Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II review – EVF-DC1
Viewfinders on Canon G-series cameras have traditionally been of the optical type, but due to their small size they’ve often suffered from parallax error, whereby what is framed through the viewfinder is different to what the lens is actually seeing. The field of view has also typically been way below the 100% coverage you’d expect. One example is the original G1 X’s optical viewfinder that showed approximately 73% coverage at wideangle and 74% coverage at full telephoto – not an accurate view, but perhaps better than none at all.
The removal of a viewfinder altogether on the G1 X Mark II is a bold move, but one Canon has had the foresight to make in an attempt to keep up with the competition and the likes of Sony, which offers the EV1MK electronic viewfinder with a resolution of 2.36 million dots for premium compact models such as the RX100 II.
The Canon EVF-DC1 for the G1 X Mark II is designed to attach to the accessory port on the hotshoe. It translates a 100% field of view of what the sensor sees, which is a vast improvement over the optical coverage, and offers the flexibility for it to be tilted up by 90°. The 2.3-million-dot resolution delivers an incredibly sharp image and faithful colour, and as well as complementing the G1 X Mark II’s touchscreen it doubles as a way of composing and reviewing images in high-contrast conditions.
