G1X owners - is this a good camera for landscape photography?

Hi,

On the Canon forum as a current Panasonic LX5 owner. Good camera but I am looking to upgrade to larger sensor, better detail and clarity in landscape images, especially the far background of some photos. I am intrigued by the G1X with all in one lens, built in ND filter and deep depth of field minimum aperture of f11 or f16 ( not sure which it is).

I do a lot of mountain walking and scenery type photos, not interested in bulk or weight of a DSLR. Would G1X owners say this is a good camera for landscape photography, good upgrade features beyond my small sensor LX5 (at not too extortionate a cost versus eg NEX7 etc)? Lack of macro or fast AF shouldn't be a big deal breaker for landscapes I assume. High IQ and good DOF is what I seek.

The LX5 is probably equivalent of 22 or 23mm focal length at 16:9 aspect ratio and I also have the 18mm wide angle lens for it too which is a big plus. Is there going to be a wide angle lens/adapter for G1X?
Thanks for advice.

Rich the Hiker said:

I am intrigued by the G1X with all in one lens, built in ND filter and deep depth of field minimum aperture of f11 or f16 ( not sure which it is).

Click to expand...

The aperture runs from f/2.8 to f/16

Rich the Hiker said:

I do a lot of mountain walking and scenery type photos, not interested in bulk or weight of a DSLR. Would G1X owners say this is a good camera for landscape photography, good upgrade features beyond my small sensor LX5 (at not too extortionate a cost versus eg NEX7 etc)? Lack of macro or fast AF shouldn't be a big deal breaker for landscapes I assume. High IQ and good DOF is what I seek.

The LX5 is probably equivalent of 22 or 23mm focal length at 16:9 aspect ratio and I also have the 18mm wide angle lens for it too which is a big plus. Is there going to be a wide angle lens/adapter for G1X?
Thanks for advice.'

Click to expand...

No idea about a wide angle lens BUT there's a removable knurled ring shroud around the barrel which may allow for this in future. The Autofocus is about as fast as those on the G-Series cameras like the G11 & G12 so any complaints about speed relate to the fact that the G1X is not as fast as a DSLR. I bought the G1X ESPECIALLY for landscape shots as I do digital backgrounds and matte paintings for film and television.

I think this is the BEST landscape/cityscape non-DSLR compact digital camera on the market. There's a great little electronic leveler built into the camera to assist you in leveling your images as well. Due to the detail and ability to mount a Circular Polarizer onto the outer lens, there's no doubt that this is THE best choice for your style of shooting.

28mm is wide enough and don't forget you can also create panoramic shots. I find that wider views (like 24mm) tend to distort way too much and can produce more problems than solutions.

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Regards,

Marco Nero.
http://www.pbase.com/nero_design/powershot_pro1

Great. Thanks for detailed reply Marco, I am very interested in this camera but want to get user views before paying out. Interesting that you specifically do landscapes and reckon this is the best non-DSLR out there for this type of photography. The lens and IQ appear to be very good which should provide great detail and clarity in far reaching landscape shots.

I am very interesting with this camera.

1) for landcapes

2) for architecture and cities.

Anybody have samples of G1X's landscapes or cities photographies, please.

Peter.

peter_friend said:

I am very interesting with this camera.

1) for landcapes

2) for architecture and cities.

Anybody have samples of G1X's landscapes or cities photographies, please.

Peter.

Click to expand...

I MIGHT get some done tomorrow although I need the rain to let up (most amount of rain to hit this city in over 100 years) and I don't want to ruin the new camera.

If you look at some of the city shots from the G1X posted here by other members just prior to the commercial-shipping of the camera, you can tell at a glance just how ideal this camera is for City shots. Rich, detailed and correctly exposed shots.

I need SHARP shots of buildings, mountains and forests for my work creating digital backdrops in film & television. For this reason alone, I'll probably be keeping the G1X. Originally, I was going to buy it to run a few tests and then sell it at a loss to justify buying a 5D MkIII and yet another L-Lens. Now I'm going to most likely keep it. I'm working on several different books at the moment and they are graphically intense with photographs and illustrations of mountain ranges and heavy bushland. I believe the G1X will produce exactly the sort of shots I need for publication applications.

It was the images posted by other members of this forum of city buildings that confirmed for me that this camera's main strength is likely to be for this sort of subject matter.

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Regards,

Marco Nero.
http://www.pbase.com/nero_design/powershot_pro1

Marco,

thank you for your response.

Peter.

It's just about perfect for landscape. If I want more than this, I'd look at medium format.

Cheers Marco and Ryan for your comments and advice so far. Rich

Would you say the OOC JPEG detail, clarity and colour is more than adequate, or recommend always pp RAW files instead? I currently shoot Raw+jpeg and if the jpeg quality of the G1X is high enough that is a bonus indeed!
Cheers

Long time lurker, G1X wannabe.

I would like to suggest your camera selection be determined by your intended output. I am using a G11 as an interim camera and my intended output is prints. The G11 is very capable of full size prints on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, even with a little cropping. Since I like to have the capability of making larger prints I am looking seriously at the G1X.

From reviews I have read, your LX5 is a very capable camera, especially if your output is to the web and/or small prints. If you don't make large prints, you might find it already meets all your needs.

YMMV

George

I'll be honest, I haven't kept up with all the threads on the new G1 so maybe I missed it somewhere, but this seems like an appropriate thread to discuss my thoughts.

My needs are similar to the original poster, as 99% of my photography is landscape and nature. My current compact is a G11 which still amazes me with the results I can achieve. For us landscape shooters a lot of the advantages of a DSLR aren't as important (shutter speed, fast glass, small DOF etc) as they are to others. However I've found that Dynamic Range is so important as it allows me to tone down skies and pull shadows without having to go HDR. The G11 is pretty impressive with this for it's sensor size. My Nikon DSLR has a fair amount more DR and is sometimes like cheating in tough lighting scenes, what I can get away with.

Reading the original press on the G1x and it's larger sensor than my G11 I got very excited thinking this could really bridge the gap between my compact and DSLR nicely. I mean, I just assumed that with that much bigger sensor the DR should increase, right? After looking at DXO mark tests it appears the G1X actually has slightly LESS dynamic range, not by much but I was expecting a huge improvement, not a small step backwards. I'm sure the clarity and details are better than my G11 but without the DR improvement I just can't see forking over the cash.

Am I missing something here? Can someone explain this to me?

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My Photos http://desertdave.smugmug.com/

I haven't received my G1X yet, but I'm hoping that the DR will be much better than my G10. My interpretation of the DxO data is that the G1X sensor should behave very similarly to my 7D which has much more forgiveness in post than the G10 images. Canon CMOS sensors seem to level off in DR at the lower ISOs which give an edge to other sensors. However they level off in the excellent range so it may not be an issue. DxO's noise measurements give a dramatic edge to the G1X sensor over previous Gs and may be as critical when pushing things in post. Still, I won't be able to answer definitively until I've had it for a while.

nolten said:

I haven't received my G1X yet, but I'm hoping that the DR will be much better than my G10. My interpretation of the DxO data is that the G1X sensor should behave very similarly to my 7D which has much more forgiveness in post than the G10 images. Canon CMOS sensors seem to level off in DR at the lower ISOs which give an edge to other sensors. However they level off in the excellent range so it may not be an issue. DxO's noise measurements give a dramatic edge to the G1X sensor over previous Gs and may be as critical when pushing things in post. Still, I won't be able to answer definitively until I've had it for a while.

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DXOs numbers look like your 7d has a clear advantage in terms of dynamic range to me. BUT...

Good point about the lower ISOs as my comparisons were based on base ISO, which is what I use for a large majority of my landscape photography. Seems for most of my outdoor work base ISO is usually sufficient, or I'm into tripod territory anyway.

Either way I'd love to hear what you think in this regard after you have a chance to push some photos. I just haven't seen much talk on this aspect of the camera yet.
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My Photos http://desertdave.smugmug.com/

Rich the Hiker said:

Hi,

On the Canon forum as a current Panasonic LX5 owner. Good camera but I am looking to upgrade to larger sensor, better detail and clarity in landscape images, especially the far background of some photos. I am intrigued by the G1X with all in one lens, built in ND filter and deep depth of field minimum aperture of f11 or f16 ( not sure which it is).

Click to expand...

The thing is, when you are using say f/5.6 on a G12 camera, that's about the same as having to use f/16 or f/22 on a camera like a G1 X because of the difference in depth of field provided by the different focal lengths used by the different cameras. Shorter focal length provide more DOF while longer focal lengths provide less DOF. So because the G1 X has longer focal lengths, because of the large sensor, you'd have to use smaller apertures such as f/16. So in the end there is no depth of field difference - "deep depth of field" as you put it - between the G12 and G1 X.

The differences between the G12 and G1 X will be in low light conditions where the G1 X might be about 1 stop less noisy at high ISO. The G12 is a very good camera.

MotoDave said:

Reading the original press on the G1x and it's larger sensor than my G11 I got very excited thinking this could really bridge the gap between my compact and DSLR nicely. I mean, I just assumed that with that much bigger sensor the DR should increase, right? After looking at DXO mark tests it appears the G1X actually has slightly LESS dynamic range, not by much but I was expecting a huge improvement, not a small step backwards. I'm sure the clarity and details are better than my G11 but without the DR improvement I just can't see forking over the cash.

Click to expand...

The G1 X should have the same, if not more, DR as Canon's aps-c dSLRs because the sensor is essentially an aps-c sensor but the sides cropped off to go from 3:2 aspect ratio to 4:3 aspect ratio. The height of the G1 X image sensor is 95% of the height of Canon's aps-c image sensor.

I rarely believe anything that DxO "tests" report.

You are right the 7D looks a bit better even in "screen" or pixel level and the G11 is right up there at base ISO. I will certainly post my results if I think they are still timely. I haven't received my camera yet and won't really be able to compare until Adobe RAW support is available.

You might want to find one of AdamT's threads and ask his impressions. He has been doing extensive testing and posting on his experiences with the G1X and is knowledgable about its RAW capabilities compared to previous Gs and other cameras.

Rich the Hiker said:

Hi,

On the Canon forum as a current Panasonic LX5 owner. Good camera but I am looking to upgrade to larger sensor, better detail and clarity in landscape images, especially the far background of some photos.

Click to expand...

Having shot landscapes with an SLR and a G7 and G11, the big sensor makes all the difference in those "far background" details. Based on your specific request of greater detail in the far background, and not wanting to carry an SLR, then this G1X is certainly one primary possibility. The only other one I can think of would be an m4/3 with one of the smaller zooms (the new Panasonic 14-42X - making sure you get a good copy, or the MkII version of the Olympus 14-42 are the best combo of small/quality IQ running). You can also slap a small prime on the camera if you have a particular focal length you like shooting at, too.

However, the G1X will give you a solid all in one option. More zoom, slightly faster than a typical kit, and a built in ND filter. Along with being the size (but not weight) of an m4/3 with a prime lens.

This will make a fine landscape camera unlike most P&S cameras it has a higher f-stop capability to go's to f16 and it can use a circular polarizer filter if you get the filter adapter it has good IQ to.
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My gear: 5DmkII,7D,300mm2.8Lis,Zeiss 21 2.8 and 35 1.4 distagon,70-200 2.8Lis,,851.8,100 2.8L macro, 580ex flash,twin macro flash,G1x

I also like to take landscape shots as I print them at A4-A3 and hang them around the walls at home if they're good or colourful enough. However, my dilemma is what to replace my ageing Powershot Pro 1 with. Like many, it seems, I was hanging out for the G13, anticipating the holy grail. Fast glass, fast AF, fast shot to shot times, good burst speed, great image quality and pocketable etc. Basically the Pro 1's replacement that kept all the great qualities and fixed those problems we lived with. Then up pops the G1X. My questions are: Is it a replacement for the Pro 1 and is it any good as a day-to-day point and shoot that is fast enough to catch those moments when the grandkids are on the go? As we travel several times a year, mostly to Europe and always by plane, I don't really want to have to lug a camera bag (for DSLR) as airlines are becoming much tougher on cabin baggage. Also, the weight when you're wandering around a foreign city is not much fun. All opinions and experiences are appreciated.

Anyone taken any landscapes yet with the GIX and can share some photos?

I've seen lots of great street and cityscape photos and portraits which portray this camera in a good light. Would apprecaite seeing some far reaching vistas though and feedback on how G1X owners feel the clarity, detail and sharpness of landscape vistas appear with this camera. Looks very promising.
Cheers
Rich