BenQ GH700 Review

Toward the end of 2011, BenQ launched the GH700 equipped with a 21x optical zoom lens, HDR, hand-held night shot mode and 1cm super macro. These functions were designed to expand photo opportunities and capture precious moments, both day and night (幫BenQ寫的測試文,準備放在英文官網,先在此分享一下).


Sunset of Donggang.

21x optical zoom

he lens of the GH700 has a focal length of 25-525mm (35mm equivalent) that allows you to shoot landscapes with a 25mm wide angle lens, and further away objects with a 525mm tele end. During the Chinese Lunar New Year (2012), I stayed with my wife’s family in Donggang and shot a lot of landscapes with the GH700, which provided me with superb flexibility in composition.

Donggang fishing port.

For example, I shot the following 2 pictures at the same spot. The first one was shot with a 25mm lens to get a wide angle view of the fishing port. I shot the second picture with a 525mm lens in order to zoom in on a small area within the first picture. Even though the scene of second picture was located far away, I didn’t have to move around or forward to get the shot.


GH700，25mm wide angle.

GH700，525mm tele angle.

How do you take excellent landscape photos? First of all, you have to get up early. In the morning, the air is clean and clear, and the lighting is soft, so it’s easier to shoot high-saturated and colorful pictures.

Second, use the landscape mode or program mode. The latter is smart enough to take good pictures on a sunny day. It offers several parameters, such as white balance, exposure compensation and metering mode.


GH 700, P mode.

Finally, set the O.I.S. to ON, especially when shooting with the tele angle. The O.I.S. is a vibration-reducing function that reduces shaking caused by your hands. The O.I.S. is preset to ON. Set it to OFF only if you use a tripod.


GH 700, M mode.

1cm super macro

When the lens is set at 25mm, the GH700 is capable of taking 1cm macro shots with incredible detail. However, in order to get a blurry background, I shot the flowers with a 50-100mm focal length and kept about 10cm away from the flowers and bees. With this combination, I could still get close enough to the bees gathering honey from the flowers. In order to shoot excellent close-up pictures, I went to a garden in the early morning, when the sunshine and wind were soft. At that time, bees were busy gathering honey from the flowers. By the way, thanks to the O.I.S., I took a lot of sharp close-up pictures.


GH 700, P mode, Macro.


GH 700, P mode, Macro.

Handheld Night Shot Mode

When shooting in dim environments or poorly lit subjects, you don’t need a tripod. I am not kidding! All you have to do is use the GH700’s handheld night shot mode and press the shutter button. The camera will take several exposures automatically and combine them into one single photo.

I tested the handheld night shot mode at twilight, around 18:00. The streetlights were on, and the sky was getting dark. It was the best time to shoot a night scene. If you carry a tripod with you, use it. If you don’t have one, set your GH700 to handheld night shot mode, press the shutter button, and let the camera do the rest. Even though the picture was shot with a high ISO, the GH700 has the ability to lower the noise level and brought out a clear and sharp picture.

GH700,Handheld Night Shot Mode.

HDR

When shooting a scene with high contrast, what should you do? You might have asked this same question before. Switch the exposure mode to HDR. The following 2 pictures were shot with the P and HDR mode, respectively. The picture shot with the P mode lost detail in the dark area. Therefore, I changed the exposure mode to HDR, and shot the second picture that clearly revealed boats reflected on the water.


GH 700, P mode.


GH 700, HDR mode.

HDR is designed to solve high-contrast lighting situations, utilizing the exposure bracketing technique to take three photos with different exposures and combine them to create an image with detail on both the bright and dark areas.


Portraits

So far, the GH700 has done a great job in shooting landscapes, close-ups and night scenes. What else can it do? The answer is portraits. The GH700 has a built-in flash that allows me to light up a model’s face when the weather is bad or when a model poses against backlighting.


GH 700, M mode, Flash on.


Sunset of Chiayi.



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