Canon G1X Mk II vs.Panny GX7

[Drdave944]

I got hold of a Canon PowerShot G1X MK II and tried it out. I also took my Panny GX-7 with the Panny 7-14mm zoom. ( By the way, this combo has no chromatic aberration) I will not go into much detail. I am not too picky about little details as to shape and handling but I really like the Panny better. I usually adapt to the camera. The have a radically different feel.
The Canon is chunky and a little front heavy thanks to its big dense lens. This makes it really compact and you can deploy it really fast.It is a little hard to handle since it is chunky and you have two multi-selectors. The big one is at the base of the lens and what it does is controlled by the little multi- function button on the back. There is no EVF so you have to use the screen,on the back. It flips up or down and you can take selfies,just like the OLY EPL-5 You also have a touch screen but I turned it off because it keeps taking stomach pictures. When you take a picture it is vague whether you got one or not or if it was focused,but it usually is just fine. There is a learning curve and it is a different animal than the GX-7 which has its own quirks which I have gotten around.
The question is does it take good pictures ? See below.. Yes it does and thus it is a great backup camera to have when you are just driving around or taking a walk. The GX-7 just handles better when you are in a more serious mood. It also takes good movies but does not seem to have much image stabilization. It is very good in poor light,with the Digic 6 processor. It has richer texture and colors than the Canon G-16.I just took these pictures on a very overcast day with very little thought. I processed them to look about the same which was pretty easy. I had bumped the exposure on the Panny so it initially looked brighter.,As you can see both cameras are very forgiving..

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Canon G1X MkII

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Pannasonic GX-7

 

[DynaSport]

Is it the processing or the settings or does the Canon hold more detail in the highlights (clouds)?

 

[GFFPhoto]

Is it the processing or the settings or does the Canon hold more detail in the highlights (clouds)?

It sounds like he just did a quick exposure bump on the GX7 to match luminance in both shots, but yes, in these the Canon has better highs. I assume they would have been closer if he bumped shadows instead of exposure.

 

[Drdave944]

The rendering on the web really makes the clouds blown on the GF-7. I did a 2/3 stop increase in the brightness on the Panny. Then the boat looked drab on the Canon.So I played around with several items on Lightroom and got the boat brighter leaving the clouds intact. I could go down and take another picture but the sun is out.Both cameras were set on raw.

 

[Drdave944]

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I went back and tweaked the clouds

 

[DynaSport]

So, basically with PP, they can produce very similar results, at least in the conditions this photo was taken, but the GX-7 handles better. Is that right? And how would you rate the speed of the Canon? Is it pretty responsive or more point and shoot responsive?

 

[val]

for the price I think the G1X Mk II is good at low light.

this was ISO 3200 JPEG hand held and the NR doesn't look overly worked (I think I turned it off but I had too much wine before Canon gave me the camera)

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IMG_5024 by Will Solis, on Flickr

 

[Drdave944]

"So, basically with PP, they can produce very similar results, at least in the conditions this photo was taken, but the GX-7 handles better. Is that right? And how would you rate the speed of the Canon? Is it pretty responsive or more point and shoot responsive? "

Yes you can do a lot with PP with both cameras. There is just no real positive feel when you take a shot. it is like the GX -7 in silent mode. The way I had it set when you focus it the focus box magnifies four times. Then you can see if it is focused. instead of the usual green rectangle. I think you can set it either way. There is a lot of customization I haven't tried. It shoots like a G-12---16. But has better IQ..It is more portable than a GX-7 due to the retracting lens. You don't have the advantages of interchangeable lenses.

 

[meyerweb]

I wouldn't pay that much money for a camera that large without an eye level viewfinder. I know that doesn't matter to everyone, but I don't like taking a picture in broad daylight and only later finding out what I actually took a picture of.

 

[w7ox]

I wouldn't pay that much money for a camera that large without an eye level viewfinder. I know that doesn't matter to everyone, but I don't like taking a picture in broad daylight and only later finding out what I actually took a picture of.

I agree. Eye-level VF is essential for me anymore.

 

[T N Args]

I wouldn't pay that much money for a camera that large without an eye level viewfinder.

At least it is an option.

 

[Luckypenguin]

Junking the optical viewfinder was the best thing that Canon did between the MkI and MkII G1X. Swapping the fully articulated screen for a tilt-only was the worst...

 

[yehuda]

Junking the optical viewfinder was the best thing that Canon did between the MkI and MkII G1X. Swapping the fully articulated screen for a tilt-only was the worst...

Switching to a fast lens was the best change, IMO.

Sent from my W200 using Mu-43 mobile app

 

[Drdave944]

I agree. I am missing some shots with this camera,especially if you have the mirror turned up or down. Then if you are in a hurry you can't get oriented. Another problem is that the macro feature just ,S--ks. It consistently back focuses. That said is is very capable of producing images of great quality,essentially as good as micro 43. Since the barrel retracts it is more compact except if you have a short lens on your micro 43.