Anyone shooting or having shot a Canon G1X mk III ? What do you like / dislike about it? My carry-everywhere compact, a Panasonic LX7 is slowly dying (contact issues, probably due to worn contacts, as cleaning does not help). I’m thinking of the Canon G1X III as a replacement. I don’t do video, and I need an EVF.
I would also consider the Canon G5Xii (if you prefer Canon; it has about the same equivalent aperture as the G1X) and an Olympus E-M5ii with a pancake zoom (almost same form factor as the G1X, much more camera for a bit of extra money, incl weather sealing).
The G5X II is harder to find and therefore more expensive to get; currently, it usually sells close to 900 CHF here, used. The G1X III goes for 6-700 CHF.
The E-M5 II weighs 469 g without a lens, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ adds 92 g; the Canon G1X III weighs 400 g, the G5X II 340 g. The lenses on the Canons are much faster than the Oly pancake; the G1X III has weather sealing. I value that compactness in a take-it-everywhere camera.
I’ll also look into finding a replacement LX7. It’s a very nice camera, despite its limitations. (I already own an external viewfinder for it; unfortunately, it makes the camera much less pocketable, as it protrudes a lot from the body. It has the nice trick of being able to tilt/fold upwards; that is, I can hold the camera low, e.g. on my knee, and look into the EVF from above.)
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For that price, I would also consider an older Sony (eg the NEX-6) with a lens of your choice. Nice, well-engineered small body (the G1Xiii is a couple of mms taller). Admittedly, matching the G1Xiii starting at f/2.8 is a tall order which will be expensive and/or large, but the (pancake) zooms starting at f/3.5 are not that far for practical purposes… though personally I would pick a smallish prime.
I still have a G1X III for many years now, and I appreciate the image quality, the flexibility of RAW processing, the interface, the little flash, and the overall sense of quality of the camera. I mostly use it when I need to travel light, by train for example, or to have a second camera with me. I previously had a G7X, which ended up with some dust in the lens and had nice image quality, but inferior (same lens than g5x).
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