cameras | R. Doug Wicker — Author

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May 11, 2012 · 5:46 am

Canon G1 X Review—Part 3

On Wednesday I called the Canon G1 X both evolutionary and revolutionary. Here’s why:

The G1 X is an evolutionary step in Canon’s long line of G-series compact cameras—cameras designed as secondary systems for serious photographers who already have a DSLR system, but who also at times need something more compact. But the G1 X doesn’t replace the existing G-series. Rather, it supplements it. The G12 remains in Canon’s lineup, and I suspect there will be a G13 to replace the G12 just as the G1 X will one day be retired by the G2 X.

But the G1 X is also revolutionary in that it incorporates the largest sensor ever placed into a compact. Not only did Canon upsize the sensor, they also switched from CCD to CMOS technology, effectively giving this compact a sensor very nearly on par with their DSLR line. Indeed, the G1 X sensor has the same pixel density as Canon’s semipro 7D. Thus, with the advent of the G1 X Canon has raised the stakes considerably in this market segment. Indeed, the G1 X appears to be Canon’s answer to the blossoming ILC segment in terms of picture quality and creative control.

As far as standard Canon DSLR-like control, the G1 X does differ considerably. For one thing, the camera does not incorporate Canon’s Picture Styles—Standard (high saturation with a tendency to oversaturate reds), Portrait (warms skin tones), Landscape (moderately high saturation with emphasis toward greens and blues), Monochrome, Faithful (true-color rendition based upon daylight white balance), and Neutral (similar to Faithful, but used to capture the most amount of detail in highly saturated or overly contrasty scenes). Oddly enough, you can set these Picture Styles in Digital Photo Professional (DPP—Canon’s included raw processing software), but you cannot set them for JPEG shots.

Instead, the G1 X relies more on Scene Modes, and there are a lot of scene modes from which to choose: Movie Digest, Portrait, Landscape, Kids and Pets, Smart Shutter (detects smiles and activates a self-timer after face recognition or even a wink—great for getting yourself in the shot), High-Speed Burst HQ (don’t get excited—the buffer fills up after only six shots, or in about 1.3 seconds), Handheld Night Scene (combines several sequentially taken shots to minimize shake and reduce noise), Beach, Underwater, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, and Stitch (panorama) Assist. Unfortunately, Stitch Assist assumes that the camera will only be held in landscape orientation and that you’ll only be panning from side-to-side. You’re only option is a rather simplistic choice between right-to-left or left-to-right. There really should be at least one option to capture vertically or when holding the camera in portrait orientation and panning side-to-side.

In addition to Scene Modes, the G1 X offers something I’ve not seen before in Canon DSLRs—“Image Effects,” or “Creative Filters.” My EOS 5D can do red, yellow, or green filtering for Black & White photography, but the G1 X allows for: High Dynamic Range (internal processing of three bracketed, tripod-mounted shots to produce one picture with higher dynamic range), Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Nostalgic (faded colors), Fisheye, Miniature Model (similar to the fore and aft defocusing of a tilt-shift lens), Toy Camera (dark, blurry corners; offset colors), Color Accent, Color Swap, and Monochrome. Alas, monochrome does not allow for in-camera filtering for reds, yellows, and blues. This must be done in raw post processing with DPP, or in the case with JPEGs with third-party software such as Google’s Picasa.

One really neat feature is a built-in Neutral Density filter. When engaged, the internal ND filter reduces light falling onto the sensor by three stops, or about 1/8^th the amount entering the lens. When used in conjunction with a tripod, this allows an extremely slow shutter speed during even bright light conditions. The result is blurred motion or—in the case of moving water—a soft, flowing effect.

Now for a major rant: Hey, Canon, when somebody plunks down the better part of $800, they have every right to expect, nay—demand a hardcopy of the user guide. Making a 242-page manual only available as a PDF on a CD is, quite simply, unacceptable. There are far too many features and settings on this camera to commit them all to memory, and it is totally unreasonable to expect someone to carry an electronic reading device with them at all times to reference these items.

Other complaints (accessories): Filter threads should have been incorporated into the lens rather than requiring the separate purchase of a filter adapter. The optional sunshade will not work while the filter adapter is in place. The included lens cap will not work over the sunshade.

Other complaints (lens aperture): While image sharpness and resolution are exceptional, the lens is too slow. This is especially true at the telephoto end but also a factor on the wide side. I understand that Canon was trying to balance weight and compactness against performance, but I would gladly have given up some of the former for an f/2.0-4.0 lens over the existing f/2.8-5.8. Had this been done, the G1 X would have excelled in portrait photography as well as travel.

Other complaints (lens focal lengths): On the subject of the lens, a really good travel camera should start out at 24mm on the wide-angle side. So, a 4.5x 24-to-108mm would be preferable to the 28-112mm used. A 5x lens with a focal reach of 24-to-120mm would be even better, almost perfect.

Stuff others may care about (but I don’t): A tad slow on focusing—hard to get little Johnny romping around the backyard. Burst mode/frames-per-second practically nonexistent—forget photographing little Johnny’s baseball game. Forget about getting intimate with a small subject—flowers, insects, etc—the macro capability of this camera is probably closer to the Palomar Observatory than to a small travel zoom.

Now for some more sample shots, all JPEGs straight out of the G1 X without any post-processing. Considering that all shots were handheld and that color saturation, balance, and contrast are all untouched, I believe you’ll be impressed with how little you’ll find yourself falling back on raw and post-processing.

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May 9, 2012 · 5:46 am

Canon G1 X Review—Part 2

Taking up where we left off on Monday, we once again turn our attention to Canon’s evolutionary/revolutionary Canon G1 X. I call the G1 X both evolutionary and revolutionary for a couple of reasons, and I’ll explain those reasons on Friday. In the meantime, let’s look at the eye of this tiger:

The G1 has a 15.1-60.4mm (4X) zoom lens. When paired to the relatively over-sized (for a “compact” camera) 1.5-inch sensor, that gives us a crop factor of a little over 1.85. So, converting that into comparable focal lengths for a Full-Frame 35mm camera, we arrive at an equivalent zoom range of 28mm to 112mm.

What does all that mean to you? Lenses for different size sensors cannot be compared directly, so the old universal 35mm format has become the de facto standard when comparing the focal lengths of cameras. This is why I convert the true focal length to the equivalent 35mm focal length whenever I discuss camera lenses—sort of an apples-to-apples comparison, as it were.

On a 35mm camera, 50mm to 55mm is considered a “standard” or “normal” lens. That means this is the focal length that would reproduce in a 35mm camera the view most comparable to the human eye. Anything substantially less (40mm or so) will produce a wide-angle effect, and anything more (starting around 60mm) is considered a telephoto lens. For candid street photography the preferred focal length is 35mm to 55mm. Landscapes and architecture generally benefit from wide angles—the wider the better with 24mm being my own personal starting point on what I consider adequate for this task (many photographers like even wider, often going down to 18mm or even less). In portrait photography the range you want is from 85mm to around 135, with 105mm being the sweet spot . . . provided that you have a wide aperture lens that can adequately defocus the background behind your subject. More on this last caveat shortly.

Thus, the Canon G1 X has a lens that falls just short of the ideal 24mm for landscape and architecture, covers the middle “normal” range nicely, and even gets you well into the portrait range. But the G1 X is not really suited for portraiture. There’s a catch, and that catch is an inadequate aperture at the telephoto range of the zoom. In photography, the wider the aperture (a lens’ f-stop rating) the shallower the potential depth-of-field. Thus, an 85mm f/2.8 lens is far superior at portraiture than, say, a 105mm at f/5.8, even though 105mm is the better, more flattering focal length.

This depth-of-field problem actually gets worse the smaller the sensor. And the sensor on the G1 X, while class-leading for the compact segment, still falls well below the size of a 35mm sensor. The smaller the sensor, the deeper the depth-of-field at comparable aperture (f-stop) settings. So, while f/5.6 might give an adequately shallow depth-of-field on an 85mm fixed to a true 35mm camera, it won’t get anywhere near the same effect with a G1 X set at the same aperture and zoomed to the same relative focal length. The G1 X will defocus the background at telephoto settings; it just won’t defocus the background anywhere nearly as well as a larger format camera at the same f-stop.

When one considers where this lens excels and where it falls short, once again we can come to the conclusion that the G1 X is clearly aimed at the experienced photographer in need of a backup or smaller camera to complement an existing DSLR system, who at times wants camera raw and full post-processing creative control, and who demands sharper images with higher resolutions than current travel zoom can produce. And, very apparently, the G1 X engineers had static subjects in mind with an emphasis on travel photography.

As good as this lens is, some of the credit for results goes to the camera’s imbedded DIGIC 5 image processor. Below you’ll see samples of both uncorrected and corrected photographs chosen to show the inherent defects in the G1 X lens. These shots were taken in raw and I removed all lens correction algorithms on the left-side photos. The right-side photographs show the results of the DIGIC 5 processor and what you can expect when shooting JPEG.

Take a close look and you’ll notice moderate, visible distortion (curvature) and at least some vignetting (peripheral illumination) in the uncorrected shots. The DIGIC 5 processor all but eliminates these flaws, and it does that very effectively. Obviously, this pairing of lens, processor, and the programming of lens correction data has resulted in a very effective package.

On Friday I’ll reveal details on other G1 X features and present my conclusions.