Canon PowerShot G1 X Point & Shoot

Overall Review

Canon has announced its latest compact camera, the Canon PowerShot G1 X. As opposed to the expectations the camera supports no interchangeable lens system inspite of having a large sensor size. The new PowerShot G1 X goes into a completely different league with a sensor size of 18.7mm X 14mm being just 20 percent short of the APS-C sensor. Owing to the large sized sensor, the ISO sensitivity of this camera has shot upto 12800, not seen in majority of the cameras of its league. Sporting a 14.3 megapixel sensor, this camera although priced high might inspire amateurs to click beautiful images with the DIGIC 5 image processor. It has a royal black body with fine finishing and perfect grip with a huge vari-angle LCD screen and optical view finder. It also has an all new 28-112mm f/2.8-5.8 lens with f2.8-f/16 aperture range (total, f2.8-f5.8 max), HS System Image stabilization and 14 bit RAW files. It also haa an orientation sensor however lacking a GPS.

Design and Build Quality

Being quite similar to G12 in body design, the PowerShot G1 X does surely offer some changes in the all black metallic body design. It has an exposure dial with limits of +/- 3 at increments of 1/3 stop on the upper right hand side, dedicated video recording button close to the thumb rest,  a dedicated pop out flash with a dedicated pop out button. The auto flash can be adjusted to Auto, on, off or slow synchro mode. It is easy and firm to hold, thanks to the rubberised handgrip and thumbrest.The flash range is 7m and it also has a Hot-shoe external flash. A little above the handgrip is a control dial which can be used to change the aperture in the Av mode or shutter in the Tv mode and controls shutter by default. The other circular control dial is found around the navigation pad which is surrounded by four buttons-metering control button , menu, AF area selection point and auto-exposure lock. The review button is on the right hand side of the viewfinder.  The 3-inch articulated LCD is held by a notch in all positions. The Canon PowerShot G1 X measures 116.7mm x 80.5mm x 64.7mm and weighs only  492gms.

Focus and Face Detection

Sporting a 14.3 megapixel image capture device, the Canon PowerShot G1 X has a 4X digital zoom with TTL autofocus system and focussing range of 1.3 ft. (40cm) - infinity (W), 4.3 ft. (1.3m) - infinity (T) in normal mode,  7.9 in. (20cm) - infinity (W), 2.8 ft. (85cm) - infinity (T) in auto mode and 7.9 in. - 2.3 ft. (20-70cm) (W), 2.8 ft. - 5.2 ft. (85cm - 1.6m) (T) in Macro mode. It has a variety of shooting modes with SmartAuto mode for movie making, face, smile and wink detection. It also boasts of wink and face self timer. Autofocus performs the functions of contrast Detection, Tracking, Single, Continuous, Face Detection, Live View. Autofocus assist lamp is also found. It supports 9 focus points. Manual focussing can also be done in the Canon PowerShot G1 X.

Lens and Image Stabilization

Having a large sensor the GX1 sure does have a compact lens with f/2.8 aperture and 28-112mm (4x zoom) effective optical range. However, the Macro area isn't nearly as good. The lens uses Ultra high refractive index Aspherical (UA) elements and shows precision in glass moulding technology thus helping it achievings both a compact size and pin-sharp clarity. It has a 4-stop optical Image Stabilizer (IS) for better clarity and HD shooting and also allows you to shoot in dim light. The optical Image Stabilizer is supported by Intelligent IS to analyse the focal length, distance and type of camera movement. The lens also has an in-built 3-stop Neutral Density (ND) Filter, allowing the use of wider apertures in bright light to achieve a shallower depth of field.

Screen and Menus

Canon PowerShot GX1 sports a real-image zoom viewfinder and has a 3.0-inch TFT color LCD (Vari-angle type with wide-viewing angle) monitor. It has approx 922,000 dots. The screen is however not toch sensitive. The easily handled menu gives an option of a variety of shooting modes and adjusting the flash, exposure, white balance etc which can otherwise be automatically adjusted using the SmartAuto. The shooting modes include Movie Digest, Portrait, Landscape, Kids & Pets, Sports, Smart Shutter*5, High-Speed Burst HQ, Handheld Night Scene, Beach, Underwater, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist, Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Self-timer. The self timer can be adjusted to 2 seconds, 10 seconds or custom mode. It has Single, Continuous, Continuous with AF and Self-timer drive modes and supprts Continuous drive. Metering modes include Multi, Center-weighted and Spot.

Battery

The canon PowerShot GX1 has a USB 2.0 with HDMI mini connector and stereo for output. It also has a Memory card slot. The powersSource is a Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery Pack NB-10L which comes with a Compact Power Adapter CA. It has a shooting capacity of approx. 250 shots with monitor on. 

Video Mode

The PowerShot G1 X supports Full HD (1080p) movie capture at 24fps through a dedicated movie button.Using the large CMOS sensorto advantage, users can experience high quality movies, even in low light conditions. The 4x optical zoom can also be used whilst filming. It also captured stereo sound. The function of microphone and speaker is done by the stereo. It also supports 1280X720 HD recording at 30fps. The video format is H.264. It also supports 7 white balance presets. It lacks timelapse recording function.

Sensors

The canon PowerShot GX1 has a CMOS sensor of 1.5inches. It supports a DIGIC 5 processor and has whopping ISO sensitivity of 12800. It comes with optical image stabilisation and 7 white balance presets. The GX1 gives a maximum resolution of 4352X2364. It also has an orientation sensor but lacks a GPS. 

Pros

Large CMOS sensor. 

Good dim light performance.

High ISO sensitivity.

High resolution LCD screen.

Supports full HD movie recording.

Nice hand grip and finishing.

External flash present.

TFT pure colot II LCD. 

Cons

High priced.

Not environmentally sealed.

Lacks wireless connectivity.

No touch sensitivity.

Lacks GPS.