Revisting the Canon G1X Mark II in 2026

This is the third in a short series of posts, looking at how 'old' cameras can carry on giving in 2026. In this post we are looking at the Canon G1X Mark II: released over 10 years ago, which I purchased in August 2026:

The Mark II is slightly smaller than the Mark I, and replaces the optical view finder with an optional EVF. As the EVF operates on the Canon M3 etc, I already had both Canon EVFs (articulating and not), this was not an additional cost for me.

You can pick up a Mark II G1X for just over 500GBP, and outline specs of the Mark II are as follows:

• Sensor: Large 1.5-type (18.7 x 14.0 mm) 12.8-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Lens: 24–120mm equivalent 5x optical zoom with a fast f/2.0–3.9 maximum aperture
• Processor: DIGIC 6 image processor
• Aperture: 9-bladed circular aperture
• Focusing: 31-point AiAF, Manual Focus Peaking, and a close 5cm minimum focus distance 
• Screen: Tilt-type 1,040k-dot LCD touch-screen
• Connectivity: Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC

An additional functionality with the Mark II is its custom Control Rings, which allow independent adjustment of settings like focus, aperture and shutter speed.

As with all my previous Point & Shoot cameras I picked up a custom G1X Mark II base plate from Chris over at https://www.hejnarphotostore.com/arca-swiss-camera-plate-canon-g1x-mk2-d028-p/d028.htm

Some may ask why pay the extra for a custom plate? Well, first, Canon in their wisdom put a small detente on the base of the camera. Secondly, I wanted to get card and battery access without undoing the plate.

As with the previous posts in this series, the real clincher for why you may wish to consider buying a G1X Mark II in 2026 is its access to CHDK (see more info on the right and this post).

Having got CHDK up and running, it was obvious that CHDK on this camera had not yet been optimised for the EVF. However, in a very short time, Reylap at CHDK had 'fixed' the EVF.

The next task was to 'tweak' my Lua Landscape Bracketing Script, to run on the G1X Mark II. The link on the right now has the October 2026 version of the LBS script.

For those interested in what LBS's functionality is, here is the help text at the front of the script:

Landscape Bracketing Script (LBS) Capture 'perfect' focus brackets, with focus overlap defined in terms of defocus (CHDK) Circle of Confusion blur Focus bracketing strategies are: current position to blur-defined infinity (X2INF); min camera focus to blur-defined infinity (Min2INF); H/x to infinity (H/x2INF);... and Min focus to current focus position (Min2X). Overlap, ie bracket to bracket, is defined in terms of the defocus (CoC) blur, eg CoC/2 means focus brackets 'touch' at a CHDK defocus blur of CoC/2. Exposure brackets may be taken at each focus step, using various schemes: 1Ev, 2Ev or 3Ev steps using -/+ or -/-- or +/++; one ISO at 800 or 1600; or one (Zero Noise) exposure at +4Ev, +3Ev or +2Ev, auto from shadow exposure to an ETTR exposure, a wind bracket where the exposure stays the same... but ISO and shutter speed are adjusted, ie to achieve a faster shutter; and a full auto. You can check the camera's black level and set this value via the menu, eg put the lens cover on and run the script with the check black level option. Black and White level sensitivity can be user set to Normal, Mediun or High. White level influences ETTR exposure insurance, ie high skewing the exposure away from 100% saturation. You can also switch on Infinity Brackets that allows you to take an ETTR shot at the infinity focus position, eg for the sky, or capture a simulated ND bracket set, up to a 5 ND, or both. Use Bookends to differentiate the captured bracket set in post (recommended). Note the ND sub bracket will be bookended as well. The script will pause and display info about the option you have selected. You can refocus, with the script recalculating number of brackets... or telling you the infinity defocus blur if you are positioned beyond the hyperfocal. When the script is paused you can switch in and out of Alt mode to change the shutter; however, don't try and change aperture or focal length, as the script will terminate in a controlled way. You can switch off the screen during bracketing. The script will automatically set and reset MF, if not already in MF mode. Press Half Shutter to run the script or MENU to exit script. The script should run on most CHDK cameras, but bits of the code may need tweaking, eg to account for camera specific buttons. Rev 1.195 October 2026 Garry George

Bottom line: the Canon G1X Mark II with an EVF, dedicated plate and CHDK remains a real powerhouse of a camera in 2026...at least for some (slow) photographers ;-)