BenQ G1 Review

BenQ G1 is the world's slimmest DSC with a large F1.8 aperture lens and a 3-inch swivel screen. It's also equipped with advanced control modes (P/AV/TV/M) and several funny functions, such as Lomo, Fisheye, Toy, HDR, etc. Let me demonstrate how to apply those modes and functions to take good pictures .


Use P mode to get more parameters
P mode is an advanced auto mode with more shooting parameters (functions) to set. It is suited for most shooting topics, such as landscape, portrait and night scene. For example, if you don't like the color tone of a picture done by auto mode, you can switch to P mode, press Fn button and set the color tone to black-and-white or vivid so as to change the colors of a picture.
P mode.

Black-and-White tone.P mode.
Vivid tone.
Use AV mode to control depth-of-field
To use AV mode, you set an aperture first to control the depth-of-field of a picture, and the camera will set a proper shutter speed for you. In order to get a shallow depth-of-field (blurry background), set a smaller f-number combined with a tele zoom and get closer to the subject. Take the following picture for example. In order to blur the bottles at the background, I set the aperture to F3.6 combined with 72mm (35mm format equivalent) and shot the picture within 20cm.
AV mode, F1.8, 1/28s, ISO100, AWB.

 Av mode, F5.3, 1/236s, +0.7EV, 60mm ISO100, AWB.

By the way, when handholding a G1 and shooting in a museum with dim lights, you can use a larger aperture (F1.8) and low ISO value to get a safety shutter speed (around 1/15-1/30s) so as to get a sharp picture with low noise.

AV mode, F1.8, 1/28s, ISO100, AWB.
Shot a decent night scene without a tripod
Is it possible to shot a beautiful picture of night scene without a tripod? Yes, it’s possible. G1 has a handheld-night-shot mode designed specifically for shooting night scene. Just turn to the mode, handhold G1 steadily, press the shutter and G1 has the ability of giving you a sharp night scene picture. However, the quality won’t be good enough when the night is very dark. Because, to prevent handshake, G1 usually uses a high ISO value combined with a larger aperture so as to offer a quick enough shutter speed.

Handheld-night-shot mode.
Use filters to get interesting pictures
G1 offers 5 filters including Magic Q, Oil Painting, HDR Art, Color Accent and Sketch. You can diversify a picture with one of the filters to create a special effect.
For example, MagiQ filter allows you to turn a picture into a painting. Firsty, set the mode dial to filter and select MagiQ filter. Secondly, press the shutter button and, after about 10 seconds, G1 will transform an ordinary view into a beautiful painting. The consequent pictures are shot with other filters


MagiQ filter.

MagiQ filter.


Color accent (Red).

Color accent (Blue).
Color accent (Orange).


Oil Painting filter.Apply Scene types to diversify your pictures
G1 offers 20 Scene types to choose from, including Lomo, Toy, Landscape, Backlight, Beauty enhancer, HDR, etc. Users can select a scene type optimized for a specific shooting condition. For instance, when shooting a high contrast scene, select HDR.

HDR has the function of keeping the bright areas from over-exposure and the dark areas from under-exposure. In other words, it has the function of balancing the exposure of the bright and dark areas.
Let’s take a look at the picture #1 and #2. The former is shot with P mode, and the latter is shot with HDR. It is easy to distinguish that the dark areas of picture #2 is brighter than that of picture #1.


Picture #1. P mode.
Picture #2. HDR scene type.Fisheye gives a fisheye lens effect by distorting the picture, making it funnier to see.

Fisheye scene type.
Toy simulates a shallow depth of field by gradually blurring both sides of a picture. In doing so, the subjects in the center of the image become sharper and look like toys.


Toy scene type.
LOMO darkens the corners of the frame and adds over-saturated colors to the images, which creates lomo-camera like effect and lets the subjects stand out of a picture.

LOMO scene type.