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| Canon G1 X: Greatly improved sensor in a modestly upgraded body. |
The 2012 successor to the G12 will be the G1 X...
The good news is that the sensor size has been upgraded; the body, not so much. We gain a sensor almost the same size as micro four thirds (18.7 x 14mm) but at the cost of some optical zoom range, and the loss of some dedicated controls. The body, although larger and even chunkier, is relatively unchanged.
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| G1X vs. G12: Larger sensor, larger camera |
The lens has a modest upgrade to a five-stop aperture range of f/2.8-16, up from the G12’s three-stop range of f/2.8-8. This makes sense given the G1 X’s larger sensor. However the wide end has not been improved past f/2.8, and the variable aperture has actually increased. With the zoom range reduced to 4x, the combination of 112mm @ f/5.8 is actually slower than the G12’s 140mm @ f/4.5.
The viewfinder has not improved, and is still in the wrong place.
The dedicated ISO dial has been retired.
The exposure compensation dial has been moved and is now concentric with the mode dial.
On a higher note, the G1 X now shoots real-time HDR and 1080P HD video, and has a neat feature that summarizes the day’s shooting by assembling a series of video clips, up to four seconds each.
It’s good to see that the G series has broken out of its 10MP mold with its new resolution of 14MP. The last time we saw this resolution in a G-series was the G10, with its tiny 1/1.7" sensor. This was far too much to ask of such a small sensor for its generation and resulted in a controversial downgrade which substantially improved image quality. Today’s small sensor have greatly improved in this respect, but nothing beats a larger sensor, and the G1 X really delivers in this regard.
Canon really should have dropped the PowerShot moniker on such a high-end camera.
This is just one of the exiting new cameras for 2012, which promises to be a good year indeed. —Ed.
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