Canon PowerShot G1 X II Final Specifications

[Mr_Canuck]

This camera is horrendous looking but what is the sync speed?

I'm always amazed that people care about how a camera looks. It doesn't take pictures of itself.

The same billion people who care how their living room furniture looks and how their iphone looks and how their car looks and their hairstyle. Aesthetics is an intrinsic part of design. We are drawn to pleasing shapes especially if they are married to the practical. Harmony, balance, complementary materials and shapes, how something feels based on its shape (and looks) these all very practically and psychologically influence us and benefit us at our higher functioning levels. There didn't have to be a rainbow, practically speaking, but there it is. Might as well make it beautiful after a rain.

This G1X is hideous. It looks like blind engineers pieced it together in a committee. Thus it will be even more forgettable. That's a really miss. Canon needs to sick it's design team on the mid-sized fixed-lens department. It's size is even more of a problem in that segment.

 

[ahsanford]

Canon seem to be playing Blackberry to Sony/Fuji's iPhone in the compact camera space.

I think you're either pocketable (RX100), rangefinderesque (X100) or interchangeable (NEX or whatever they're calling them now). But you're not big and ugly and fixed-lens like the G1X. It's a very forgettable camera and will be lost in the clutter of these other models.

All the more reason Canon gets (a) an EOS-M viewfinder and (b) more lenses, USM lenses, high quality lenses in the native EF-M format for the EOS M platform. No one is taking EOS-M seriously because it is lacking a ton of creature comforts for enthusiast shooters. That could be rectified if Canon saw it as an opportunity and not a threat to its SLR business.

- A

 

[AlanF]

Ugly camera - not because its "look" - but because it looks a huge step backward in usability compared to the G1X. No dials and a touch screen?

Explain how a touch screen is a step back??

I agree with that. I think it's targeting the wrong crowd. The 1GX was a traditional photographer's camera (of sorts) or at least pretends to be with look and features. Now they're going the Sony route but are not "cool" enough for that either.

I personally can't stand touch screens per se. I reluctantly switched to an iPhone from an old Blackberry. And even though it's great for some stuff it can be a pain for others. Including photography I find. I just spend a few days in the Rockies. It was freezing cold. Didn't wanna bring my 5DII up into the mountains. The iPhone only works with gloves off which was only an option for a few minutes at best.

Ultimately, I was glad I had brought my old Olympus rangefinder and a few rolls of Tri-X. I know, crazy. But you get my point. I'm the kind of guy who wants a digital camera that can be controlled like a real camera and not like my silly iPhone.

Add to that no viewfinder and I'm out.

My daughter bought me Thinsulate iPhone gloves - they work perfectly on the 70D touchscreen as well.

 

[neuroanatomist]

The iPhone only works with gloves off which was only an option for a few minutes at best.

My daughter bought me Thinsulate iPhone gloves - they work perfectly on the 70D touchscreen as well.

+1

I have a pair of REI technical gloves that have conductive fibers in the thumb and first finger, they work with my iPhone and other touch screens. I also have a pair of windblocking fleece gloves with the integrated mitten cover for the fingers and separate thumb cover. When it's really cold, I wear the fleece glove-mittens over the tech gloves, so only my fingertips are 'exposed' and even then they're covered.

 

[ahsanford]

The iPhone only works with gloves off which was only an option for a few minutes at best.

My daughter bought me Thinsulate iPhone gloves - they work perfectly on the 70D touchscreen as well.

+1

I have a pair of REI technical gloves that have conductive fibers in the thumb and first finger, they work with my iPhone and other touch screens. I also have a pair of windblocking fleece gloves with the integrated mitten cover for the fingers and separate thumb cover. When it's really cold, I wear the fleece glove-mittens over the tech gloves, so only my fingertips are 'exposed' and even then they're covered.

For phones, those gloves are great. But for SLRs, I am not ready for touchscreens yet.

I'm so glad my 5D3 arrived before Canon got into touchscreens. Since I made the jump from crop to FF, I'm so used to buttons / wheels / joystick that I'd feel frustrated with the lack of precision and speed in the myriad little changes I make in aperture, ISO, etc. Menu navigation (though less frequent) would take a hit in speed for me as well.

My wariness of touchscreens with an SLR will die over time. I liken SLRs going to touchscreens to video game consoles going to motion capture. The Wii (as innovative as it was at the time) had to have its entire interface relatively dumbed-down to support the new controller motion interface. I found it infuriatingly slow and imprecise. But over time, that tech will improve to where it legitimately is easier/faster to use than standard controllers. Touchscreens on cameras will eventually get there as well, and I'll thank all the Rebel users who fueled those improvements when I make my 5D4k purchase in a few years.

- A

 

[AlanF]

The touch screen on 70D is in addition to the standard controls - you can take your choice of which to use. It's much quicker for some operations to use the touch screen. So, treat it as a bonus.

 

[LDS]

My wariness of touchscreens with an SLR will die over time. I liken SLRs going to touchscreens to video game

The issue is not how touchscreen technology evolves, but how our senses evolve. Touch screens are designed to be used using eyes, and lack all the different kind of other feedbacks we get from other senses using for example mechanical dials (tactile and audible ones). Sure, some devices try to employ vibrations to imitate that kind of feedbacks, but they don't work as well - because they lack the proper "positioning". Can you type on a virtual keyboard as you can do on a physical one? Can you know how many stops you changed aperture without looking at the numbers with a dial, and with a touch screen?
Touch screens are very versatile because they can display different interfaces and adapt to different tasks, that's why they can be very good on smartphones. But with a dedicated device like a camera, a touchscreen looks more a way to save on a camera design and building, and not to improve ergonomics.

 

[mrsfotografie]

My wariness of touchscreens with an SLR will die over time. I liken SLRs going to touchscreens to video game

The issue is not how touchscreen technology evolves, but how our senses evolve. Touch screens are designed to be used using eyes, and lack all the different kind of other feedbacks we get from other senses using for example mechanical dials (tactile and audible ones). Sure, some devices try to employ vibrations to imitate that kind of feedbacks, but they don't work as well - because they lack the proper "positioning". Can you type on a virtual keyboard as you can do on a physical one? Can you know how many stops you changed aperture without looking at the numbers with a dial, and with a touch screen?
Touch screens are very versatile because they can display different interfaces and adapt to different tasks, that's why they can be very good on smartphones. But with a dedicated device like a camera, a touchscreen looks more a way to save on a camera design and building, and not to improve ergonomics.

+1 I loathe touch screens on camera's. Adjustments should be easy to make on touch alone while the eye is on the subject.

 

[garyknrd]

That is the first small camera I would love to have. But, I stopped buying Canon products about a year ago now. IMO, they are forgetting the crop sensor crowd. Been waiting for the 7D II for two years now.
I personally am buying the Pentax K-3 and shelving my Canon gear in two months. They either get something out for us crop sensor fans. Or I will sell my Canon gear.
And I love my Canon lenses, but am tired of waiting.