Is G1X MkIII a great lightweight hiking /landscape/ travel camera?

Looking for thoughts and user reviews from current or previous G1X III owners as to whether it could be an ideal lightweight all round hiking/landscape/travel camera. I have arthritis is my hands and wrists, but my legs are fine so I go hiking and travelling with rucksack ok. However my large camera and lens are getting to be a hindrance, I'm not bothering often to take it out even though the lens is a cracker. Thinking of great image quality and dynamic range in a lightweight package with great OOC JPEGs with option to process RAW photos too.

Is the focal length range of G1X III reasonable enough for most hikers or lightweight landscapers with 24-72mm range?

I don't see the relatively slow lens as a problem for the type of still photography I foresee of mountains, landscapes and general travel photos. Would others agree/

I am struggling to find a lightweight camera which has a large sensor, and a zoom lens from wider than 24mm up to 60 mm equivalent. Th G1X III would seem to be a great option. Years ago I had the original G1X Mark 1 and was very impressed with the image quality. Your views would be appreciated as I'm primarily looking for an all in one non interchangeable lens camera with large sensor and wide angle zoom lens.

I've had the G1X3 since shortly after its release and its been on many travels with me since then. Previously I've had a number of G series cameras dating back to the G3. My previous G was the original G1X which produced really nice images. The G1X Mk 3 is the best compact I've used. Its a 14 oz jewell, the 1D of compacts. I took it to East Africa with me and it produces images that are nipping at the heals of my 5D4 + 24-105L. The G's lens is the best 24-70 equivalent for Canon APS-C and I have or had a bunch of them. It is better in its range than the 15-85 on the 80D (same sensor).

Do you get the impression that I like this little cam? The features and handling are great. I love the built in panorama stitching. I usually shoot raw but the jpegs look good. The lens takes a 37mm filter so you can carry a tiny polarizer and there are 10x dual element closeup filters/diopters available for macro use. I much prefer the 24mm equivalent wide end to previous G's 28. If 70mm is not long enough pair it with an SL2 + 55-250 or M5 + 55-200, < 3 lbs total weight. Both those cams have a nice light macro too. What's not to like? And there is a Canon underwater housing for it too.

G1X3 Pano - Amsterdam

Serengeti Wildebeast

Madagascar Beobabs

Seychelles

Xshooter wrote:

Looking for thoughts and user reviews from current or previous G1X III owners as to whether it could be an ideal lightweight all round hiking/landscape/travel camera.

For me YES.

Is the focal length range of G1X III reasonable enough for most hikers or lightweight landscapers with 24-72mm range?

For me YES and I don't care about what is enough for most other photographers. Everybody has his own preferences - we are simply different. It has no sense to compare yourself with younger (and probably healthier) people carrying bigger and heavier cameras, because they suit their needs, but not yours.

I don't see the relatively slow lens as a problem for the type of still photography I foresee of mountains, landscapes and general travel photos. Would others agree/

I have Olympus f2.8 PRO zoom (24-80 mm equivalent). G1X III has also f2.8 at 24 mm eq. All my other zooms are f3.5 (4) - 5.6. G1X III has the same f5.6 at longer end. For me it is like lens being between my PRO and all other lenses. And there is bigger sensor in G1X III.

I'm primarily looking for an all in one non interchangeable lens camera with large sensor and wide angle zoom lens.

Then G1X III could be good camera for you too.

Re-reading your post I see you had the original G1X so I'll specifically contrast features to that one. The original took really nice images but was slow in operation, menus, AF, frame rate, all of it. The G1X3 fixes all of that. Its fast, responsive and user friendly. Specifically it has on-sensor dual pixel AF which means its using faster phase detect AF instead of the slower contrast detect. The frame rate has increased from 3 or 4 to 7 FPS. It can actually track objects now. The pixel count has increased from 14 to 24 and the aspect ratio has changed from 4:3 to 3:2. I often crop my images to 16:9 to match my computer screen and HD TV and the 3:2 aspect ratio means I lose less image data in the process.

The G1X3 adds an electronic viewfinder instead of the rangefinder view of the lens in the original. The video capabilities are much improved including extra video stabilization and faster frame rates. No 4K though. It retains the useful exposure compensation dial, flip screen and built-in neutral density filter. The 3 can connect to your cell phone via bluetooth and download GPS info to geotag your photos. This is a bit fussy though. The cell phone can act as a remote trigger using bluetooth. It also has the full Wifi remote capability. Its also smaller, lighter and weather sealed. Its underwater housing is more the size of the G10's rather than the quite large original G1X's.

Hope this helps and I haven't run on too much.

nolten wrote:

Re-reading your post I see you had the original G1X so I'll specifically contrast features to that one. The original took really nice images but was slow in operation, menus, AF, frame rate, all of it. The G1X3 fixes all of that. Its fast, responsive and user friendly. Specifically it has on-sensor dual pixel AF which means its using faster phase detect AF instead of the slower contrast detect. The frame rate has increased from 3 or 4 to 7 FPS. It can actually track objects now. The pixel count has increased from 14 to 24 and the aspect ratio has changed from 4:3 to 3:2. I often crop my images to 16:9 to match my computer screen and HD TV and the 3:2 aspect ratio means I lose less image data in the process.

The G1X3 adds an electronic viewfinder instead of the rangefinder view of the lens in the original. The video capabilities are much improved including extra video stabilization and faster frame rates. No 4K though. It retains the useful exposure compensation dial, flip screen and built-in neutral density filter. The 3 can connect to your cell phone via bluetooth and download GPS info to geotag your photos. This is a bit fussy though. The cell phone can act as a remote trigger using bluetooth. It also has the full Wifi remote capability. Its also smaller, lighter and weather sealed. Its underwater housing is more the size of the G10's rather than the quite large original G1X's.

Hope this helps and I haven't run on too much.

Many thanks for detailed comparison, very helpful! I did have the G1X but cannot remember specifically that it had a rangefinder type viewfinder, which my Fuji X-Pro2 currently has, maybe i'm wrong. The G1X III does seem a great fit for a lightweight top notch image quality travel and hiking camera, with EVF, ND, 24-72mm lens, APS-C sized sensor, fast AF and weather sealing. Does the G1X III have in-camera RAW conversion software for processing RAW to different jpeg settings in camera but saving the original photo.

Short answer: YES.  It really is.

For my money, and taste, and photographic tendencies, it is, simply, the BEST lightweight semi-pocketable hiking/landscape/travel camera I have EVER used.  Period.

My own list of great lightweight cameras which I have shot with and owned, includes both the tiny lightweight mirrorless Lumix bodies - the GM1 and the GM5 - the Ricoh GR APS-C compact - the equally brilliant and fixed lens Nikon Coolpix A - the 1st-generation Canon EOS-M compact mirrorless (with the brilliant, tiny 22mm pancake lens) - all of which were (and still are) truly fine lightweight travel/hiking/landscape cameras.

The G1x Mark III is as good as any of them and, in quite a few small but subtle ways, even better. The zoom lens is wonderful and, at least in my copy, very very sharp. Image quality is superior including that oh-so-hard-to-define category of microcontrast. The APS-C sensor which the Canon engineers squeezed into this tiny body is a fine one. Additionally, it's weatherproof (a big plus for traveling) - and beautifully built: the camera is small but feels professionally constructed, unlike some compact cameras.

The only theoretical downside is that the zoom lens isn't quite fast enough for very low-light (available light) shooting - although I actually have used it, successfully, in both night and bad-lighting situations. But that's it's only real defect and it has never been a problem for me.

Some reviewers have complained that the lens isn't quite as sharp as some of its competitors. I suspect this may be due to the differences between different copies of the same lens. You can certainly argue that a fixed prime lens high-end compact - like the Ricoh GR with its 28mm lens - will give you greater IQ than a zoom - and Fujifilm's latest fixed-lens X100 iterations have faster lenses, though they are not zooms. But I'm splitting hairs here.

For me - and this is admittedly a personal and heretical viewpoint - the only small APS-C travel-worthy cameras which come close to what the G1xiii does ... are two Leica's - the Vario X and the CL - both of which cost quite a bit more and (for me at least) neither of which does everything the G1x can.

I'm attaching an image I took with my G1x Mkiii a few years ago - just as a sample of its overall IQ -

Coche de los Muertos

I'm not a pixel peeper nor a person who likes or is fond of camera tech - but for me, this tiny camera with its small zoom lens - is my travel camera of choice.

I've never done it, but yes the camera can process raws to jpegs in-camera.

"Process images captured in RAW format on the camera. The original RAW image is retained, and a copy is saved as a JPEG."

PS.  I really like MiguelATF's car picture.

Xshooter wrote:

Looking for thoughts and user reviews from current or previous G1X III owners as to whether it could be an ideal lightweight all round hiking/landscape/travel camera. I have arthritis is my hands and wrists, but my legs are fine so I go hiking and travelling with rucksack ok. However my large camera and lens are getting to be a hindrance, I'm not bothering often to take it out even though the lens is a cracker. Thinking of great image quality and dynamic range in a lightweight package with great OOC JPEGs with option to process RAW photos too.

Is the focal length range of G1X III reasonable enough for most hikers or lightweight landscapers with 24-72mm range?

I don't see the relatively slow lens as a problem for the type of still photography I foresee of mountains, landscapes and general travel photos. Would others agree/

I am struggling to find a lightweight camera which has a large sensor, and a zoom lens from wider than 24mm up to 60 mm equivalent. Th G1X III would seem to be a great option. Years ago I had the original G1X Mark 1 and was very impressed with the image quality. Your views would be appreciated as I'm primarily looking for an all in one non interchangeable lens camera with large sensor and wide angle zoom lens.

The mark iii can’t be beat for what you’re after. I have an M6 Mark II these days, but the lens on the G1X mark iii is special; it has an L-like rendering. I miss it some days but I shoot active kids which the G1X III AF is a bit of a slug for that sort of thing. For static objects though, it’s lethal.

Thanks, the Seychelles has long been on my list of places to photograph.  

I own G1XMK3 more than 2 years and absolutely love it for travel and hiking: APSC in small lightweight body .

nolten wrote:

I've had the G1X3 since shortly after its release and its been on many travels with me since then. Previously I've had a number of G series cameras dating back to the G3. My previous G was the original G1X which produced really nice images. The G1X Mk 3 is the best compact I've used. Its a 14 oz jewell, the 1D of compacts. I took it to East Africa with me and it produces images that are nipping at the heals of my 5D4 + 24-105L. The G's lens is the best 24-70 equivalent for Canon APS-C and I have or had a bunch of them. It is better in its range than the 15-85 on the 80D (same sensor).

Do you get the impression that I like this little cam? The features and handling are great. I love the built in panorama stitching. I usually shoot raw but the jpegs look good. The lens takes a 37mm filter so you can carry a tiny polarizer and there are 10x dual element closeup filters/diopters available for macro use. I much prefer the 24mm equivalent wide end to previous G's 28. If 70mm is not long enough pair it with an SL2 + 55-250 or M5 + 55-200, < 3 lbs total weight. Both those cams have a nice light macro too. What's not to like? And there is a Canon underwater housing for it too.

G1X3 Pano - Amsterdam

Serengeti Wildebeast

Madagascar Beobabs

Seychelles

Thanks for sharing those, and yes that last pic is a hell of a shot! Made me look up where the Seychelles Islands are. I only wish the G1X III had 4K video.

just checking the OP’s recent posts it looks like he settled on Fuji about two years ago