G1X shot-to-shot speed question

I just have a cheap class 10 card in mine, no idea how quick it is supposed to be.  Anyhow, out of curiosity, I did a pretend test of what you are saying (RAW, manual exposure and focus) and blasted nine photos in quick succession.  It did indeed take 30 seconds, which is about as quick as I could compose!  That's the first time I've ever noticed any delay with my G1X.  It tends to be pretty snappy.  The delay came from the screen going blank for around a second or so per shot, making it hard to recompose quickly.  Of course, you could use the viewfinder, might save you nine seconds.

Personally, a nine shot panorama would take me minutes.  I'd want to be sure of my composition.

Reframing will take you longer than the wait for the G1X to be ready for the next shot. You can also put her in "M" with no replay and focus to "M". Pano taken with G1X:



Thanks for that - but can it go faster if you set it to continuous drive and just pump the shutter button about once per second? Does turning off the review make any difference?

Much obliged!

Scott

Nice! How many frames did that take?

So you're saying that turning off the review will speed it up? If so that's good to know. I only shoot panoramas in M mode anyway, to get the same exposure across the scene.

Can it go any faster if you just pump the shutter button about once every 1-2 seconds in continuous drive mode, compared to single-shot?

I sure wish I had access to one of these to play around with it and see how it "feels". The local price had plummeted so they're now only about a hundred bucks more than a G15 which seems like a steal...

Thanks!

Scott

Only 4 frames. There is not much, really, in terms of tricks to make it faster. The delay between the first and second frame always seems longer than it is about a second or so. Speed wouldn't concern me if you want to take panaoramas. Sports and other fast moving objects and people are a differnet story. I have my G1X mostly for travel. Nothign better in that area in terms of IQ and size (and now price, too).

scott_mcleod wrote:

Nice! How many frames did that take?

So you're saying that turning off the review will speed it up? If so that's good to know. I only shoot panoramas in M mode anyway, to get the same exposure across the scene.

Can it go any faster if you just pump the shutter button about once every 1-2 seconds in continuous drive mode, compared to single-shot?

I sure wish I had access to one of these to play around with it and see how it "feels". The local price had plummeted so they're now only about a hundred bucks more than a G15 which seems like a steal...

Thanks!

Scott

Scott,

To answer your question regarding continuous mode, yes, it is faster. I just tried my G1 X in all manual mode with a Transcend class 10 card. It's not the world's fastest card, but not slow either. I consistently get 9 shots in 15 seconds. I wasn't doing any framing. I was simply letting off the shutter button and immediately pressing it again so it would shoot as soon as it could. Time after time, I got the 9 shots in 15 seconds.

Shooting in single frame mode takes much longer. I only get 5.x shots in that same 15 seconds.

Steve

I've only shot a couple of Panoramas with the G1X using the "Stitch Assist" mode where shooting speed isn't an issue.

If speed is essential where you simply want to rotate your body while firing then it should possible to create a rapid panorama using the "High Speed Burst" mode with a fast shutter speed and later matching the images on the computer. Jpeg only of course but that's not so bad given the cameras IQ.

Using a 95mb/s Extreme Pro card and single shot JPeg+RAW it's fewer than 2 frames a second for me although in Manual Mode that would be faster.

scott_mcleod wrote:

Thanks for that - but can it go faster if you set it to continuous drive and just pump the shutter button about once per second? Does turning off the review make any difference?

Much obliged!

Scott

I have review turned off anyway.  Trouble is, if you want to use the viewfinder with the screen folded in, it turns off manual focus whether you want to or not.  However, if you first set to manual focus, there is an option of continuous shooting with no live view blackout.  If you do that, it is indeed possible to pump the shutter button every second or so.  Blimmin' long-winded.  They really should have made the G1X suited for the people who actually want a serious camera, rather than the point-and-shoot masses!  Simpler and straightforward would have been good.

deep7 wrote:

scott_mcleod wrote:

Thanks for that - but can it go faster if you set it to continuous drive and just pump the shutter button about once per second? Does turning off the review make any difference?

Much obliged!

Scott

I have review turned off anyway. Trouble is, if you want to use the viewfinder with the screen folded in, it turns off manual focus whether you want to or not. However, if you first set to manual focus, there is an option of continuous shooting with no live view blackout. If you do that, it is indeed possible to pump the shutter button every second or so. Blimmin' long-winded. They really should have made the G1X suited for the people who actually want a serious camera, rather than the point-and-shoot masses! Simpler and straightforward would have been good.

Interesting - thank you for that info!

Regards,
Scott

mcslsk wrote:

Only 4 frames. There is not much, really, in terms of tricks to make it faster. The delay between the first and second frame always seems longer than it is about a second or so. Speed wouldn't concern me if you want to take panaoramas. Sports and other fast moving objects and people are a differnet story. I have my G1X mostly for travel. Nothign better in that area in terms of IQ and size (and now price, too).

That's exactly what I'm thinking of getting one for - as a travel backup for my DSLR that won't give up much in image quality (going on a 2-week road trip later this year). Plus, the lens seems better than most DSLR kit lenses, and for a lot of what I like to shoot when travelling, I really do need a stabilized zoom and good high-ISO performance. My friend just bought a G15 which seems quite responsive and "snappy" but when the light gets dim the G1X will be in a different league.

Regards,
Scott

Digital Shutterbug wrote:

scott_mcleod wrote:

Nice! How many frames did that take?

So you're saying that turning off the review will speed it up? If so that's good to know. I only shoot panoramas in M mode anyway, to get the same exposure across the scene.

Can it go any faster if you just pump the shutter button about once every 1-2 seconds in continuous drive mode, compared to single-shot?

I sure wish I had access to one of these to play around with it and see how it "feels". The local price had plummeted so they're now only about a hundred bucks more than a G15 which seems like a steal...

Thanks!

Scott

Scott,

To answer your question regarding continuous mode, yes, it is faster. I just tried my G1 X in all manual mode with a Transcend class 10 card. It's not the world's fastest card, but not slow either. I consistently get 9 shots in 15 seconds. I wasn't doing any framing. I was simply letting off the shutter button and immediately pressing it again so it would shoot as soon as it could. Time after time, I got the 9 shots in 15 seconds.

Shooting in single frame mode takes much longer. I only get 5.x shots in that same 15 seconds.

Steve

Thank you - that's exactly what I wanted to know!

Regards,

Scott

tinpusher wrote:

I've only shot a couple of Panoramas with the G1X using the "Stitch Assist" mode where shooting speed isn't an issue.

If speed is essential where you simply want to rotate your body while firing then it should possible to create a rapid panorama using the "High Speed Burst" mode with a fast shutter speed and later matching the images on the computer. Jpeg only of course but that's not so bad given the cameras IQ.

Using a 95mb/s Extreme Pro card and single shot JPeg+RAW it's fewer than 2 frames a second for me although in Manual Mode that would be faster.

I would actually stop at each frame, I just meant that I like to try to capture the whole thing in as short a time as possible.

Regards,
Scott

FJG3 wrote:

I've found that in making pano's that I get better results taking one shot at a time instead of using burst as with bursts I sometimes get blurred shots from panning the camera while shooting is occurring. Just make sure you overlap each single shot around 1/3 of the frame, good luck. The G1X makes great pano's.

I actually meant just setting it to continuous but stopping to take a single frame at a time, in order to get less shot-to-shot time than in single-shot mode. I don't think I could get the required overlap consistent and there might be motion-blur issues unless very high shutter speeds were used if I tried to shoot'n'spin. The more I play around with RAW samples from this camera the more I'm drawn to buying one regardless of the speed...

Regards,
Scott

Rod McD wrote:

Hi Scott,

I know this is slightly off the your question about the camera's speed, but no-one has mentioned that the G1X has a stitch assist mode which allows up to 26 shot stitches.

The camera doesn't do the stitch - it sets it up and the stitch itself is done in the Canon software. I'm not a panorama shooter and haven't tried it. I can't compare it to other software for the same reason. The camera manual confirms that it sets the exposure and WB, and indicates that it helps determine the alignment for stitching. It doesn't say how. It must be doing something because it requires you to set the direction of the pan.

I'm not sure if that helps you at all - but perhaps it's extra info that might be useful. I can certainly recommend the G1X as a very reliable, glitch free travel camera with excellent IQ. I no longer take my DSLR kit and have found the G1X IQ to be so close that it doesn't matter. Limitations : It will do macro with a close-up lens but action subjects are its real Achilles heel. In travel, that usually doesn't matter so much.

Cheers, Rod

Hi Rod,

A backup/lightweight travel camera is exactly what I'm looking at. I have a Panny GX1 with a 20/1.7 which is compact and has really pretty good IQ (and operationally, it's fast) but on this road trip I'm planning on visiting a couple of famous caves, plus some air & space museums. Previously I have found that the dim lighting and cramped conditions (especially in caves) makes both IS and a zoom essential. The collapsible Panny zoom is not that great and has blur issues (nowhere near as good as the zoom on the G1X) and with the 14-45 OS (the best of the affordable mFT zooms) it's no longer "compact", as far as I'm concerned. And as you say, carrying a DSLR with a decent zoom attached wears pretty thin after a while - especially on long hikes.

I've never tried the stitch mode in Canon's software. I'll have to give it a go - 26 frames is a lot! I've been using  "photomerge" in PS CS3 (yeah except for Lightroom I'm kind of behind the times on not-free software ;)) and getting good results with that so long as the colorspace is set to ProPhotoRGB 16-bit (it's amazing the difference it made to removing stitching artifacts in blue skies).

Looks like a G1X is in my future after all

Regards,
Scott