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The Canon G1X Mark III: Neither fish nor fowl

Started Jan 29, 2018 | User reviews thread
bullet1 Veteran Member • Posts: 7,339
Re: The Canon G1X Mark III: Neither fish nor fowl

Twitchly wrote:

bullet1 wrote:

Thank you for the delightful review of the G1X III.

The G1X III would meet my needs for WA indoor low light use and all around outdoor travel use with the exception of closeups. Currently I use the G5X for such task and would love to upgrade to the G1X III once it shows up on Canon refurbished list. I am also exploring options with APS-C mirrorless bodies such as the Canon M3 and Sony a6000 that I already own.

Twitchly wrote:

...

I'm quite happy with the separation this camera produces, and the bokeh looks pleasing, not ragged. If I want tons of bokeh, I'll use my DSLR and F1.6 prime lens.

Which Nikon DSLR do you use?

The D5300. It's your basic middle-of-the-road DSLR. I have just 2 lenses for it, a 50mm 1.6 prime and an 18-200 zoom. The latter is not at all a fast lens (3.6-5.6, I think), which is something I've just learned to work around. That might be another reason why the Canon G1X's lens doesn't really bother me.

The D5300 is pretty good on IQ, DR and low light. Its low light ability is the same or slightly better than the canon 7D Mark II and 80D according to DPReview's comparison tool. Its DXOMark is 83, quite respectable for a crop sensor body.

One of my friends has a Nikon APS-C body similar to yours and paired it with the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 16-80mm F2.8-4E ED VR lens as his "light" travel kit. That DX lens is unique to Nikon and no one else (Canon or Sony) has anything like that.

....

I'll keep my Nikon DSLR for long-distance shots, especially of wildlife; for closeups when I want heavy bokeh; and for the rare low-light action shot. But as a companion camera, the G1X III hits the sweet spot of an all-around, take-with-me-everywhere compact with DSLR quality.

A DSLR with tele-zoom would be quite heavy. I leave my FF tele-zoom at home for oversea trips and use the 1" based FZ1000 for now.

Is your DSLR full frame? I find it hard to locate a lighter alternative to replicate my Canon full frame performance at the 17-105mm range with an APS-C body, mirrorless or not. Beyond that it was not an option to even bring the heavy FF tele-zoom onto transatlantic flights.

Not full frame. Have you ever looked at the Sony RX1 Mark II, their full-frame compact? I'm not fond of its ergonomics, but the image quality from that camera is just fantastic. It's hideously expensive, though ... the only thing that kept me from buying it. I would've put up with the crappy usability just for that image quality. Wow.

If I had a full-frame camera, I think I would have a tough time going backwards.

The Sony RX1R II is an interesting camera, very capable, limited in focal range and way over priced. It is a Leica want to be design.

For me it would be better to pick up a lower cost Sony full frame mirrorless, such as the A7S and paired with a light 35mm prime.

RX1R II: 4.45 x 2.56 x 2.83″, 1.12lbs

A7S : 5.00 x 3.70 x 1.89″, 1.08lbs + a light 35mm prime

It is hard to justify this kind of purchase when I already own two Canon full frame bodies, an APS-C mirrorless (gift) and a set of Canon lenses, plus a Sony APS-C body (gift) and a couple of lenses.

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Nelson Chen
http://NelsonChenPhotography.com/
100% RAW shooter with Capture One Pro V11

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