Canon focuses on compact snapper spruce-up
PowerShot X1 hits the G spot?
CES 2012
Canon has snapped into action at CES, introducing the long-awaited next-gen addition to its highly-popular G series of premium compact cameras.
The Canon PowerShot G1 X sits alongside its previous top dog, the PowerShot G12, displacing it at the head of the food chain as the company's best point-and-shoot.
The 14.3Mp super-snapper rocks up with a 1.5in, 14.3Mp Cmos sensor, almost matching the size of those found in mirrorless models and full-blown DSLRs. This paves the way for higher quality images in low light settings - it boasts an ISO sensitivity of 12800.
The G1 X sports a 4x 28mm lens with a 35mm equivalent of 28mm-112mm and an aperture range of f/2.8-16. It handles 1080p video through a dedicated button, and takes both Raw and Jpeg still images which can all be viewed and previewed on the 3in swivelling LCD panel on the rear.
The Canon PowerShot GX 1 starts shipping late February with an expected retail price of £700-800. ®
COMMENTS
It is a 1.5" sensor
1.5" is not the diagonal of the sensor itself, but a legacy measure of the diameter of a TV camera tube that would use this sensor which had to be about 1.5 times larger than the sensor diameter. See this for more info:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2002/10/7/sensorsizes
Yes, it's a crap and meaningless way to measure the sizes of sensors, but this still how they are measured in many cases especially compact cameras (1/1.6", 2/3"etc), and more famously for 4:3" cameras.
rocks up with a 1.5in, 14.3Mp Cmos sensor ?
It is certainly not a 1.5in sensor, that would almost be the size of a full frame sensor. It is 18.7 x 14mm which has a diagonal of 0.92in.
Problems problems
Yet again we see the chief issue with this type of camera from Canon, and that is that they want to charge you £700-800 for this vs £600 for a EOS 600D + 18-55 IS II from Pixmania i.e. the street prices will likely be the same. I own a G9 and this looks bigger and heavier i.e. not pocketable, and therefore I'm wondering who'll buy it at that price? I think pro/semi-pro DSLR owners want an everywhere side-kick but I don't think this will fit the bill over the m4/3 crowd or a S100.
It comes with a standard clip-on lens cap, the lens being too big for a built-in automatic lens cover.
Lens scratches?
I wonder if they're still using the same lens cover design, which has, in certain casss, been scratching lenses since back with the G9 and has persisted through to the G12? [Google it, if you don't believe me]
Don't get me wrong. The G-series are fantastic cameras [I've got a G10 myself ] but, whilst this problem continues and Canon refuse to acknowledge it, or replace affected cameras, I won't be in any hurry to upgrade.
