The 5D Mark III and Canon’s Response to the Nikon D4

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Canon's Response

Is history going to repeat itself with the Nikon D4 (see above mock-ad re: Nikon D3)? But this time on the video side of the DSLR market?

Nikon is really happy with its new D4 flagship.  My favorite quote from a Nikon person at CES was “We like to shut people up.”

Boy, did they…

There’s no doubt that the D4 is an amazing camera.  It’s amazing how far they’ve one-upped their own D3s.  I’m really hoping to get the chance to shoot some college basketball with one before the season is over.

For sports shooters, Canon’s 1D X and Nikon’s D4 should be close again.  I think the D3s edged out the 1D Mark IV in AF performance over series of real world tests I conducted in 2010.  However, I think the performance is closer than most forum postings would lead you to believe.

I’m curious to see how well these new cameras stack up against each other on the still image capture side; however, I’m even more interested in how Canon will respond to the Nikon D4’s key video capture features. [Read more…]

Canon G1 X Hands-On

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Canon G1 X

The Canon G1 X was a bit of a surprise from the only major camera manufacturer without a mirrorless interchangeable lens system.  While it doesn’t offer interchangeable lenses, the G1 X features an image sensor that’s bigger than the Nikon 1 and Micro Four Thirds (Panasonic and Olympus) cameras.  I had some time with a pre-production model at CES 2012.  Check out my initial hands-on impressions below. [Read more…]

Canon Announces G1 X and New PowerShot Cameras

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Canon G1 XCanon has dropped a big one here at CES 2012 with the new PowerShot G1 X, which features a 1.5-inch CMOS sensor.  The big sensor is the largest sensor Canon has ever put in a PowerShot camera and looks to rival the compact mirrorless camera market.

The G1 X’s sensor dimensions measure 18.7 x 14mm.  Compare this to Canon’s APS-C DSLRs at 22.3 x 14.9mm, Micro Four Thirds at 18 x 13.5mm, and Nikon’s 1 Series at 13.2 x 8.8mm.  The sensor size on the G1 X provides about a 1.85x crop factor.

Even with such a large sensor, Canon has managed to put a 4x fixed zoom lens on the camera, which is down from a 5x zoom on the Canon G12.  The 15.1-60.4mm lens translate to a full frame equivalent of 28-112mm zoom range.

The big sensor offers 14MP resolution for still images and 1080p video capture.  While the lens starts a f/2.8 on the wide end, as you zoom out, the max aperture drops to f/5.8 at the tele end.  That’s physics though – and what you get when you stuff a 4x zoom in such a compact package using a sensor this big.

The Canon G1 X should be available in February at a retail price of $799.99.  Check availability at B&H, Amazon and Adorama.

I’ll have a full hands-on report here at CES 2012 within the next day or so.  So stay tuned.

In addition to the new G1 X, Canon announced a couple other PowerShots, the ELPH 520HS and ELPH 110HS.  Check them out, along with more details on the G1 X in the press release below. [Read more…]