Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II review: A great update to the G1X, but terribly overpriced

Canon has been unveiling advanced point and shoot cameras under its PowerShot G series lineup that boast a larger sensor than its regular point-and-shoot counterparts. We have seen the PowerShot G15 and the PowerShot G1X in the past. This time around we got the Powershot G1X Mark II. Considering the regular point and shoot sales are being cannibalised by smartphone cameras, it makes sense for camera giants to come up with advanced point and shoot cameras, some of which like the Canon Powershot G1X Mark II, are priced higher than entry-level DSLRs. The G1X Mark II is the long-awaited update to the original PowerShot G1X which was launched in 2012.

Build and Design

Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II has a sturdy magnesium alloy body

Visually speaking, the G1X Mark II is a departure from the original G1X, which influenced the PowerShot G15/G16′s design too.  For starters, the optical viewfinder is done away with, which was one differentiating aspect of the PowerShot G1X. The G1X Mark II is relatively more compact vis-a-vis the G1X. It has an AF LED at around the same spot as the G1X, but lacks the provision for an optical viewfinder. Another major difference is the palm grip – while the G1X had one with a control dial in the top region, the G1X Mark II the palm grip is relatively less chunky and you do not have any control dial. The palm grip has a textured rubber finish which is replicated on the dedicated thumb rest on the rear side, ensuring good grip. We would have liked to see a heftier grip.

The magnesium alloy front portion of the G1X Mark II is neatly complemented by the metallic rings around lens element. The lens barrel has two rings around it. The ring closer to the camera body rotates with a distinct clicking sound, whereas the lens towards the edge is more smooth in its operation.

The Canon G1X Mark II has a clean top with most of the dials and buttons on the right hand side. It lacks an optical viewfinder that was seen on the Canon G1X

Top edge of the G1X Mark II is not that dense considering it is an advanced point and shoot camera. Starting from the left hand side, you have a pop-up flash unit, the accessory port, a playback button, power switch, shutter button surrounded by the zoom lever and finally the mode dial.

On the rear side you have buttons within easy reach of the thumb. The movie record button and the function button are located around the corner in a slightly tricky position for the thumb. Also the placement of the Wi-fi button, just above the thumb rest, leads to accidental presses which can be annoying. The rest of the button arrangement is pretty much the standard one that you see in most cameras. A central directional pad surrounded by a rotatory dial, which is surrounded by four buttons (two on top and two below). The buttons protrude just the right amount, thereby giving a good feedback.

On the rear side you have a 3-inch 1040k-dot touch sensitive LCD screen which can tilt and flip. The directional pad is surrounded by a button to switch to Manual Focus mode and focus point adjustment buttons on top and display and menu buttons below

The 3-inch LCD screen can flip up by 180 degrees and tilt in the front by 45 degrees. This is a departure from the fully articulating LCD screen we had seen with the G1X. A flip and tilt screen as seen on the G1X Mark II helps in shave off some thickness. Although the camera is not really pocketable in the traditional sense of the word.

Features
One of the most impressive features of the Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II is its sensor size. Just like the original G1X, the G1X Mark II comes with a 1.5-inch sensor which is just 20 percent smaller than the APS-C sensor which is seen in Canon DSLRs. The G1X Mark II comes with a 12.8MP CMOS sensor paired with the DIGIC 6 image processor, which is an improvement over the G1X which has the DIGIC 5 processor. The other improvement that is evident is the maximum aperture range going a stop lower to f/2.0 at the widest end and f/3.9 at the telephoto end. The focal length has also gone a notch higher with 24-120mm equivalent giving a 5x optical zoom.

Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II comes with a 24-120mm equivalent lens with maximum aperture range of f/2.0-f/3.9

Minimum focussing distance has also been brought down from 20cm to 5cm in the macro mode. The 3-inch tilting LCD screen is touch sensitive and has a 1040k-dot resolution. You can add in an optional electronic viewfinder if you are really missing one, but that costs upwards of Rs 10,000.

The mode dial is placed at the right hand edge

One of the main additions to the G1X Mark II over the G1X is the support for Wi-fi and NFC. These two features have become de rigueur on advanced point and shoots now. There is a dedicated button to transfer images wirelessly, placed just above the thumb grip. You will need the Canon CameraWindow smartphone app to be able to wirelessly transfer images or shoot remotely. Transferring images is quick thanks to the dedicated button. The user interface for remote shooting is very basic and you can only adjust the zoom, set the timer and turn the flash on or off, in all modes.

Canon Camera Window app lets you transfer images wirelessly as well as shoot remotely

The dials around the lens barrel can be customised to the functions based on your preference. Enter the Function Assignment sub-menu under the cameras Menu option. Here you will get a layout of the three customisable dials (two around the lens barrel and one on the rear side). You can assign functions to each dial under the Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority as well as Manual modes. Apart from this, you can also set the function on the dedicated function button just under the movie record button.

The remote shooting interface is pretty basic

User interface on the G1X Mark II is quite user-friendly. Anyone who has used Canon cameras in the recent past will feel right at home. If not, the learning curve isn’t that steep. We would have liked to see the Menu screen segregated into more tabs, something like that seen on the Sony Alpha series cameras or even Canon’s own DSLRs, where you just have to shift tabs instead of scrolling all the way down. Thankfully, Canon has provided the My Menu tab where you can place your most used menu items. The quick menu function can be customised too according to your preference by adjusting the FUNC Menu Layout option under Menu. You can only remove functions’ viewability and cannot add a new function to this layout.

Performance
Studio ISO Performance
Our studio ISO test comprises a setup which has a healthy mix of colours, textures, materials, fine text and so on. We affixed the G1X Mark II on a tripod and kept it in the Aperture priority mode at f/6.3. We proceeded to take images across the ISO range. To ensure minimal camera shake we had a 2-second timer enabled to click the pictures.

Sample image for the Studio ISO test setup

The ISO performance is excellent from ISO 100 to ISO 1600. There are no noise issues which jump out at you. At ISO 1600, you do notice sharper objects becoming more soft, but you can definitely use the image. Around ISO 3200, you will start to see the noise-reducing algorithms kicking in, characterised by waxy looking threads and elements on the circuit board. There is a noticeable degradation in image quality, if seen at 100 per cent crop, but in case of emergency, you can still use this image. From ISO 6400 onwards, the noise reduction becomes quite aggressive making the finer areas look patchy. ISO 12800 is useless for all practical purposes. Considering Canon have gone with a 12.8MP sensor, we were not impressed with the high ISO performance, as we have seen cameras such as theSony RX 100 II give better high ISO performance despite having a smaller sensor and larger pixel count.

Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

Focus
The touch focus on the G1X Mark II works like a charm and we had no issues focussing in daylight. The focus locked on quickly. Manual focussing using the ring around the lens will seem uncomfortable initially but you will get used to it. We would have liked to see a zoomed-in view of the area we are trying to manually focus, instead of the distance bar on the side. Post sunset while shooting outdoors, focussing was a pain as the camera would keep hunting and show up the yellow warning symbol telling us that focus hasn’t locked.

Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.

Panning worked well in the burst mode, maintaining the AF on the rider – ISO 2000, f/3.2, 1/20th sec

Image Quality
Images coming out of the camera appear quite good with natural colours. But we noticed that over ISO 800 there was some loss of sharpness in the images, despite shooting in the Superfine JPEG mode, thanks to noise reduction algorithms. Shooting in RAW takes care of this issue to an extent. These images are still usable, but we would have liked them a lot more if they were a tad bit sharper. Colours are vivid out of the camera.

Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.

ISO 1000, f/3.9, 1/640th sec

ISO 400, f/3.9, 1/200th sec

ISO 1000, f/13, 1/1250th sec

There are two types of creative filter modes, one just applies random filters to an image and saves the original image with the filter-applied images. The second filters mode is one over which you have control. We particularly liked the HDR and miniature effect filters. Shooting in low light situations also gives good usable images. But at higher ISOs we noticed that when you want to extract detail from shadow areas, you tend to get more chroma noise than detail.

ISO 1000, f/6.3, 1/640th sec

ISO 800, f/3.9, 1/250th sec

One of the five random filters applied to an image – ISO 250, f/3.5, 1/80th sec

ISo 3200, f/2.5, 1/25th sec

Apart from filters, you also have the dynamic range correction and shadow correction options which help with tricky lighting situations. Thanks to the large sensor and the large aperture at both the wide and telephoto ends, you get pleasing bokehs in images. Also the minimum focussing distance brought down to 5cm, really helps you get closer while shooting macros. On the whole, the image quality is impressive, some of the flaws notwithstanding.

With the Miniature filter applied – ISO 800, f/2, 1/40th sec

Battery life
The Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II comes with NB-12L Li-ion battery pack which is rated at around 240 shots. We could manage to shoot around 220 still images along with a few videos. These aren’t really great numbers and if you are going on a trip where you will not have easy access to a charging point, you would most likely need to carry an extra battery.

Video Quality

Video quality was pretty much in line with what we have seen with other advanced point and shoot cameras. Great for shooting casual videos with family and friends, nothing more. the touch focus is your best friend as it is quick as will be seen in the video below. Continuous AF isn’t as fast but not terribly slow either. All this changes when shooting in low light situations, mind you. The output is decent, but panning the camera leads to a lot of rolling shutter. This is specially evident while shooting outdoors on crowded roads with vehicles.

While shooting at the local zoo, we noticed that in many areas in the video, sharp objects appeared to have a lot of jagged edges, a lot of aliasing. While panning slowly, it looked unpleasant when viewed on the monitor. Even moire is prominent while shooting. We couldn’t hear any noise from the camera’s zoom motor or with continuous AF on outdoors. If you are in a quiet room, you will hear the AF motor noise. We noticed at that while zooming in, the video quality started degrading. Videos shot in low light were comparatively soft in appearance. But the problem of aliasing persisted. Also, you do not have any manual control while shooting videos.

Verdict and Price in India

Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II has improved a lot from the older G1X, both in terms of speed as well as usability. Image quality and ISO performance are quite good, but looking at the competition it should have been even better. Addition of Wi-fi and NFC is another plus. Touch focussing is fast and responsive, and we did not face any focus locking issues during daytime. Fast aperture at the wide and telephoto end, gives you pleasing bokehs. For someone looking at a workhorse compact camera, the Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II is a good choice.

But (there’s always a but) the pricing is a big let down. At an MRP of Rs 58,995 and a market price of around Rs 55,000, the Canon Powershot G1X Mark II is in a soup. At this price point, it is not just competing with advanced point and shoots, but also DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. Sony RX100 II is a year old, but still quite a capable camera. The image quality and ISO performance on the RX100 II, despite having a 20.2MP 1-inch sensor, is comparable and at times better than the 12.8MP 1.5-inch sensor on the G1X Mark II. And at an MRP of Rs 29,000, the RX100 II is retailing for nearly half of what Canon is asking for the G1X Mark II. Of course on the RX 100 II, you will have to compromise on the optical zoom range and fast aperture as compared to the G1X Mark II. We are currently putting the Sony RX 100 III through its paces and expect a review soon. The RX100 III has a faster lens than the RX100 II and comes with a dedicated EVF.

On the mirrorless camera front, Sony Alpha a6000 at Rs 52,000 offers excellent value proposition. You can also check out the Panasonic Lumix GX7 which comes for around Rs 56,990 which is another good camera. Both these also come with a dedicated electronic viewfinder, with the GX7 having a tilting EVF. Both these cameras offer a better proposition than the Canon Powershot G1X Mark II at Rs 58,995 and are a joy for street and documentary photographers. Sony Alpha a6000 with its 10fps burst rate also proves to be a winner when it comes to shooting sports or fast moving action. Now you may argue that mirrorless cameras aren’t as compact as the G1X Mark II. But note that the G1X Mark II is not exactly pocketable. If image quality, overall experience and value proposition is what you are after – we would rather you go for similarly priced mirrorless cameras than the G1X Mark II. Plus, you always have the option of putting on a new lens in the future with mirrorless cameras.

The Rs 58,000 price point also brings up a lot of DSLRs to mind. But let us not get there. So just like we had seen with the Canon EOS 100D, a good product has been made undesirable due to the strange pricing. Recommending the G1X Mark II at its current pricing, even to a Canon user, is difficult. We can talk about an ideal pricing, but it’s ultimately up to Canon to decide that. Even the Canon G1X was launched at Rs 52,000 and this was two years ago, when competition was less and the mirrorless segment was yet to mature both in terms of performance and pricing. Coming out with a good advanced point and shoot in 2014 with a Rs 59,000 price point is really pushing the envelope, and not in a good way.

Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Canon PowerShot G1X Mark II album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.