Threshers in Malapascua with Canon V1

Hi divers,

I’ve changed my camera from RX100 to Canon V1 since April, mainly because no lights or strobes are allowed in Malapascua and the diving depth, because Canon always has the top manual white balance performance since G16. It turns out to be excellent even for clips shot below 20 meters which color restoration in Da Vinci is both easy and accurate.

It’s surprised that still so few discussions about this camera after all this model has been released for almost a year. Besides white balance ability, I also like that it can shoot 10-bit 4:2:2 and HDR PQ (I don’t like CLOG3 personally) which gives me more flexibility in post processing, compared to 8-bit recording in RX100 series.

I am satisfied with the overall IQ (can I use this term for video?), I found the background to be somewhat soft both in photos and videos especially during high ISO. I guess it’s mainly because the diving time is so early that the lighting intensity is somewhat hampered. The viz is OK though, usually between 15-20 meters.

Another thing I’m not comfortable with is that Canon V1 has a 1.4X crop when shooting in 4K 60P and the OIS stabilization is rather weak. A 1.4X crop makes it de facto a 1” sensor machine like Sony RX100 and to be honest I don’t find much difference in terms of image details between these two, both recorded in 4K.

I’m looking forward to seeing the updated versions for Canon V1 series, maybe with a native 24-70mm or 24-100mm lens or no crop in 4K 60P or IBIS. The native 16-50mm lens without wet lens performs rather weak around edges of pictures. I also heard the rumors of RX100M8 these days though I doubt Sony will shorten the lens range.