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Showing posts with label canon. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

One of the most exciting cameras that debuted in 2012 was Canon's PowerShot G1 X. It featured a 1.5" sensor (which is only 20% smaller than APS-C), 28-112mm lens (albeit a moderately slow one), fully articulating LCD, and optical viewfinder (a rarity at the time). The G1 X was far from perfect: the lens' maximum aperture range of F2.8-5.8 wasn't great, AF performance and the minimum focus distance were disappointing, continuous shooting rates were poor, and battery life was downright lousy.
With the 'Mark II' version of the PowerShot G1 X, Canon has addressed many of the shortcomings of its predecessor. For a start, the G1 X II has a faster lens that covers a wider focal range and can shoot much closer to a subject. It also promises a faster, more sophisticated AF system, improved continuous shooting, dual control dials around the lens, and Wi-Fi with NFC. The LCD has also been redesigned: it now tilts upward 180° and downward 45° - instead of flipping out to the side - and touch functionality has been added, as well. The camera is also significantly smaller than its forebear, now looking more like an over-grown S-series, rather than an out-sized G12. Something that got sacrificed in all this was the optical viewfinder, but fear not, you can buy a tilting XGA EVF for $300.

Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II key features

12.8 megapixel 1.5"-type CMOS sensor
Digic 6 processor
24-120mm equivalent F2.0-3.9 lens with optical IS
Dual (customizable) control rings
Tilting 3", 1.04M dot touchscreen LCD
5.2 fps continuous shooting
Maintains same angle-of-view at 4:3 and 3:2
Wi-Fi with NFC with remote control via smartphone
1080/30p video recording
Optional XGA electronic viewfinder

The big story remains the G1 X II's 1.5"-type sensor which is around 5.6 times larger than the one found in Canon's own PowerShot G16. The result is still a fair bit smaller than the APS-C-sized sensors used in Canon's DSLRs, but then the camera is quite a bit smaller, too. It's interesting to compare the EOS-M, which is similar in body size, to the G1 X II. The built-in lens and smaller sensor allow the PowerShot to remain much smaller than the 'M' would be, were there an equivalent lens available.

Accessories

There's no shortage of extras available for the G1 X Mark II. The most notable are the electronic viewfinder and custom grip.

The EVF-DC1 ($299) is an XGA electronic viewfinder with 2.36 million dots (a 1024x 768 pixel display). As shown above, the viewfinder can tilt upward by 90 degrees. It has a built-in eye sensor, or you can turn it on via the button on its left side. While the resolution of the viewfinder is quite high, the refresh rate isn't nearly as nice as the main LCD.
There will be some people who decry the loss of the G1 X's built-in viewfinder but, given how small and imprecise it was, we feel the option to include of a considerably better finder (or not, if you don't want to spend the extra), is a reasonable alternative. It does, of course, mean that you need to spend more money to get a camera with a viewfinder, but that effective price increase over the G1 X also gains the faster, more versatile lens, smaller form factor and all the camera's other improvements.


Standard grip	Custom grip

Those with large hands may find the G1 X Mark II's grip a bit lacking. Canon offers the GR-DC1A custom grip ($29), which is more substantial. Switching the grip out just involves removing a pair of screws, swapping the pieces, and then screwing the new one back in.
Other accessories include an underwater housing (WP-DC53), 58mm filter adapter (FA-DC58E), lens hood (LH-DC80), and remote shutter release (RS-60E3).

Body & Design

The PowerShot G1 X Mark II is a relatively bulky camera that's about the size of a superzoom, sans the big lens. Build quality is very good. The camera is made mostly of metal and feels well put together, especially the lens barrel with its twin dials. The dual-hinged plate that allows the LCD to tilt is quite impressive.
Controls are tightly packed on the rear of the camera, with a typical Canon PowerShot G-series layout. The dial that surrounds the four-way controller is one of three on the camera, with the other two being around the lens. The functions of each can be customized, with the available options listed at the bottom of this page.

In your hand

The G1 X II's large sensor and fast, wide-ranging lens make for a large camera. Despite that, Canon has designed the camera in such a way that it can be operated with one hand - though the front dials encourage a two-handed approach.

Nearly all of the G1 X II's buttons are on the rear of the camera, to the right of the LCD. That makes things pretty cluttered, though the thumb rest should keep you from accidentally bumping something. The grip isn't terribly large but it works well enough. Those with large hands may prefer the optional 'custom grip' shown earlier.

Compared to PowerShot G1 X

The design of the G1 X II has changed considerably compared to its predecessor. Gone is the 'two level' top plate - used to house the optical finder - which gives the G1 X II a more traditional rectangular shape. The grip on the G1 X II is smaller than on the original, though the optional 'custom grip' closes the gap. Also note that the front dial on the G1 X is gone on the G1 X II, replaced instead by an additional dial around the lens.

On top you'll notice that the 'double dial' which combined the mode and exposure comp dials has been transformed into a more traditional mode dial. The hot shoe on the G1 X II offers an accessory port (for the optional EVF) that was not available on its predesccor.
The back of the cameras hasn't changed too much, aside from the obvious removal of the optical viewfinder. While the controls were tight on the G1 X, they're even more crowded on the G1 X II.

Tilting touchscreen LCD

While the G1 X Mark II's 3" LCD can't flip out to the side and rotate like on its predecessors, it does have some tricks up its sleeve, one of which you won't find on any other enthusiast compact.

The LCD can be tilted in the usual up and down positions. Note how the camera can stay flat even while the LCD is tilted downward.


The LCD can be tilted all the way to 180 degrees, allowing for 'selfies'.

For better or worse, you can now take 'selfies' on a large sensor compact. As for the display itself, there are 1.04 million dots and 3:2 aspect ratio. Outdoor visibility was very good.
Touchscreen features include the usual suspects. You can touch to focus and take a shot, navigate through menus, and flip through photos you've taken. The touchscreen is responsive and the actions (especially in playback mode) feel very smartphone-like.

Body elements

	Aside from its 1.5"-type sensor, the other 'big deal' on the G1 X II is its 24-120mm equivalent F2.0-3.9 lens. This is a significant improvement over the 28-112mm F2.8-5.8 lens on the G1 X, at least in terms of spec. The lens isn't threaded, but Canon's FA-DC58E adapter, which allows you to use 58mm filters.
	The controls on the rear of the G1 X should look familiar to anyone who's picked up a G-series camera in recent years. A scroll dial surrounds the four-way controller and by default serves as the subdial for adjusting exposure. Pressing 'up' on the four-way controller opens up the Wi-Fi menu, a feature which will be described later in the review.
	At the top-right of the camera's rear plate are buttons for Wi-Fi, movie recording, and 'Shortcut'. The Shortcut button function can be defined to your liking - see below for a list. The phone-like button is a quick way to connecting to a previously paired smartphone or tablet.
	On the G1 X, there was an exposure compensation dial under the mode dial. On its successor, there's just a mode dial. In addition to the usual exposure modes, there are also Smart Auto (which selects a scene mode for you), Hybrid Auto (shoots a short movie with each still), and several 'creative' modes.
	The G1 X II's pop-up flash, whcih is released manually, has a maximum range of 6.8m at wide-angle and 3.5m at telephoto.
	Deep within the recesses of the hot shoe are connectors for the optional electronic viewfinder. At this point, that's the only accessory that takes advantage of this connector.
	On the left side of the G1 X II is the flash release, speaker, and 'contact area' for tapping NFC devices.
	The I/O ports on the camera include remote control in, USB + composite out, and micro-HDMI. The G1 X does not have microphone or headphone jacks.
	Under a plastic door you'll find the battery and memory card compartment. The NB-12L lithium-ion battery packs 6.8Wh of energy, which translates into a disappointing 240 shots per charge. Due to the proximity of the tripod mount, you cannot access this compartment when the camera is attached to one.

Controls

Although its slimmed-down styling can make it look like the G1 X Mark II has fewer control points than the G1 X, it actually has one more. A greater number of its controls are also customizable, with the most prominent being the two dials that wrap around its lens. There are also two customizable buttons - the Shortcut button and the red [Rec] button. In addition, the camera's Function menu (which has been on Canon PowerShots for what seems like an eternity) can be adjusted to your liking.

Dial customization

The twin dials around the lens can be customized, sometimes to the point of overkill.	You can adjust the dial and button settings in the 'Function Assignment' menu item.

Here is the complete list of functions that can be assigned to the camera's three dials. Several options apply more than one function to the camera's clicking, inner dial. If one of these options is selected, the 'up' direction on the four-way controller (which usually controls Exposure Comp.) toggles between the options.

Function Menu

The G1 X II's function (shortcut) menu can also be customized, and it's about time. You can do this via the 'Func' Menu Layout which sits in the shooting settings menu.

The function menu is a staple of Canon PowerShot cameras.	Here you can choose what goes in the function menu.

The following options can be used in the Func menu:

• DR correction
• Shadow correct
• White balance
• My colors
• Bracketing
• Drive mode
• Self-timer

• Light metering
• ND filter
• Aspect ratio
• Image type
• Recording pixels
• Compression
• Movie quality

One thing that some may find irritating is that, like other recent PowerShots, the function menu isn't dismissed until you press the Func button again or tap the touchscreen. Half-pressing the shutter release won't do it, nor will entering the standard menu (which is unavailable, if you're on the White Balance section of the Func menu).
This persistence of the Func menu is useful if you're trying to re-take the same shot with different settings, since the Func menu pops back up after the first shot, allowing you to make a quick change for the second shot. However, it can also slow down general use of the camera: if you don't actively close the Func menu, then the control dials and several buttons are tied up with menu navigation, causing an extra delay you don't usually get with other cameras.

Main Menu

The menu system on the PowerShot G1 X Mark II is unchanged from recent Canon PowerShots, and that's just fine. The menus look good, operate smoothly, and offer 'Hints and Tips' for folks who may not know what all those items mean.


The main menu is attractive, responsive, and easy to navigate. Note the help display at the bottom of the screen.	Your most commonly used menu items can be placed in 'My Menu'.

If you want quick access to the settings you use the most, you can put them in 'My Menu', Pretty much every setting in the menus can go there, and you can make My Menu the default screen when the 'menu' button is pressed.

Auto ISO

The G1 X II has a customizable Auto ISO feature that allows you to set the maximum sensitivity the camera will use, and how quickly it will increase the shutter speed. The max sensitivity ranges from ISO 400 - 12800. The 'rate of change' - available in all modes except Manual (M), doesn't let you set the minimum shutter speed, instead giving you the options 'slow', 'standard, and 'fast'. Sadly, the camera does not permit adjustment of exposure compensation when using Auto ISO in manual mode.

Touch Features

The PowerShot G1 X Mark II is the first Canon G-series camera to have a touchscreen display. There aren't really any surprises here, as the G1 X II's features are no different from those found on other touch-enabled cameras we've tried.
You can touch to focus or take a picture. Menus can be operated by dragging and tapping your finger. You can enlarge an image in playback mode by double tapping, and then use your finger to 'drag' the image around. Moving through images takes but a flick, and you can scroll them them faster by increasing your swiping speed.

Wi-Fi Features

The G1 X Mark II has virtually every Wi-Fi feature one could desire. The G1X II allows the following actions:

Remote control from a smartphone
Transfer of images to smartphone
Transfer photos to a social network or over email (via a Wi-Fi network)
Automatic upload to Canon's cloud service or Google Drive (via a Wi-Fi network)

A one-touch 'Direct Connect' button will instantly re-pair the camera with the smartphone you've been using. NFC-enabled smartphones can also connect to the G1 X II with a 'tap'. Images and movies can also be sent to your Mac or PC.

Functions in the remote capture section of the CameraWindow app are limited to what you see here.

That said, the remote capture feature isn't very robust, and setting up photo sharing requires a lot of patience. As shown in the screenshot above, the only things you can adjust are the zoom, flash mode, and self-timer. It would be nice if you had access to things like exposure and ISO. The app can also be used for browsing and downloading photos from the G1 X II, and also providing GPS location data.
When you first enter the Wi-Fi menu, you are presented with a screen with five icons. The icons represent target devices: a camera, smartphone, PC, printer, or cloud service. Setting most of those up is easy enough - you can use an existing network or have the camera be its own hotspot.
The most frustrating part of the Wi-Fi experience is setting up cloud services, which is required before you send photos anywhere else. This involves signing up for Canon's Image Gateway service, authenticating your camera (which adds Canon's cloud service to the camera), and then setting up each of the social/photo sharing networks (Facebook, Flickr, Google Drive, etc.) one at a time.

Source
DP Reviews Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II Reviews -Apr, 2014
Engadget Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II Reviews (8.0/10) -Apr, 2014
CNET Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II Reviews -Apr, 2014
Official Website

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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Canon's most enthusiast-friendly APS-C SLR to date

The announcement of any Canon DSLR usually creates a lot of excitement, but when that camera launches a new sensor with a new pixel count (for the manufacturer) and is aimed at enthusiast photographers, it ups the ante considerably. So naturally there's been quite a buzz surrounding the new Canon EOS 70D, which has a 20.2 million-pixel CMOS sensor coupled with a Digic 5 processor.
As well as having a higher pixel count than Canon's other recent APS-C format sensors, the EOS 70D's sensor is a Dual Pixel CMOS device, which enables faster focusing during Live View and video mode. There are two photo diodes for every pixel site (strictly speaking pixels don't exist until an image is created) on the sensor, and each of them can read light independently to enable a form of phase detection autofocusing to be used to focus the lens.

While the diodes are read separately for autofocusing, they are read together to form the image, and this means the Canon 70D creates 20.2 million pixel images.
Although every 'pixel' is a dual diode device, only the central 80% are used for auto focusing, because using the outer edges makes the system more prone to errors.

The Canon 70D also has a dedicated phase detection sensor for use when images are composed in the viewfinder. This has 19 AF points, all of which are cross-type, just like the Canon 7D's AF system. However, the two cameras' AF systems aren't identical, since the Canon 70D only has three AF point selection modes: Single point AF, Zone AF and 19-point Area AF.

While the 60D has a maximum continuous shooting speed of 5.3fps, the 70D can shoot at up to 7fps at full resolution for up to 65 JPEGs or 16 raw files, which is useful when shooting sport and using the 60D's continuous focusing capability.
Sensitivity may be set in the native range of ISO 100-12,800 with an expansion setting allowing the equivalent of ISO 25,600. The top native setting, ISO 12,800 is an expansion setting on Canon's other enthusiast SLRs.

Canon was the first manufacturer to give a DSLR a touchscreen, and the 70D has a 3-inch 1,040,000 dot LCD that can be used to make settings adjustments and scroll through images. As with the Canon 700D, the manufacturer hasn't added the touchscreen functionality at the expense of buttons or dial controls, since the Canon 70D has all the physical controls that you'd hope for.
Further good news with the Canon 70D is that the LCD screen is on an articulating joint, and this makes it easy to view from a range of angles, whether shooting in landscape or portrait format.
Wi-Fi connectivity is fast becoming one of the must-have features for cameras, and the Canon 70D does not disappoint in this respect.

While the ability to download images wirelessly may not be all that enticing, the possibility of controlling the camera remotely using Canon's free EOS remote app for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets is a real bonus for wildlife photographers.
Canon has also included a few features to enable more creative images to be captured with a Canon 70D - there's a built-in Speedlite transmitter, for example, which gives wireless control over multiple Canon Speedlite EX flashguns, a multi-exposure mode and an HDR mode that combines three images to create one with a greater range of tones.
There's also a collection of Creative Filters (Grainy B/W, Soft Focus, Fish-Eye effect, Art Bold effect, Water Painting effect, Toy Camera effect or Miniature effect) that can be used to give JPEGs a particular distinctive look when shooting in Live View mode.

While it's disappointing that these can't be used when shooting raw files simultaneously, or when using the viewfinder, they can be applied post-capture in review mode, so it's possible to retain a 'clean' image as well as one with the filter effect.

The Canon EOS 70D has a full price of £1,089 / US$1,199 / AU$1,499 body only, putting it well above the Canon 700D but at the same price point as the Nikon D7100.

Battery Grip BG-E14

The EOS 70D gets a new battery grip, the BG-E14.


The grip replicates the main control set for portrait format shooting, including the dedicated AF area expansion button. The camera is designed so the rear dial is reasonably accessible when using the grip.	It will take either two LP-E6 batteries to double the camera's endurance, or six AA batteries (via a second tray included in the box). There's also a storage slot for the camera's battery compartment door.

Canon EOS 70D key features

20.2MP APS-C 'Dual Pixel CMOS AF' sensor
DIGIC 5+ image processor
ISO 100-12800 standard, 25600 expanded
7fps continuous shooting, burst depth 65 JPEG / 16 Raw
'Silent' shutter mode
1080p30 video recording, stereo sound via external mic
19-point AF system, all points cross-type, sensitive to -0.5 EV
63-zone iFCL metering system
98% viewfinder coverage, 0.95x magnification, switchable gridlines and electronic level display
Fully-articulated touchscreen, 1040k dot 3" ClearView II LCD, 3:2 aspect ratio
Single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot
Built-in Wi-Fi
Single-axis electronic level
Built-in flash works as off-camera remote flash controller
AF microadjustment (can be set individually for up to 40 lenses, remembered by lens serial number)
In-camera High Dynamic Range and Multiple Exposure modes (JPEG-only)
'Creative Filter' image processing styles, previewed in live view

Performance
Although Canon's new Dual Pixel AF system is faster than its previous Live View AF systems, it isn't quite as fast as the contrast detection systems in Panasonic's recent G series compact system cameras such as the Panasonic G6 and Panasonic GX7, or Olympus's PEN range including the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 and Olympus PEN E-P5.
However, it's not that far off, and it's sufficiently fast for the camera to be used handheld when composing images on its screen - at least in normal daylight conditions. And it means that the articulating joint on the screen is much more useful.
When light levels fall, however, the focusing slows and a backwards and forwards adjustment becomes noticeable.

While the Canon 70D's Dual Pixel AF system may have grabbed many of the headlines, it's only used in Live View and Movie mode. When images are composed in the viewfinder, the 19-point AF system is on hand, along with manual focusing. This AF system uses all cross-type points for greater sensitivity, and it's excellent, very fast and accurate.
In comparison with the Nikon D7100's 51-AF point system, however, 19 points doesn't seem that impressive, but the centre of the frame is well covered. In comparison with the coverage that you get with the average compact system camera, it seems rather poor, because the points are clustered around the centre. This means that off-centre subjects require the focus and recompose technique, which is a common issue with DSLRs.
Canon has one of the best automatic white balance systems around, and on the whole it does a good job of capturing pleasant-looking colours that reflect the conditions without overly correcting for any particular light source.

The images sometimes err on the side of warmth, but the results were generally very pleasant and better than cold, 100% accurate shots. That said, the Daylight white balance setting often produces slightly more pleasing results in early evening light or on bright sunny days.
In the Standard picture style the Canon 70D produces images with pleasantly saturated, natural colours. However, there's a trend towards more vibrant tones and stronger contrast these days, so some may prefer to boost the saturation and contrast in-camera using the available settings adjustments.
This can be done pre-capture in-camera or post-capture using the supplied Digital Photo Professional software. In addition, Picture Style Editor is supplied to enable Canon 70D users to create bespoke picture styles to use in their camera.

There are no surprises with the Canon 70D's 63-zone iFCL metering system. It generally performs well, but because of the weighting that it gives to the brightness of the subject and that the active AF point, it is prone to over- or under-exposing in high contrast conditions.
This can be a real problem when shooting sunlit landscapes, because you need to be very careful about where you set the AF point. If it's positioned over a patch of pale grass in full sun, the chances are that the rest of the image will be underexposed, whereas positioning the active AF point over a shadow area will result in the majority of the image being over-exposed.
Many of the enthusiasts who make up the target market for the Canon 70D will be experienced enough to know how to deal with such an issue. But less experienced photographers may fall foul of the metering system. One way around the problem is to shoot in manual exposure mode, taking a spot meter reading (Partial, Spot and Centre weighted metering are available, in addition to Evaluative) from a mid-tone.

Our tests show that the Canon 70D is capable of capturing plenty of detail. However, even at the lowest sensitivity settings there's a clear benefit to shooting raw files, since out of focus areas in JPEGs sometimes have a slightly watercolour appearance at 100% on-screen. In comparison, raw files look more natural.
Even images taken at ISO 100 have a slight texture visible at 100%, but chroma noise (coloured speckling) isn't a major issue throughout the native sensitivity range (ISO 100-12,800). As usual, however, in-camera noise reduction takes its toll on detail as sensitivity rises.
Raw files converted to TIFFs using the default settings in Digital Photo Professional look a little better than the JPEG files captured simultaneously, but we think it's best to turn down the noise reduction a little as the raw files are processed, to reveal a bit more detail.
That said, there's an impressive amount of detail visible in images captured at ISO 12,800, and although there's a fine-grained texture visible when images are sized to make A4 prints, it isn't objectionable. If light levels permit, however, we'd recommend keeping below ISO 6400 where possible.

Operation and controls

Top of camera controls (right)

The EOS 70D's right hand top-plate has almost exactly the same control layout as the 60D, the sole addition being the AF area expansion button between the front dial and shutter release. The front dial changes the primary exposure parameter for the selected mode: program shift in P, aperture in Av, and shutter speed in Tv and M. Behind it is a strip of buttons giving direct access to autofocus and drive modes, metering pattern and ISO (the latter being markedly better-placed for operation with the camera to your eye than the Nikon D7100's), along with one that illuminates the top-plate LCD.
Three buttons are placed on the camera's shoulder for operation by your thumb. The AF-ON button activates the camera's autofocus, and the 'Star' button next to it is a customisable autoexposure lock. Beside it is the AF point selector - press this and you can move the focus point around using either the front and rear dials, or the directional pad inside the rear dial. The latter two buttons are also used for playback magnification.

Top of camera controls (left)

On the other side of the pentaprism you'll find the power switch and mode dial. This has the familiar four exposure modes - Program, Aperture priority, Shutter Priority and Manual - plus Bulb shutter mode and a single user-definable Custom position. There's also 'Auto+', 'Flash off' and 'Creative Auto' modes, the latter offering results-orientated creative control, along with a SCN position that consolidates Canon's long-running scene modes (sport, landscape etc.) in one place. The mode dial rotates freely though 360 degrees, with no end-stops.
Below these, there are two buttons to access the camera's menus and change the amount of information displayed on the rear screen.

Rear Controls

The rest of the 70D's major shooting controls are on the back, mainly arranged for operation by your right thumb. The combined live view / movie mode controller is beside the viewfinder; with the switch in the stills position, pressing the central button engages and disengages live view. Flick the switch into the movie position and the camera enters movie live view with a 16:9 preview display. The Start/Stop button then starts and stops recording.

The Q button brings up an interactive control screen while shooting, allowing you to change camera parameters that can't necessarily be accessed directly through external buttons. It also brings overlaid option menus in Live View and Playback modes, offering rapid access to features such as in-camera Raw conversion. The playback button is immediately below, with the delete key towards the bottom of the camera.
The rear dial is used to change exposure compensation in P, Av and Tv modes, and change the aperture in M. Set within it is an 8-way controller that's used for such things as changing the focus point, navigating menus and scrolling around images in playback. The rear dial can be locked against accidental settings changes using the switch that's beneath it.

Front of camera controls

	The flash activation button is conventionally placed on the side of the lens throat, and activates a motorised (as opposed to mechanical) release.
	The depth of field preview button is on the handgrip side of the lens throat, and designed to be operated by your left hand. It can be customized to access a number of different functions. We're not huge fans of this position to be honest - it can be awkward to reach when shooting in portrait format, or with the camera on a tripod.

Wi-Fi connectivity

The Canon EOS 70D becomes the latest of the company's cameras to include Wi-Fi capability. It's still an unusual feature to find built into a DSLR, but one we think will be increasingly widely used. 802.11b/g/n standards and, according to Canon, has a transmission range of up to 30m/98.4 ft. Be aware that movie mode is disabled when Wi-Fi is active and any physical connection to a computer or printer will be broken.

The full list of features offers is as follows:

Transfer images between Wi-Fi enabled Canon cameras
Connect to smartphone or tablet (via EOS Remote)
Remote control from PC (via EOS Utility)
Print from Wi-Fi enabled printer
Upload to web service (e.g. Canon iMage Gateway)
View images on DNLA-enabled devices (e.g. TVs)

	With Wi-Fi enabled on the EOS 70D, you can transfer images to a compatible Canon camera, send them to a Wi-Fi enabled printer or media player or upload them to the Canon iMage Gateway web service (free registration required) which provides 10GB of online media storage and sharing options for social media. You can also send 1920 x 1280px images to a smartphone or tablet.

Although we'll mainly concentrate on connecting the EOS 70D to a smart device, it's also possible to use Wi-Fi to connect the camera to a PC and control it using Canon's EOS Utility. This means it's also possible to use a 'tethered' connection to other software that can connect via these means, such as Adobe's Lightroom.

The camera can save up to three presets for the connections you regularly make - with the aim of making re-connection faster.

EOS Remote (Android/iOS)

One of the main uses we find for in-camera Wi-Fi is the ability to get images off the camera, either for showing to other people or sharing on the internet, while away from a computer. Whether it's demonstrating an image to its subject or providing them with a JPEG, or simply documenting a weekend away on a social network, it can be a convenient feature.

The Canon implementation is comprehensive but also overly complicated. For instance, rather than just allowing a smartphone to connect to the camera, it's also possible to connect the 70D to a smartphone by connecting both devices via a common Wi-Fi network (The snappily named 'infrastructure' mode). And it's here that the connection presets both help and hinder - while they make it easier to re-establish connections if you're regularly using multiple connection methods, the need to constantly define a preset every time you make a new connection is slow and frustrating.

You can speed things up a little by adding the Wi-Fi option to the custom 'My Menu' tab, but that's not a huge improvement. Ultimately you can tell a lot about how capable and how complex the EOS 70D's Wi-Fi is by the fact the company produces a 174-page pdf detailing all its features (there's also a 36-page 'Basic Instruction Manual' that explains the key points).

Once connected, the EOS Remote app gives you the choice of either browsing the images on the camera or remotely controlling its shooting.

Remote shooting

The remote shooting section of the app gives a reasonable degree of control over the camera. You can set the camera's focus point and get it to focus. By default the app is set to focus and trigger the shutter at the same time, but there's a menu option to add an AF acquire button to the interface (the smaller circular 'button' in these screen shots).

You're able to control ISO, exposure compensation and whichever primary shooting parameters are available from the exposure mode the camera is set to.

	The basic screen shows the focus point and some basic shooting settings. Pressing the 'Info' button at the top of the screen cycles through the levels of shooting details shown. The smaller of the two circular buttons on the right is optional and performs a focus acquisition.
	Pressing the square 'sliders' button on the right of the window brings up icons for the major shooting parameters that can be controlled from the app.
	For instance, here we've selected the ISO option, allowing the sensitivity to be controlled (or set to Auto). Once a value has been selected, you have to press the 'return' arrow on the right, taking you back to the main preview screen. To change another setting, you have to re-press the 'sliders' button.

Once you've shot an image, a thumbnail of it appears in the lower right of the screen. Tapping on this shows a strip of images along the bottom of the screen. From here it's possible to perform a simple review of images, including the ability to zoom-in. There's no way of transfering from this image review mode to the full image review mode covered below.

	Tapping on the thumbnail that appears at the bottom right after you shoot an image opens a filmstrip along the bottom of the screen. Tapping on one of these thumbnails then allows you to review the images you've shot.
	It's possible to zoom into these images by the usual two-fingertip pinch and spread touchscreen method.

Image review and transfer

All images and video on the SD card can be reviewed using the EOS Remote app. It supports familiar smartphone gestures such as pinching, swiping and double-tapping to browse through images.

When reviewing images you can display an overlay with filename, capture date and exposure settings.	You can also rate images with 1-5 stars (as you can through the camera's menu) that can be read by Canon's Digital Photo Professional software.

From the image review section of the app you can rate images stored on the SD card and email or save 1920 x 1280 S2 JPEG versions to your device's image gallery. These are handy, but not useful for critical image analysis since you can't get an accurate idea of focus accuracy from such small files.

Transferring full resolution JPEG images to the web is possible, but only from the camera itself. To do that you must first use Canon's EOS Utility software (supplied with the 70D) to configure a compatible web service like Canon's iMage Gateway, Facebook or Twitter with the 70D connected to a computer via USB. Once configured, you can then upload single or multiple images via Wi-Fi at either full size, S2 or S3 resolution settings.

Image quality
The image quality didn't change noticeably between my preproduction tests and my final tests, but my opinion has. It's...fine. Not outstanding for the money, but not bad, either. However, it's simply not as good as the Nikon D7100. Yes, it's still an advance over the 60D, but not enormously -- I don't think you even gain a full stop of usability, and any advantages seem to stem from the slight increase in resolution. It's a bit better than the Rebel T5i across the entire sensitivity range, though you really have to scrutinize them. (The T5i looks better starting at ISO 1600, but that seems to be because the T5i meters a third of a stop brighter).