Canon PowerShot G1 X Digital Camera Review

Sharpness

The G1 X offers some of the best sharpness performance we've ever seen from a fixed-lens model, with detail levels sometimes peaking as high as 2500 MTF50's in certain zones, even at the longest focal length. How to did Canon achieve this? Why, by cheating of course.

Edge enhancement is very noticeable in all photos. This will manifest as thick dark bars occurring against high contrast edges. While this effect is sufficient to fool our test, it will negatively impact image quality, and make for less lifelike stills. There is no way to deactivate edge enhancement in the G1 X. More on how we test sharpness.

Image Stabilization

Turning on the G1 X's continuous image stabilization mode actually worsens sharpness by about 22%. This isn't entirely unheard of, but the G12 did at least have a moderately effective stabilizer. We recommend G1 X users deactivate the feature during general use for the best image quality.