Canon calls it the Master Compact - it's the PowerShot G1 X

Rather overshadowed by the Fujifilm X-Pro1 news on the same day, let's not forget that Canon has unveiled an interesting camera this week at CES that is half way to being a compact system camera, complete with a brand new sensor that is larger than a Micro Four Thirds CSC sensor. This is the Canon PowerShot G1 X and dare we speculate that this is a fixed-lens preview to Canon's own compact system camera, once the company decides it actually needs to start selling one?

We'll be examining the G1 X in more detail in the near future, but let's just look at it's headline features. Functional rather than pretty, the G1 X continues a PowerShot G-series tradition. But it's what's under the skin that Canon feels is important. There you will find a 14.3 megapixel 4:3 aspect ratio sensor with frame dimensions of 18.7x 14mm. That compares with 17.3x13mm for Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and 7.6x5.7mm for the 1/1.7 inch sensor used in the PowerShot G12. That means the G1 X sensor is six times the area of a G12 sensor. Optically, the G1 X has a cropping factor of only 1.9. The difference between the G1 X sensor size and the APS-C sensors used in Canon DSLRs is marginal in frame height, although the taller format means there is more width in the APS-C format.

In other words Canon can rightly claim that the sensor in the G1 X is in the same ball park as their DSLRs, especially is a DIGIC 5 image processor is used.

All that said, I always felt that for their class the G-series PowerShots were rather big and bulky and the G1 X sounds the same, being 5mm wider, 5mm taller and 17mm deeper than a G12, as well as being over 50% heavier, and heavier than a lot of compact system cameras fitted with standard zoom kit lenses.

Canon clearly hopes that the G1 X will persuade many not to invest in a CSC. Naturally, the G1 X will appeal to EOS DSLR owners as they can share some accesspries like flash units.

Despite my feelings that it's a bit overweight, The G1 X is a good deal smaller and lighter than a typical DSLR. It also has a lens that is brighter (f/2.8 compared to f/3.5) than typical kit lenses at its wide end, although a tad slower than average at the long end (f/5..

When it starts to ship next month, a Canon PowerShot G1 X will set you back about 50% more than Powershot G12, or around 10% more than a Panasonic Lumix G3 with kit lens.

The question is - will the G1 X be enough or is the pressure on Canon to produce a mirror-less system camera just too much in the long run?