A love hate story: Canon G1X
evergreen brickworks | toronto, ontario | canon g1x
You know that one friend that you can never really cut ties with in your life no matter how many differences ya’ll have or how much you don’t really get along? That friend for me is this camera: The Canon G1X.
At the time of release (2012) it was around $800 and it was considered revolutionary. This was one of the very first mirrorless DSLR-like cameras in a small form factor. I mean this thing was truly the grandpapi of the small, high sensor cameras you see today.
But over the years since I first got it (2014) I’ve sold and re-purchased this camera about 3 times. Yes, THREE TIMES. As much as the shortcomings prevented me from keeping it in the past, I always came back to it. And in some weird, poetic logic, I feel like if you keep going back to something, it’s truly YOUR thing and it was meant to be. I have a humble, very curated collection of small cameras and I felt like this one was always the black sheep because I hated shooting with it. The auto focus is finicky. The macro is non-existent. It’s clunky, heavy, and the viewfinder is a joke. But I will say, the colors this camera produces is unique. It has all the goodness of Canon’s color science and all the funkiness of the mid-2000s. There’s something nostalgic, artsy, and dumb about this camera and what can I say? I just hate to love this thing.
Check out the images below for SOOC (straight out of camera) shots from the G1X.
