Canon Canon G1X III: Finally, a huge step forward for the G X series ...

It seems as though there is a difference of opinion between web reviewers and those who use the G1X III in the real world. There is nothing wrong with the images posted here.
The X70 was like that. Users loved it but the lens showed flaws under careful testing. These flaws had little effect on actual images, however. It also didn't help that the GR II lens was really good in precisely in these areas.
 
Okay, Miguel and Matt, you’re making it difficult for me to resist picking one of these things up. I have a quick couple of questions for you, though: if you power down the camera with the lens zoomed in, let’s say to 35 mm-equivalent, will it return to that focal length when you power back on? Or does it always reset to 24 mm-eq? And what is its behavior if it goes to sleep (if it even really does that)? Any different? Thanks in advance!
 
if you power down the camera with the lens zoomed in, let’s say to 35 mm-equivalent, will it return to that focal length when you power back on?
You can set that behaviour in the menu (though funnily enough, at the moment, it eludes me where, exactly) - either to "remember" or to "reset"; what's more, if you have a preferred focal length, you can also create a profile (custom setting) that includes start-up focal lengt; I have one ready for 35mm, street shooting settings.

And what is its behavior if it goes to sleep (if it even really does that)? Any different?
In my usual profile, I have my camera set to "reset" (known quantity on switch-on after a longer break); you can set "sleep" time, btw. On wake-up, it resets.
In my second profile, I have the camera set to "35mm", on wake-up, it goes to "35mm" (even though there's a bug: It does *say* 24mm in the viewfinder, but the zoom is set at 35mm-e - as intended).

You can control its behaviour.

M.
 
You can set that behaviour in the menu (though funnily enough, at the moment, it eludes me where, exactly) - either to "remember" or to "reset"; what's more, if you have a preferred focal length, you can also create a profile (custom setting) that includes start-up focal lengt; I have one ready for 35mm, street shooting settings.

In my usual profile, I have my camera set to "reset" (known quantity on switch-on after a longer break); you can set "sleep" time, btw. On wake-up, it resets.
In my second profile, I have the camera set to "35mm", on wake-up, it goes to "35mm" (even though there's a bug: It does *say* 24mm in the viewfinder, but the zoom is set at 35mm-e - as intended).

You can control its behaviour.

M.

Not helping, Matt. Seriously, thanks for the good info. That's a pretty great level of control, from my perspective. Almost like someone intended the camera to be a photographic tool or something....
 
@Derek I'm afraid I might have misrepresented things a bit - you can save a focal length with a *profile* (custom setting); in that case, the lens is set to that focal length on start-up and wake-up. In PSAM modes, however, start-up and wake-up are always at 24mm, it seems; at least I haven't unearthed an individual "remember focal length" setting as it was/is present in the Panasonic LX100 (a camera that I owned until this afternoon) and that I seem to have confused with the G1X III in this case. So, it's not quite as configurable - but at least you can set either the lens control dial or the front control dial to "step zoom" (I've picked the former), which makes choosing your favourite focal length quick and straightforward. The G1X III *is* quite an intuitive and fluid camera in use in spite of this - in practice, more so than the LX100.

Anyway, the camera sure is a photographer's tool - once set up to your liking, you won't have to do a lot of menu diving. It's optimised for customised P/TV/AV shooting IMO (with full manual potentially being a bit fiddly), but I use AV (aperture priority) most of the time anyway.

M.
 
Okay, Miguel and Matt, you’re making it difficult for me to resist picking one of these things up. I have a quick couple of questions for you, though: if you power down the camera with the lens zoomed in, let’s say to 35 mm-equivalent, will it return to that focal length when you power back on? Or does it always reset to 24 mm-eq? And what is its behavior if it goes to sleep (if it even really does that)? Any different? Thanks in advance!
Matt has already answered this question in much more detail and, honestly, with much more knowledge than I ever could have. I usually shoot in Aperture priority and in my experience, powering it off and on again it usually somehow seems to come up in the ultra-wide position, the equivalent of a 24mm lens. I think that's one of the things I like about the G1xiii because in the analog days, I invested in a fine ultra wide 24mm Super Takumar for my old Pentaxes and fell in love with the FOV - so having it 'boot up' to that almost feels natural to me. On occasion I will use the zoom lens and zoom in to whatever framing I'm looking for - but somehow it always seems to wind up back at the wide end, which I quite like.

The funny thing is, after shooting a lot with the ultra-wide end of this lens (which I have to say I truly love) means that, when I shoot with a supposedly wide angle 35mm lens - like the one on the used Rx1R I recently purchased - that lens almost seems like a totally 'normal' field of view, and not a wide angle at all.

Like Matt, I do much of my shooting in A or Aperture priority, it's just the way I think and see the world. The built-in EVF is, for my taste, quite usable, and significantly better than some of the stupidly tiny EVF's I had on a few other cameras (my late, tiny, cute-as-a-bug's-ear Lumix GM5 comes to mind, with its pitifully tiny built-in EVF). I used it often. And (( know I'm repeating myself but) using a touch-screen shutter is also rather fun with this camera.

Steve mentioned the X70 as another small and generally underappreciated gem of a camera which got panned for some technical deficiencies of its built-in 28mm, which many serious imagemakers insisted was just not as sharp or as good as that in the different recent Ricoh GR's or that of the Nikon Coolpix A --- and many serious naysayers have also tutted over the supposed technical deficiencies of the G1xMk3's zoom. And....I just don't see it. I got fine pictures from all of the preceding cameras - the GR, the X70, and the Coolpix A - and would be honestly hard-pressed to tell the difference between any of their files (I tend to almost always shoot RAW). For me, the G1xMkiii is right up there with all of the above. And given the fact that they all really do produce outstanding images - it kind of boils down to whose menus and physical controls one likes the best. Nikon shooters tend (and tended) to love the Coolpix A. The Fuji X70 admittedly had an easy-ish menu system (compared, say, to an Olympus, grin). The GR....well, let's just say that to really bond with it and take advantage of all its touted features, you have to have a lot of patience with a lot of menus....or at least, that was my experience---

The G1xMk3, conversely, has simple but good physical controls - and a surprisingly easy menu system. (Ditto for the other small Canon I used to have, and still miss on occasion, the 1st-gen EOSM). It's surprisingly simple and logical to figure out....and, once figured out, to take advantage of in real life shooting.

Hell, if I didn't already have one, I think I'd buy one.
And, in terms of the overall percentage of keepers - aka truly fine photographs - it's up there with the best cameras, digital or analog, I've ever used.
 
Thanks, guys, for the info. It would be nice if it could be set to remember the focal length when in the standard PSAM modes, but, that’s not a deal-breaker. As with most cameras these days, I'm pretty sure I’ll usually be the limiting factor, not the camera. We’ll see if I end up with one of these things, yet.
 
Another random shot from my G1x Mk3 ...

Dinosaur_Shoe.jpg
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I love the way this small lens 'renders'.
 
@DerekAnyway, the camera sure is a photographer's tool - once set up to your liking, you won't have to do a lot of menu diving. It's optimised for customised P/TV/AV shooting IMO (with full manual potentially being a bit fiddly), but I use AV (aperture priority) most of the time anyway.

So Matt, is the G1X III still keeping you happy? I ask because I just did something unexpected. I've picked up a very lightly used example at a very friendly price.

I used to have the G5X before giving it to a niece, who still uses and enjoys it. The G1X III is a dead ringer for the older camera. It'll be interesting to see if the the larger APS-C sensor is enough to make up for the slower lens aperture in the new camera. DPReview says not really. But the real-world results I've here may say otherwise.
 
So Matt, is the G1X III still keeping you happy?
That's actually a very good question - because I'm not entirely sure how to answer it. On one hand, everything that makes this camera what it is and make it valuable for me are still what they were: size, features, functionality, results. On the other hand, I haven't used it a lot lately because I enjoy shooting with other, bigger setups more.

As a pocket-sized APS-C zoom camera, the G1X III is still unique and frankly does a very fine job. I like the results, and I like the versatility. This hasn't changed. That said, I think I have the same gripes with it that seem to prevent me from using the GR III more - it can be fiddly, in spite of the well-placed controls. It's probably "too small" for me to feel entirely comfortable with it. But there are times when this doesn't matter - on the contrary.

I pick the G1X III whenever picking anything else seems a bad idea - because of the size, often because of the weather, or if it's questionable if I get to shoot at all. It's not a camera I pick mainly because of its virtues, I take it with me because of the shortcomings or impracticalities of other cameras ... I think that's the long and the short of it.

But the important thing is: Whenever I do use it, I like using it, and I'm pleased with the results.

M.
 
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