The PowerShot G1 X Mark II shares the same design philosophy as its predecessor, the original G1 X: both are substantial cameras, compact only by name.
#Canon powershot g1 x mark ii mark 2 review manual
The lens barrel features two control dials, one smooth, one stepped, there’s focus peaking to aid manual focusing, and there’s built-in Wifi with NFC for wireless control and sharing.Ĭanon PowerShot G1 X II design and controls There’s a 3in screen which may no longer be side-hinged, but can still tilt vertically and twist round to face the subject, and now enjoys touch-sensitivity too. The hopeless optical rangefinder on the G1 X has been removed on the Mark II, allowing a smaller body, but viewfinder fans can mount an optional electronic viewfinder on the hotshoe if desired. Canon has also implemented a 9-blade aperture for circular out-of-focus rendering, and the closest focusing distance is also much improved, down from 20cm to 5cm. It may also have helped implement the longer zoom range up from 4x / 28-112mm to a much more useful 5x / 24-120mm, with a far brighter focal ratio too, f2-3.9 versus f2.8-5.8 on the older model. Interestingly the resolution has fallen slightly from 14.3 Megapixels in order to deliver the same field of view whether shooting in 3:2 or 4:3 note the resolution for each aspect ratio is 12.8 and 13.1 Megapixels respectively. Inside there’s what appears to be the same 1.5in sensor, roughly the same size as a Micro Four Thirds sensor and comfortably larger than the 1in type found in Sony’s RX100 II. Announced in February 2014, the G1X Mark II is the successor to the original G1 X, launched two years earlier, but despite the Mark II name, it’s a considerably different camera I don’t think anyone would complain if it were called the G2 X instead.įor the G1 X Mark II, Canon has sensibly kept what was good about the original camera – the image quality – and changed pretty much everything else, in theory addressing most of the complaints. The Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II is a high-end compact camera aimed at those who desire DSLR quality in a smaller, fixed lens body.