Canon PowerShot G1 X Hands-on Preview
Preview based on a pre-production Canon PowerShot G1 X with firmware 1.0
Anyone watching the emergence of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras will have spent much of the last year patiently waiting for Canon and Nikon to show their hands. Nikon clearly decided such cameras didn't need large sensors, and now it appears Canon has concluded they don't need interchangeable lenses. Both these moves make sense for companies wanting dedicated photographers to keep buying DSLRs, but Canon's approach is likely to be of more interest to those enthusiasts.
The Canon PowerShot G1 X may look like the company's existing G-series compacts, but is a very different prospect. It's a large sensor camera with a flexible 28-112mm-equivalent, 4x zoom lens and extensive manual controls. The company says it sees it as a camera for photographers who already have a high end DSLR such as a 5D Mark II or 7D, but at a price of $799, we think it'll appeal much more widely than that. After repeated waves of cameras aimed at point-and-shoot upgraders, it's heartening to see a camera really living up to the billing of a 'serious compact.'
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.
On top of this the G1 X offers almost all of the extensive external controls that appear on the G12 - a camera that is itself the product of many generations of evolution. The only reservation we have about the G12 is that there's an awful lot of camera for such a small sensor - so the combination of G-series build quality and ergonomics with a sensor to match that capability is extremely promising. The G1 X doesn't replace the G12, but instead supplements it in Canon's lineup, adding a new tier to the G series.
Using a built-in lens, rather than a lens mount, helps keep the size of the package down, and allows Canon to offer a really useful 28-112mm equivalent range. There may be Mirrorless cameras that rival the G1 X for size (Panasonic's GX1 with power zoom lens, for example), but none can do so while offering such a flexible zoom range. And, although an aperture range of F2.8-5.8 isn't going to attract low-light enthusiasts, it will offer at least the control over depth-of-field that a DSLR kit lens will give.
Just for DSLR owners?
And that's enough to make us think Canon is being a little modest in suggesting that this is a camera for high-end DSLR owners. There's every reason to suspect the G1 X will offer the capability of a Rebel/600D in a smaller package and at a slightly lower price. Given that few low-end DSLR users ever take the kit lens off their camera, then so long as they're not put off by its 'serious' looks, the G1 X could find a much bigger audience.
With its flip-out 920k dot (VGA) screen, metal construction, optical viewfinder, stabilized lens, twin control dials, customizable shortcut button and exposure compensation dial, it offers a lot to anyone who wants to get involved in the photographic process. Despite trying to create a camera that won't directly compete with its DSLRs, Canon may have inadvertently added to the list of cameras many would-be Rebel buyers will look at instead.
Canon G1 X specification highlights
- 14MP 1.5" CMOS sensor (18.7 x 14mm)
- 28-112mm F2.8-5.8 lens
- Optical viewfinder
- ISO 100-12,800
- 3.0", 920,000 dot swivelling LCD
- Extensive manual control
- 14-bit Raw shooting
- 4.5fps continuous shooting (up to 6 frames)
- 6.8Wh NB-10L battery rated at 250 shots (CIPA standard)
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| The G1 X's sensor is 20% smaller than in most Canon DSLRs, but that still makes it 16% larger than Four Thirds, more than twice the size of the sensor in Nikon's 1 cameras and over six times the size of the sensors in previous Canon G-series compacts. |
Compared to the Canon PowerShot G12
While the G1 X may initially appear to be a G12 with a slightly lumpier lens on the front, putting them side-by-side makes clear that Canon hasn't quite achieved the impossible: it hasn't fitted a sensor six times larger into the same body size. However, it's done a great job of minimizing the difference. With the lens retracted, the G1 X is 5mm wider and 17mm thicker than the already brick-like G12. Note though that the G1 X has a narrower lens range, that extends only to 112mm-equivalent (as opposed to 140mm).
The G12 isn't exactly the smallest of compacts, and the expansion required to accommodate that larger sensor (and the larger lens it requires) have made the G1 X still less portable - although it'll still just about fit into a large jacket or coat pocket. However, for a camera with such a large sensor, useful lens range and a viewfinder, there's little to touch it.
If you visit most major tourist destinations, it's unusual not to encounter a smattering of people willing to carry a G-series camera with them. And, if they're willing to carry a camera this size, it seems reasonable to assume many people will accept a further expansion if it comes with a substantial image quality improvement.
Compared to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1
Here's the G1X alongside its anagrammatic interchangeable-lens competitor, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GX1 fitted with its tiny X 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 OIS powerzoom. The GX1 offers interchangeable lenses, but the G1 X has a larger sensor, longer lens range, optical viewfinder, and articulated LCD.
The G1 X is rather taller than the GX1, due substantially to its built-in optical finder, but is only marginally thicker despite its longer zoom range and articulated LCD. Of course the GX1 only 'wins' here due to its unique pancake powerzoom - no other kit zoom for mirrorless systems comes close to this degree of compactness.
Sensor size and aperture: relationship to low light image quality and background blur
The G1 X has a much larger sensor than other fixed-lens compacts, which implies it should offer much better high ISO image quality. But for fixed-lens cameras, that's only half of the story, and lens speed plays a crucial role when considering low light performance. Smaller-sensor cameras such as the Olympus XZ-1 and Fujifilm X10 sport lenses which are rather faster than the G1 X's, by a stop or more at wideangle and two stops at telephoto. This means that, under any given lighting, you can always use lower ISOs with these cameras. This will go some way to offsetting the G1 X's larger-sensor advantage - especially at telephoto.
Much the same reasoning applies when considering how well each camera will be available to deliver blurred backgrounds when shooting portraits. Here the optical calculations deliver an answer that some may find surprising: when shooting portraits at the long end of the zoom with the lens wide open, the G1 X will offer little advantage over either the X10 or XZ-1 in terms of subject isolation and background blur. Of course this isn't anywhere near the whole story with regard to overall image quality, but it's worth knowing.
Overall, though, the G1 X's combination of large sensor and 4x zoom lens should still provide more compositional flexibility, coupled with equal or better low-light capability, when compared to a DSLR or mirrorless interchangeable lens camera used with a typical kit zoom (14-42mm F3.5-5.6 or 18-55mm F3.5-5.6). It should also overall outperform smaller-sensor compacts like the X10 and XZ-1. However it's important to understand that the differences won't necessarily be as great as sensor size alone might suggest.
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital
Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help
you understand some of the terms used).
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Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C. |
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