Canon G1X

[LeeParrish]

Looks like the latest Canon Powershot specs were leaked today. Supposed to be offiically announced next week at CES. Here's what I've seen so far, and it may be promising, notice the shorter zoom this time over the G12/S100, being 28-112 which is much closer to the S90/S95. Only time will tell, but the specs so far look pretty good though it would be nice to have a F2 lens rather than F2.5. Something definitely worth keeping an eye on next week when they announce it.

Canon U.S.A. is unveiling two PowerShot Elph-series point-and-shoot cameras and a new flagship Power-Shot G-series model. The G1X (shipping in February at a $799 suggested retail) will be positioned for advanced amateurs and professionals looking for a walk-around point-and-shoot model and offers a large 1.5-inch 14.3-mega-pixel CMOS image sensor and a 4x (28-112mm) optical zoom lens.

It is said to have a shallow depth of field and an aperture range of F/2.5-16 affording better low-light capability.
Other new features include 14-bit RAW file support, a new DIGIC 5 image processor with improved low-light support, high-speed burst HQ shooting of up to 6fps/4.5 fps at full resolution, multi-area white balance adjustment, expanded Smart Auto settings, child-weighted face detection system, handheld night scene and HDR mode. It will shoot up to FullHD 1080 video and includes a 720p Movie Digest mode to automatically compile a video log of all still shots.

https://wellsfargoadvisors.mworld.co...y&id=587442111

[cardog]

Looks like the latest Canon Powershot specs were leaked today. Supposed to be offiically announced next week at CES. Here's what I've seen so far, and it may be promising, notice the shorter zoom this time over the G12/S100, being 28-112 which is much closer to the S90/S95. Only time will tell, but the specs so far look pretty good though it would be nice to have a F2 lens rather than F2.5. Something definitely worth keeping an eye on next week when they announce it.

Canon U.S.A. is unveiling two PowerShot Elph-series point-and-shoot cameras and a new flagship Power-Shot G-series model. The G1X (shipping in February at a $799 suggested retail) will be positioned for advanced amateurs and professionals looking for a walk-around point-and-shoot model and offers a large 1.5-inch 14.3-mega-pixel CMOS image sensor and a 4x (28-112mm) optical zoom lens.

It is said to have a shallow depth of field and an aperture range of F/2.5-16 affording better low-light capability.
Other new features include 14-bit RAW file support, a new DIGIC 5 image processor with improved low-light support, high-speed burst HQ shooting of up to 6fps/4.5 fps at full resolution, multi-area white balance adjustment, expanded Smart Auto settings, child-weighted face detection system, handheld night scene and HDR mode. It will shoot up to FullHD 1080 video and includes a 720p Movie Digest mode to automatically compile a video log of all still shots.

https://wellsfargoadvisors.mworld.co...y&id=587442111

I would be willing to wager that the sensor is going t be 1/1.5 not 1.5".

[LeeParrish]

Yeah, I'd have to agree. These "leaks" have a habit of being sloppy on accuracy. The current sensor in the G12/S100 I believe is 1/1.7, so 1/1.5 is a lot more likely though I'm not sure anyone is making a 1/1.5 sensor. But it could be a new sensor since 1/1.5 is a little larger than 1/1.7 that would make sense considering the 14.3 mega pixel capture they are claiming. The full story should be out next week when the product is announced at CES.

[LeeParrish]

It looks like the first official press release news is now out on the G1X. The sensor is a 1.5" sensor (18.7mm x 14mm) which is a little larger sensor than 4/3rds (17.3mm x 13mm). Here's the official press release: Canon U.S.A. : About Canon : Newsroom

And this site seems to have photos: Canon PowerShot G1 X announced: 1.5-inch sensor, ISO 12,800 for $799.99 in February | The Verge

[tecrec]

The G1 X features sound perfect.

But If I am right, G12 is better option for macro uw-photography than G1 X.

Do you feel the same?

[LeeParrish]

Won't know until someone actually get their hands on this, and we can see what housings will be available for it. They don't discuss macro capabilities, so the jury is out. This is also a lot more expensive than the G12, to the tune of $300. I read they would continue to sell the G12 through spring but after that nobody is sure if they will continue with it or not.

[bleeb]

Trying to hand wave things purely from the spec sheet, it was interesting to find out that the image sensor of the G1X is 6x larger than the G12 (262 sq mm vs 43 sq mm), which means greater color resolution, greater low-light sensitivity or lower noise are possibilities, although as LeeParish said, we won't know until someone gets one to test out. There are news reports that the G1X can stop down the aperture smaller, which for some types of macro photography might conceivably make usage easier (greater depth of field/more tolerant of focussing slightly wrong) but that might be more of a stylistic opinion than a technical one.

[RetroBlader]

I would be willing to wager that the sensor is going t be 1/1.5 not 1.5".

Hope you didn't wager too much -- it is indeed a "1.5".

It's 1.5/1 or 3/2 in the archaic vacuum tube terms, or in units we mortals can understand: 18.7mm x 14mm.

It's almost as tall as an APS-C sensor, but not quite as wide because it's 4:3, not 3:2.

Another way to put the size in perspective:
- Much bigger than the Nikon 1-series (1" type)
- Even bigger than micro 4/3
and
- WAY WAY bigger (about 6 times bigger) than the 1/1.7 sensor used in the S95/S100/G12.



At risk of beating a dead horse:

[RetroBlader]

the image sensor of the G1X is 6x larger than the G12 (262 sq mm vs 43 sq mm), which means greater color resolution, greater low-light sensitivity or lower noise are possibilities, although as LeeParish said, we won't know until someone gets one to test out.

Although we don't know exactly how the G1X sensor will perform, we do know the laws of physics still apply.

With a sensor almost as big as APS-C, you get much more light gathering ability than a G12 sensor ever could. This allows you to do one (or more) of the following:
1. Use high ISO and get much less noise
2. Use high ISO and get much more detail
3. Get more saturated colours with high ISO (due to less chromatic noise which needs to be cleaned up)
4. Possibly get more dynamic range

The ability to use high ISO freely, in turn, allows you to do one or more of the following:
1. Use a faster shutter speed to freeze motion
2. Use a smaller aperture to maximize DOF in macro shots (although you inherently get much less DOF with a larger sensor, so it's not clear who will win in the DOF race yet)
3. Allow your strobe to have more range (remember flash range doubles with every 2 stops of ISO)


Canon is not new to APS-C sized CMOS sensors -- it's been using CMOS sensors in its DSLRs since the very beginning. So unless someone in the software department screws up BIG time, we can probably expect the G1X to deliver results very close to today's Canon APS-C DSLRs.

Courtesy of DPReview, here's a quick demonstration of how an APS-C sensor can dominate the 1/1.7" sensors we love so much in the S90/S95/S100/G12 (all cameras at ISO800):




Enough said....

[darook]

It makes perfect sense that this was announced today as I bought a G12 this weekend. That's ok I got a decent price and I wore out every display camera trying them out before I went for the G12. I was far less impressed with the 4/3 cameras than I expected to be. The size advantage was so slight vs. dSLR they did not make sense for me as I already have good lenses. This is for topside travel work anyway, I use a T2i when immersed. I do think this this G1x will be the bees knees for UW though if the shutter lag is not too long. I was thinking about getting my wife a housing for the G12 but may hold off on that based on this announcement. The specs are very impressive.