Jock Elliott
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Troy, NY
I’ve had he Canon G1X MkII for a couple of days now, and I thought I would share my impressions so far.
Fit & Finish
The G1X2 feels solid, dense, heavy. Barely bigger than the G12, it’s noticeably heavier and appears to be mostly made of metal. The hatch cover (on the bottom) for the battery and memory card space is apparently plastic, reinforced by metal, and the cover over the connectors (on the right side) is a piece of plastic (by contrast the G12 uses a spring-loaded metal cover for the same function).
Unlike the G12, which fairly bristles with knobs, there is only one knob on the G1X2. It’s on the top deck and is used to select shooting modes. This knob is knurled and has click-stop detents that are just right: firm, but not too firm. Also on the top deck is a shutter button, surrounded by a zoom lever, a recessed power button, and a tiny recessed playback button.
On the back are various buttons and a 4-way controller surrounded by a rotating wheel. The LCD will tilt back for overhead shots and flip up 180 degrees for selfies. In the selfies position, the entire assembly looks flimsy. Weirdly, I tend to buy cameras with articulated screens and then rarely use the articulation.
Controls
I found it easy to access the controls that I normally use. The 4-way controller has a button for ISO and another for exposure compensation. Press the button, rotate the ring outside the controller to what you want, and you’re done. There is also a button for macro and, above the 4-way, another button for manual focus.
The lens barrel has two knurled rings. The outer one has no detents, and the inner one does. To my mind, it makes the G1X2 feel like a “real” camera. The folks at Canon have done what I think is a fairly clever thing. Depending upon what shooting mode you are in, the inner ring with the detents is assigned to the main function for that mode. So, if you are in aperture priority, the detent ring is used to adjust the aperture. If you’re in shutter priority, it’s used to adjust shutter speed. The outer, detentless ring is generally used for manual focus. In auto mode, the detent ring is used for step-zoom to predetermined focal lengths: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, etc.
Shooting
The optional electronic viewfinder has not yet arrived. Shooting using only the rear LCD has reinforced my preference for viewfinders. I haven’t used the touch-screen functions and don’t plan to.
Most of the time, shooting with the G1X2 is like shooting the G12: decently fast and responsive. I like the self-activated lens cover; it fits with my opportunistic style of shooting. My initial impression is that for most daytime photography, the G1X2 produces results very similar to the G12. I haven’t yet had the opportunity really give it a work out shooting the night sky (which is the reason I bought the camera) and sunrises and sunsets.
Below are a few preliminary shots centered on low light capability. All pix are SOOC jpgs.
This was taken at "zero dark 30." The sky was not as light as it appears. The camera took multiple shots and assembled them together.
F/2 in my sunroom before sunup.
Not much of a sunrise, but my first attempt at one with this camera.
Cheers, Jock
Fit & Finish
The G1X2 feels solid, dense, heavy. Barely bigger than the G12, it’s noticeably heavier and appears to be mostly made of metal. The hatch cover (on the bottom) for the battery and memory card space is apparently plastic, reinforced by metal, and the cover over the connectors (on the right side) is a piece of plastic (by contrast the G12 uses a spring-loaded metal cover for the same function).
Unlike the G12, which fairly bristles with knobs, there is only one knob on the G1X2. It’s on the top deck and is used to select shooting modes. This knob is knurled and has click-stop detents that are just right: firm, but not too firm. Also on the top deck is a shutter button, surrounded by a zoom lever, a recessed power button, and a tiny recessed playback button.
On the back are various buttons and a 4-way controller surrounded by a rotating wheel. The LCD will tilt back for overhead shots and flip up 180 degrees for selfies. In the selfies position, the entire assembly looks flimsy. Weirdly, I tend to buy cameras with articulated screens and then rarely use the articulation.
Controls
I found it easy to access the controls that I normally use. The 4-way controller has a button for ISO and another for exposure compensation. Press the button, rotate the ring outside the controller to what you want, and you’re done. There is also a button for macro and, above the 4-way, another button for manual focus.
The lens barrel has two knurled rings. The outer one has no detents, and the inner one does. To my mind, it makes the G1X2 feel like a “real” camera. The folks at Canon have done what I think is a fairly clever thing. Depending upon what shooting mode you are in, the inner ring with the detents is assigned to the main function for that mode. So, if you are in aperture priority, the detent ring is used to adjust the aperture. If you’re in shutter priority, it’s used to adjust shutter speed. The outer, detentless ring is generally used for manual focus. In auto mode, the detent ring is used for step-zoom to predetermined focal lengths: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, etc.
Shooting
The optional electronic viewfinder has not yet arrived. Shooting using only the rear LCD has reinforced my preference for viewfinders. I haven’t used the touch-screen functions and don’t plan to.
Most of the time, shooting with the G1X2 is like shooting the G12: decently fast and responsive. I like the self-activated lens cover; it fits with my opportunistic style of shooting. My initial impression is that for most daytime photography, the G1X2 produces results very similar to the G12. I haven’t yet had the opportunity really give it a work out shooting the night sky (which is the reason I bought the camera) and sunrises and sunsets.
Below are a few preliminary shots centered on low light capability. All pix are SOOC jpgs.
This was taken at "zero dark 30." The sky was not as light as it appears. The camera took multiple shots and assembled them together.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
F/2 in my sunroom before sunup.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Not much of a sunrise, but my first attempt at one with this camera.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Cheers, Jock