Closing in on the pros

WITH THE PowerShot G3 X, Canon has come out with a premium, high-zoom, digital compact camera that ensures impressive image quality.

Compact it is indeed – about 123x77x105mm – but the large CMOS image sensor makes sure the pictures look great even when taken in dim light.

The strong magnesium-alloy body has rubber sealing and is bonded to keep out dust and moisture to such an extent that it ranks with its mid-range EOS cousins.

Camera-wise, you have 20.2-megapixel resolution in 3:2 aspect ratio and ISO sensitivity ranging from 125 to 12,800.

The 24-600mm-equivalent focal length helps the camera capture beautiful landscapes at the widest angle (24mm), when it achieves a fast and bright f/2.8 aperture. 

You can get in close to even tricky subjects as well. At peak zoom (600mm), brightness drops to f/5.6, though that’s still good enough to get nice shots of birds flitting around if it’s a sunny day.

On extreme zooms you can sometimes lose track of your subject, but the G3 X comes with handy Auto Zooming, which keeps the detected subject at a constant size – if it moves closer, the camera automatically zooms out, and vice versa.

Auto Zooming has Seek Assist, too. When your subject disappears from view, move the camera slightly to trigger an automatic zoom out to help you find it. Then there’s the “Framing Assist – Seek” button. Hold it down to see a frame within which you can relocate your subject. Once the button is released, the camera zooms back in at the same magnification level you had before. This is extremely helpful when using a telephoto lens or when you’re zoomed to around 600mm.

In my test the G3 X consistently captured good-quality photos even at extreme distances and the zooming motion was fast and smooth, as was the auto focusing. I was able to get crisply focused shots of far-away buildings thanks to the great image-stabilising technology. Portraits taken at peak zoom turned out quite beautiful with dissolved background.

The G3 X lens is derived from Canon’s in-house EF lens technology and is capable of delivering good image quality even at high speeds. Three UD and four aspherical lens elements are used in the construction, the second group equipped with IS for optical image stabilisation. 

The zooming, by the way, is fast and quiet thanks to Canon’s Micro USM II (UltraSonic Motor). Focusing on a moving subject is also done at high speed and recording high-quality video and sound recording is smooth with minimal noise disruption. 

The 1.62-megapixel, |3.2-inch touch-panel LCD monitor can tilt upward 180 degrees for framing self-portraits and downward 45 degrees for the type of situations when a fixed monitor will only cause problems. 

The touch panel makes it easy to select your focus point and change settings within the current shooting mode. Hit the “Q” button on the screen, for example, to establish your own set of adjustable settings.

The G3 X has no viewfinder, but you can buy an EVF-DC1 to mount on it. This will provide bright, clear views with which to compose your shots in bright sunlight, when you can’t tell what you’re seeing on the monitor. The electronic viewfinder also tilts for easier framing at odd angles.

The G3 X is easy enough to operate. Rookies will prefer SmartAuto and Hybrid Auto modes. Smart Auto automatically selects optimal settings for specific scenes. Hybrid Auto will also record two- to four-second video clips and then combine them into a movie.

More advanced users will go for Programmed Auto (P), Shutter Priority (T), Aperture Priority (A), Manual or the two customisable modes, all accessible from the mode dial. They’ll also love the camera’s Bulb Exposure feature when long exposures are required, such as fireworks displays. Bulb Exposure keeps the shutter open as long as the shutter button is held down. 

You also have Specific Scenes, Creative Shot, Creative Filters and Sports modes.

With Creative Shot, the camera determines the subject and lighting environment and automatically applies special effects that emphasise the subject. Six still images are recorded in a burst. The effects are Auto, Retro, Monochrome, Special and Natural.

Specific Scenes mode offers a choice of Portrait, Smart Shutter, Star, Handheld Night Scene, Snow and Fireworks Scene. Using Handheld Night Scene, I got great shots of a highway streaming with headlights and taillights.

For movies, you have Full HD capability at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The movie-specific features include an improved Dynamic IS, which has five axes of movement, among them horizontal and vertical rotation, to correct for shakes while you’re moving.

Wi-Fi connectivity is a snap with NFC (Near Field Communications), which also enables linking to a smartphone so you can transfer photos and video to the social networks and using the phone as a remote control. A dedicated app is needed to let you change shutter speed, zoom level, ISO, aperture and aspect ratio.

The Canon PowerShot G3 X retails for Bt29,900. You can get a case for another Bt1,440 and the EVF-DC1 viewfinder for Bt9,900.

 

Key Specs

 

- Image sensor: 20.2-megapixels 1.0 type CMOS sensor

- Lens: 25x optical zoom IS

- Focal length: 24 to 600mm

- Aperture: f/2.8 to f/5.6

- Imaging processor: Digic 6

- Maximum video quality: Full HD 

- Shutter speed: Bulb 1/2000 second 

- ISO: Auto, ISO 125 to ISO 12,800

- Focus: Autofocus – continuous, servo AF, manual

- Metering System: Evaluative, centre-weighted average, spot

- LCD: 3.2-inch (1.62 million dots) touch LCD monitor

- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, NFC

- Battery type: NB-10L (300 images per charge)

- Weight: 733 grams