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I start to record here Canon G5X tips for myself and for anyone interested. I will update the article whenever more becomes discovered.

Keep your camera protected against dust and moist

This is useful tip for any "pocket camera". Use so called reclosable plastic bag (zipper bag) to protect your camera against dust. 1/2 litter (0.13 gallon) plastic bag is just perfect for most of the pocket cameras. To slip the camera in and out of the bag is surprisingly easy once you get used to it. You can also use the plastic bag as a small "umbrella" when shooting in rain.

Keep your camera handy

This is also an useful tip for number of cameras. Get rid of the neck strap and replace it with a wrest strap. That makes your camera much easier to handle. I often slip my hand through the wrest starp loop first, and then take the camera out of the overcoat pocket. A long neck strap only makes the manouvering of camera very clumsy.

Display switching off every now and then

Right next to view finder, there's a sensor that switches the live view between the display and view finder. Even partially covered, the sensor does that switch. I first thought my display connection is breaking. Solution: Set the menu 'Setup 1 > Display settings > Display Control' for Manual.

Setting display mirroring off

In case you are not a big fan of selfies, you may wish to switch off the display mirroring. Solution: Set the menu 'Shoot 1 > Reverse Display' to Off.

Digital zoom

When I bought the used camera, the previous owner had left the digital 2x zoom on. Solution: On P, Tv or Av modes make sure the menu 'Shoot 3 > Digital Zoom' is set Off.

Use the touchscreen!

Somewhat everything becomes easier thanks to the touchscreen. I'm currently learning where all that makes things easier. I will update my find findings here later on.

Carry an extra battery and memory card with you!

For any camera it is a good to carry along an extra battery and memory card. But especially Canon G5X is known for a short battery life. So, buy an extra battery and carry along also the external battery charger with you.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John (Stormlizard) for the battery and memory card tip.

12 comments

Stormlizard said:

Similar to EOS models where P, TV, AV are used for 'Without auto flash, and various ISO values.

9 years ago

Sami Serola (inactiv… replied to Stormlizard:

At the moment this Canon menu looks rather complex, but I guess I'm getting used to it.

Stormlizard replied to :

I can only say that the EOS range are also complicated and learn a bit more from day to day, often by accident.
I have two older Pocket camera's, an IXUS 400 and a PowerShot A710 IS, less complicated but still not easy to dance with.

Sami Serola (inactiv… replied to :

Same thing was with Canon G12 when compared to G5X. Although, more simple camera does not need so many features to the menus as more advanced one does =D

Today I discovered the pleasures of the touch screen, and it actually makes also the use of menus easier.

Yes Sami, touch screens are fine once youknow how to use it, unfotunately using it increases battery drainage.

Always carry spare charged bateries. Some cameras can also use non rechargable batteries in an emergency situation.
Also make a habit of carrying at least one spare Memoy card as thesecan let you down without warning.

That is a very welcome advice =) Extra memory card I have already, but the extra battery I have to buy soon! G5X is known for being very power hungry.

You're welcome Sami, I have often been sorry regarding both items mentioned, and you can't buy ready charged special batterie over the counter, Memory cards yes, but not many shops deep in a rain forest.

PowerShot models use AA Batteries .

I think it is more complex issue than that. LCD itself of course takes a lot of energy. And touch screen LCD are reportedly told to drain battery more than non-touch-screens. However, it is the screen that use power, not the touching action.

So, I claim one will use less energy if one is able to save steps while navigating around the menu. The time how long the display is on what is the critical issue. And actually the most battery saving solution would be to collect the most used features on the 'My Menu', thus making the time to do some actions shorter, and time that display is on also shorter.

Same thing with the focusing. If you pick the focusing point on touch screen, you save time. You may manage to get the picture quicker, and no need to take more shots in case the first shot(s) would have been unfocused.

Finally there comes the issue of whether the use of EVF (electronic viewfinder) would use less energy than LCD. One may try to find the answer here:
blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/sony-a7rii-current-draw-evf-vs-lcd

For my surprise the EVF in normal operating power seems to use even more energy than LCD. However, it also seems that Cameras like G5X have rather ingenious default setting to switch the "unused EVF" off much quicker than "unused LCD". It means the EVF turns off rather soon if it is not cover by something like eye.

So, I would recommend using EVF for anything where you don't need to worry about exact focusing (good light = small aperture, landscape shots, wide angle), or shots that you just have to get quick (sports, action, situation). Then use LCD and touch screen operations when you need to be more precise (still life, low light, etc.).

One more point regarding the Memory card, 'Depending upon how good the Warning about remaig space on the card is, and how obervant the user is I suugest that as soon as you notice this indicator to change the card because if you fail to do so the camera will overwrite existing files which can cause Men to shed many tears, this happened to me at a most inconvenient time in Thailand.

That sounds incredible, but I believe it is possible on some very poorly designed camera software. All cameras I have ever used just tells the memory card is full, and definitely does not start to write over.

My EOS 400 did.

9 years ago ( translate )

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