Canon G1X3 which shooting mode ? 12 December 2017

The G1X3 can get close enough for large flowers like these Actinotus helianthi.

The G1X3 gives the user lots of  choice for shooting mode with 10 positions on the Mode Dial.

Let’s run through them:

Auto  This is the default mode and one which I never use and do not recommend for the enthusiast user who I think will be the likely buyer of this camera.

Auto is snapshooter’s mode in which the camera decides just about everything except zoom and framing. The user has very little control over focus point or exposure.

I see little point in using this expensive camera in Auto mode when a smartphone or budget compact will suffice for this type of photography.

Hybrid Auto  This is a special purpose mode to “create a digest movie when shooting still images”. I have to confess I have not used this mode yet.

P (Program auto exposure) This is my preferred shooting mode with most cameras but not the G1X3.

The reasons are a bit complex and have to do with the way the auto ISO algorithm works, or fails to work, with the mysterious [Rate of change] function.

In P Mode with [Rate of change] Fast,  the camera will set a shutter speed of 1/1000 (light levels permitting and depending on the maximum ISO set). It will do this even when such a shutter speed makes no photographic sense.

With [Rate of change] Slow the camera will try to set a shutter speed of 1/15 second indoors even if that is too slow for safe hand held work. On my tests this appears not to be focal length responsive.

With [Rate of change] Standard the auto ISO algorithm has trouble deciding what ISO, shutter speed and aperture to select. I found over many hundreds of frames that the ISO setting changes from 100 to 800 for no reason apparent to me, producing  frequently inappropriate aperture settings and shutter speeds.  Note that the exposure is correct in each case. It is just that, for instance, 1/1000 at f2.8 and ISO 800 is not a suitable exposure for a well lit scene.

I suspect this represents a fault in the camera’s programming which should be rectified with a firmware update.

As far as I am concerned this glitch makes P Mode pretty much unusable.

Tv (Time value, a.k.a. Shutter priority auto exposure)  [Rate of change] is not available in this mode.

The firing solution (aperture/shutter speed/ISO)  in  Tv appears to be stable on my tests, Making this a recommended Mode setting. You might, for instance, be photographing grandchildren running around as they do and want  a shutter speed of say, 1/250 second to minimise blur due to subject motion. Then Tv is your friend.

Av (Aperture value, a.k.a. Aperture priority auto exposure).  [Rate of change] is available in this mode. I use Standard for the reasons given above. This works well. Light levels permitting, the camera seeks a shutter speed of 1/60 sec at the wide end of the zoom and 1/160 sec at the long end. 

The shutter speed is focal length responsive.

The shutter speeds noted represent approximately the reciprocal of equivalent focal length x 2.2. This gives shutter speeds appropriate for most kinds of general purpose hand held photography.

It is early days yet but I suspect I will be using Av for most of my general photographic work with this camera.

The lens gives a good account of itself right from the widest aperture at every focal length. There is no need to stop down the aperture to get sharp pictures including the corners.

Depth of field is considerable even with the lens wide open.

At 15mm f2.8 and a focussed distance of 5 meters, depth of field extends from 2.3meters to infinity.

At 45mm f5.6 and a focussed distance of 10 meters, depth of field extends from 6.5 to 21 meters.

M (Manual exposure mode)    Auto ISO does operate in M mode. I use this mode infrequently as it slows down picture taking proceedings considerably. However it can be useful in some situations.

C1 and C2  are custom modes which are very useful for memorising and retrieving groups of settings useful for particular subject or shooting circumstances.

Standard Movie  (movie camera symbol)  This is the movie equivalent of Auto for stills. It is the snapshooters movie mode with the camera making most of the exposure and focus decisions.

Scene    I use this exclusively for gaining access to panorama mode. I will publish a separate post about this.