head I can think of the Olympus XZ-1 which is f/2.5 at the tele end, and the micro 4/3 pancake lens. The Fui is comparable, but not really better -- what it gains in the lens it gives back in the sensor.

 

[Gcon]

It'd be cool if it were cheap and the underwater housing was also cheap. I'd like to take underwater photos with my 5DMarkII but the housings are expensive! And also If It screws up than that's an expensive experiment.

 

[Cornell]

At that price, it would have to have more.

The lens zooms to an equivalent of 112 mm: not nearly enough.

Also, once again, Canon is continuing to offer a Powershot camera manual in a CD-ROM. I like to take my manual with me in case I have something I need to look up and I don't like to take extraneous weight, namely a laptop for the CD-ROM. If I'm going to take a laptop, I might as well take my DSLR.

I'll pass.

 

[Ryusui]

Also, once again, Canon is continuing to offer a Powershot camera manual in a CD-ROM. I like to take my manual with me in case I have something I need to look up and I don't like to take extraneous weight, namely a laptop for the CD-ROM. If I'm going to take a laptop, I might as well take my DSLR.

OT, but assuming you have one, why not just put the PDF manual on your smartphone? I keep my manuals on my iPhone and not only is it convenient by taking less room in my bag but I can even search the PDF for a particular term, just as I would on my computer. And the app I use bookmarks my last location.

 

[elflord]

At that price, it would have to have more.

The lens zooms to an equivalent of 112 mm: not nearly enough.

This is clearly not supposed to be a superzoom -- the goals are to pack as much image quality as possible into a reasonably compact (and ergonomic) form factor. A longer lens would subvert these objectives. The range is comparable to 17.5-70mm on APS-C -- covers the "walkaround" range pretty well, and is a wider range than the smaller SLR kit lenses (typically 18-55)

Superzooms invariably require compromises to get their reach -- nearly all superzooms have tiny ~1/2.3" sensors, and are close to SLR size.

 

[pwp]

I think this camera will fail, the fuji X10 lens is a full stop faster at the wide end and 2 full stops faster at the long end! not to mention its smaller, and the fuji looks retro

Time will reveal whether this camera bombs or not. But I think it's really a different market category to the brilliant X10 with a compelling 4x bigger sensor. But yes, that slow f/2.8-5.8 / 28-112mm lens will be a deal breaker for plenty of potential buyers. The sweetener will be if it has comprehensively class leading high iso performance. We'll see results soon enough.

Here's a snip from the DP Review G1X preview...

The sensor in the G1 X is 18.7 x 14mm, which means it's 20% smaller than the sensors Canon uses in most of its DSLRs. However it's slightly larger than the Four Thirds size used by Olympus and Panasonic, and more than 4x the area of the Fujifilm X10's sensor. Noticeably, its pixel count is also around 20% lower than Canon's 18MP DSLR chip - supporting its assertion that its design is closely related, with the same underlying pixel design. This can only bode well, given the high quality results that cameras such as the EOS 7D can produce.

Here's the whole thing: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canong1x/

Paul Wright

 

[Policar]

Very interested in the video mode for this camera, it will be very telling how it performs w/r/t Canon's new dSLRs. It pretty obviously has a t3i/7d/60d sensor but it has the new digit 5 chip. Will we see less moire? Less skew? Less pixel binning? The lack of 30p is surprising...

Does this also mean the t4i will be 18mp or will the next generation APS-C cameras have a new sensor?

In terms of stills, the per-pixel noise level will reveal a lot about the digic 5's performance relative to the digic 4...

 

[BaconBets]

Some people are complaining that the zoom range isn't big enough and the aperture is 1 stop too slow.
Some people are complaining that the camera is bigger.
This is when you hate being an engineer. These are opposing forces.
To have a sensor this big, 24mm, and 2.0 without making the body much bigger is impossible.
Why did Canon build it this way?
"Better performance at all ISO's than 7d"

 

[neuroanatomist]

Why did Canon build it this way?
"Better performance at all ISO's than 7d"

Just to clarify, that applies to JPG images and is because of Digic5. No info on RAW performance, yet.

Other notables pulled from the Q&A with Chuck Westfall:

• No manual control for video shooting - autoexposure only
• Contrast detect AF is 'a little faster'
• Lens performance on par with EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Regarding the lens performance comment, I'd call the performance of the 18-135mm almost decent when stopped down to f/8 or so, but not very good wide open. Here's a comparison of the 18-135 to the much better 15-85mm at 24mm f/4; if you set the dropdown for the 18-135mm to f/8, you'll see that at that point, it's getting closer to the 15-85mm wide open, but still noticeably worse away from the center. Keep in mind that the G1X sensor is close to APS-C and the pixel pitch is the same as current 18 MP sensor - that's enough to expose flaws in a lens, and IMO, if this lens is similar to or even a little better than the 18-135mm, there are plenty of flaws to expose (in particular, not very sharp in the center, mushy corners, lots of vignetting, and a fair bit of CA.

 

[BaconBets]

The most interesting aspect of the G1x closing the gap with APS-C cameras is the implied necessary improvements in the successors to the 7d and the 60d. Gotta justify that $1200-$2000 tag, and I'm sure they will.
The fun question is how.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I have one on pre-order, but when Chuck Westfal noted that the camera could not be tethered to a pc, that was a disappointment. Its not a deal breaker, but would certainly be a feature I would use.

February delivery ... Lets see, is it Leap Year? Only 28 days in February, so they don't have that extra one day cushion.

 

[Blaze]

These people here are crazy comparing the G1X to the Panasonic LX5. Sure it doesn't have an f/2.0 lens at the wide end, but the sensor is more than 5 times larger, so it still collects more than twice as much light even though its lens is only f/2.8. An f/2.0 lens on the G1X would have to be considerably larger, and plenty of people are already complaining about the size.

It's simply not possible to make a camera with a FF sensor and a 15-150mm f/2.0 lens which is still pocket size like some people seem to expect (especially not for under $1000). The engineers can't just rewrite the rules of physics to suit the whims of fickle consumers.

Sure, this camera can be improved, but let's be somewhat realistic in what we are demanding.

 

[Cornell]

This is clearly not supposed to be a superzoom -- the goals are to pack as much image quality as possible into a reasonably compact (and ergonomic) form factor. A longer lens would subvert these objectives. The range is comparable to 17.5-70mm on APS-C -- covers the "walkaround" range pretty well, and is a wider range than the smaller SLR kit lenses (typically 18-55)

Superzooms invariably require compromises to get their reach -- nearly all superzooms have tiny ~1/2.3" sensors, and are close to SLR size.
[/quote]

I'm not talking about a superzoom; for example the G9 zoomed to the equivalent of 210 mm and it wasn't a superzoom.

 

[Cornell]

OT, but assuming you have one, why not just put the PDF manual on your smartphone? I keep my manuals on my iPhone and not only is it convenient by taking less room in my bag but I can even search the PDF for a particular term, just as I would on my computer. And the app I use bookmarks my last location.
[/quote]

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that.

Do you use it much and how much does it affect your iPhone's battery power. I'm asking because there are times when I will be out hiking and several hours before I can recharge my iPhone.