Canon Unveils the G1X: A Large Sensor Compact Answer to the Mirrorless Craze

Unlike Nikon, which jumped headfirst into the interchangeable lens mirrorless game last year, Canon appears to be content with simply upping the sensor size in its existing compact cameras. Today the company announces the G1X, a new camera into the G-series line that offers a sensor large enough to compete with existing mirrorless camera systems.

If you thought the image quality offered by Canon G cameras was good, get this: the G1X has a 1.5-inch sensor that’s 6 times larger than the one in the G12:

The 14.3 megapixel (CMOS) camera features a 28mm lens (4x optical zoom) that opens up to f/2.8, manual controls, 6fps, ISO 12800, RAW capture, a 3-inch swiveling LCD screen, and 1080p HD video recording. Here’s a quick video intro:

The G1X will hit store shelves in February for $800.