Canon G7X Review

Canon PowerShot G7 X with 1″ sensor: premium compact camera with fast autofocus

With the PowerShot G7 X, Canon is the fifth manufacturer after Sony, Nikon, Panasonic and Samsung to use the 1″ sensor and install it in a premium compact camera with a powerful 4.2x zoom and folding touch screen. The 13.2 x 8.8 millimeter sensor has a resolution of 20 megapixels. The autofocus of the 24-100mm lens should focus within 0.14 seconds. The Canon also has a built-in WLAN module.

Short evaluation

Pros

• Powerful lens with maximum aperture from F1.8 to F2.8
• Foldable touch screen for precise focusing and fast camera operation
• Comprehensive WLAN and NFC function
• Fast series function, which also works very well with focus tracking
• Advanced features including manual mode

Cons

• From ISO 1.600 the image quality decreases
• No system shoe for external flash or viewfinder
• Smooth housing without significant support on the front side

 

The Canon PowerShot G7 X has an F1.8-2.8 fast 4.2x zoom, covering a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 24-100 millimetres. The 5-axis image stabilizer reduces camera shake. The Canon PowerShot G7 X has a large 1″ CMOS backlit sensor. [Photo: Canon]

The Canon PowerShot G7 X’s 13.2 x 8.8 mm 1″ transmitter resolves 20 megapixels and provides a maximum light sensitivity of ISO 12,800. The housing of the Canon PowerShot G7 X offers little support due to the lack of a pronounced handle on the front. [Photo: Canon]

On the back, the Canon PowerShot G7 X has a 7.5 centimetre touch screen that folds up 180 degrees for self-portraits. [Photo: Canon]

A direct key to connect to your smartphone speeds up the connection between the Canon PowerShot G7 X and your mobile device.

The built-in flash of the Canon PowerShot G7 X must be unfolded manually. The camera does not have a system shoe for external flash units or an electronic viewfinder.

Sony has made the 1″ sensor popular with its successful RX100 series, and it’s here that the Canon PowerShot G7 X takes its cue, as you can easily see. It features a stylishly designed metal housing without a handle and a strikingly visible lens, which also has a loudly clicking adjustment ring that snaps into place. At a luminous intensity of F1.8-2.8, it covers a focal length range of 24-100 millimetres equivalent to a small image. The optical design consists of eleven elements in nine groups, using many special glasses to improve the image quality. The iris diaphragm has nine diaphragms, which creates an almost circular opening for a pleasant bokeh. An optical 5-axis image stabilizer is also built in to compensate for camera shake of up to 3 EV longer exposure times than normally possible. Quickly the G7 X wants to be on top of it: According to Canon, the 31-point autofocus focuses within 0.14 seconds, the continuous shooting rate reaches 6.5 frames per second for 700 photos at a time. This is made possible thanks to the fast DIGIC 6 image processor.

Although Canon has integrated a flash into the compact housing, there is no flash shoe or even an electronic viewfinder or a corresponding connection option. The touchscreen, which can be simply folded upwards, appears somewhat unimaginative, but is suitable for ground level shots and self-portraits. The 7.5 centimetre screen has a resolution of 1.04 million pixels, is touch-sensitive and therefore offers a touch AF function. From a total of 58 motif programs, the PowerShot can automatically select the appropriate one, but it can also be controlled semi-automatically or manually. For example, the sensor offers a maximum sensitivity of ISO 12,800. The program is set via a program selector wheel, directly below which is an exposure compensation wheel.

The G7 X records videos in full HD resolution at up to 60 frames per second (optionally 30 frames per second), with manual exposure control if desired. Thanks to WLAN and NFC, the PowerShot can share images with mobile devices or upload them to Canon’s cloud service. In addition, the G7 X can be remote controlled via WLAN with the corresponding app.

The G7 X is Canon’s flagship model in the compact camera class G1 X Mark II, a model that cannot keep up with its big sister in all respects, but also outperforms it in many areas. These include a faster lens, a touch-sensitive screen, a very high resolution of 20.2 megapixels, a faster continuous shooting rate and a higher frame rate for video recordings. This makes it a very interesting camera for the ambitious amateur photographer. Whether the smaller sensor and a missing system shoe actually have a negative impact on the G7 X and what it does in practice, the editors’ test shows.

Processing and ergonomics

The G7 X, with its dimensions of 103 x 60 millimetres, looks very compact from the front. The depth of 40 millimeters and their combat weight of 300 grams relativize this picture somewhat and make it unsuitable for the shirt chest pocket. In jackets and handbags, on the other hand, it can be stored at any time. The workmanship of the case is very high-quality, but a clearly pronounced handle is missing. Except for a well worked out thumb rest on the back of the camera, the G7 X is not very handy. Nor was it enough for a system shoe, the use of an external flash or an electronic viewfinder is ruled out. The built-in flash, which jumps quite high out of the case, has to be flipped out manually using the switch on the left side. Despite its dainty-looking fastening, the little one makes a robust impression. In general, Canon took care to make all control elements rather difficult to move, so that nothing moves by itself. With the mode dial, however, this is sometimes counterproductive. If one tries to adjust the correct program in a hurry, the selector wheel underneath can also be adjusted for exposure correction. However, the ergonomic handling of the bike has proved its worth.

The back of the G7 X is dominated by the 7.5-centimeter touchscreen, which resolves fine 1.04 million pixels. The touch-sensitive surface facilitates precise focusing and accelerates operation. It’s a pity that the monitor can only be folded upwards by 180 degrees. This makes it ideal for ground level and self-portrait shots, and for overhead shots you look into the tube. Even a side flap would have been nice. The other controls on the back are classic: there is a button for video recording, a button for the lens ring function, which can also be used for deleting, a playback button and a button for the menu. The button for the short menu is embedded in a four-way toggle switch surrounded by a rotary knob. With this, the individually assignable lens ring and the touch function, the G7 X can be operated quickly and easily in any situation. The plastic cover that hides the connectors is not worthy of a G7 X. The cover for the battery and memory card already looks more solid. Unfortunately, the tripod thread is located directly beside the optical axis, so that the camera has to be removed from the tripod plate to change the battery and memory cards. And with around 210 shots, the battery doesn’t last as long as you’d want it to for an upscale camera.

If you use the purely manual photo mode, you will get your adjustment result quite quickly thanks to the lens wheel (which, however, snaps almost disturbingly loudly) and the knurled wheel on the back. This is not a matter of course for compact cameras, which are usually sparsely equipped with rotating wheels. It is also not always possible to set up the camera according to your own wishes and to configure control elements according to your own needs. Depending on the selected recording program, the G7 X offers many possibilities. If you prefer to set the time on the rear rotary knob instead of the standard front aperture control, you can reassign the function and, for example, set the automatic shadow correction, ISO or the aspect ratio to the control wheel. Under C like Custom, the G7 X offers its own mode on the program selector wheel, which can be programmed by the photographer as needed. The display or the layout of the short menu can also be redesigned if desired. The G7 X is actually easy and intuitive to use, but for these options a more detailed study of the manual is recommended.

Equipment

Following its reputation as an elegant compact camera, the G7 X offers a lot of features. Despite its high standard, it is also simply suitable for taking pictures. The Auto program distinguishes between 58 shooting situations and is a reliable bank for photographers who are more lazy about settings. For the documentation of a photo day, the G7 X offers the hybrid car mode, which records a two to four second video clip before each picture and summarizes it in a video diary. The Creative Recording mode offers additional gimmicks. The effects can be adjusted via the lens ring. The camera then takes six shots with different levels of the desired effect and different image sections. Of course, the G7 X also offers a mode for classic shooting scenes, including portrait, night scene without tripod and starry sky. With a total of seven scene programs, the selection is limited, but the individual programs often offer many setting options, such as the face mode. With blink and smile recognition as well as triggering with an additionally appearing face self-portraits or group shots with photographer can be made thereby well.

The starry sky motive program will delight astro fans. Here you can not only make portraits of starry skies and star images with and without motion tracks, but also create movies of star movements. The HDR mode has its own place on the dial. It has to be said, however, that the intelligent automatic system often handles high-contrast motive situations just as well or even better.

If this cornucopia of possibilities does not offer enough control, the automatic program, the semi-automatic aperture and time preselection and the manual mode are recommended. The G7 X already offers numerous additional setting options in the program automatic mode, starting with exposure storage, setting the ISO upper limit and linking exposure spot metering and AF frame. There are also numerous options available for white balance, including manual configuration.

Thanks to the DIGIC 6 image processor and fast autofocus, Canon was able to increase the G7 X’s continuous shooting rate to 6.5 frames per second, at least on paper. But even in practice, the camera gallops off and keeps up its speed for over a minute under ideal shooting conditions. Canon has saved various speed variants, the G7 X simply offers series and series with autofocus. If the camera focuses during shooting, the G7 X still manages 4.4 frames per second and the focus tracking is usually without error and blame. If the raw mode is used, the series speed slows down to about one frame per second. But even here the camera maintains the speed and does not break in after a few seconds. This performance makes the G7 X an excellent snapshot camera, and you can also rely on it for sporting events, playing children, running dogs or similar situations.

The flash can be used during continuous shooting, but of course it slows down the speed. For demanding photographers it may be a shortcoming that Canon has saved the flash shoe. The small built-in flash with its guide number of 5.2 cannot compete with larger external devices. However, there is no lack of adjustment options: the Mini masters long-term synchronisation and triggering on the first or second shutter curtain. Flash exposure can be set and stored in three levels in manual mode and semi-automatic mode.

The G7 X records video films in full HD resolution at either 60 or 30 frames per second. The fast lens also works well when filming. The viewfinder image is bright and clear even in dark environments, and the movies look good in adverse conditions. If you like to set your own conditions when filming, you can specify the aperture, shutter and ISO. This is particularly easy to do via the touchscreen by touching the respective values and then the arrow symbols to change the settings. This also applies to the exposure memory: simply touch the star on the display and the value is saved. Focus tracking functions safely and reliably, as with series shooting, without annoying pumping. Clips can already be edited in the camera.

Using the WLAN function, the G7 X communicates with a smartphone, tablet, PC, compatible printer or camera or uploads images to the network via the Canon Image Gateway. Images can also be transmitted to a smartphone via NFC (Near Field Communication). Image transmission, whether WLAN or NFC, to smartphone, tablet or a compatible camera or printer is quite simple and can be done without much effort. If passwords have to be typed, the touch display facilitates this process. The connection to the smartphone or PC can be saved on the quick connect button. With the corresponding Canon Camera Window app, images can be stored on a mobile device, location information can be transferred to the image data and the camera can be triggered remotely. You can use the zoom, the flash, and the self-timer. There are no more options. If you want to send pictures to your PC, you first have to download the corresponding Canon software from the homepage. Registration with the Image Gateway is also unavoidable if you want to use other web services such as Facebook or Flickr. Despite these limitations, the G7 X for a Canon compact camera offers many possibilities to use the WLAN function.

Lens

The G7 X’s 4.2x zoom lens, with a focal length range between 24 and 100 millimeters, is suitable for everyday use, but compared to many a superzoomer, it is almost modest up to 700 millimeters or more. Anything but that is the maximum aperture, which varies between F1.8 and F2.8 over the entire zoom range. Due to the much smaller sensor, these values are not comparable to a full-frame camera in terms of depth of field, but the G7 X can still achieve nice sharpness and blur effects and also conjure up portraits with sufficient bokeh. For extremely bright lighting situations, the G7 X offers a pre-connectable grey filter. She masters diffuse light situations brilliantly and the flash has to be switched on very late. The five-axis image stabilizer (Dynamic IS) supports the camera and also ensures smooth filming. The optical image stabilizer works via lens shift. At full telephoto power, the lens extends about 3.8 centimeters out of the housing (measured from the adjustment ring). It traverses the entire zoom range in about 1.6 seconds.

The tripod thread of the Canon PowerShot G7 X is located off the optical axis. If the camera is mounted on a tripod, the lid of the battery and memory card compartment cannot be opened.

 

For exposure correction, the Canon PowerShot G7 X has its own selector wheel, which is located under the program selector wheel.

The battery of the Canon PowerShot G7 X is a bit weak on the chest with only 210 shots in average mode.

The camera sets the focus point using 31 autofocus fields. You can choose between 1-point AF and face AF. The size of the frame can be set between normal and small. The easiest and most precise way to control sharpness is via touch AF. The selected field can be moved using the arrow keys or the rotary knob on the back, whereby the arrow keys allow finer jumps. Of course, the G7 X can also be manually focused, supported by Safety MF. Adjusting the sharpness via the distance scale and the arrow keys is a bit cumbersome compared to the Touch AF, which also does a good job with macro shots. The fine screen resolution of one million pixels makes it possible to assess the focus situation before the shutter is released. A focus loupe and MF peaking help to determine the exact focus range. At the autofocus speed, the G7 X is relatively far ahead. With 0.26 seconds at 24 millimetres and 0.3 seconds at 100 millimetres, it is fast on the move.

Picture quality

Following the trend of other manufacturers, Canon has opted for a one-inch sensor for the G7 X. This is smaller than the G1 X Mark II, but can still be considered “big” compared to the sensors of many other compact cameras. The expectations of the dissolution performance are corresponding.

The measured values initially confirm sensational values for the camera. Up to aperture F5.6, more than 50 line pairs per millimeter are always measured in the center of the image – a value equal to that of SLR cameras. Even with closed apertures, the G7 X still achieves over 40 line pairs. That the lens performance has a price without significant distortion, edge darkening and loss of sharpness in the open apertures can be seen by looking at the resolution performance at the edge. At 24 millimeters, it is around 40 percent below the value of the center of the image. The result is better from 49 millimetres and with aperture F8 and F11. A look at the artefacts shows that at least the center of the picture was sharpened in the wide-angle area with the open apertures. They oscillate between 15 and 20 percent, so they are not exorbitantly high, but still recognizable in larger printouts. With f-stops 8 and 11, the artifacts are negligible.

Theoretically the G7 X can be used up to ISO 12.800. From ISO 800, however, disturbing noise signals superimpose the image signals and fine image details begin to become soft and unclear. From ISO 3.200 the image result can be described as too soft and unusable. In terms of texture sharpness, the G7 X also plunges from ISO 800 into the visible blur range, which is still tolerable up to ISO 1,600, but above that cannot be classified as recommendable. The grain size is in the lower fine-grained range and becomes somewhat coarser from ISO 3,200. The curve of the luminance or brightness noise also indicates that the G7 X has problems from ISO 1,600. Color noise, on the other hand, remains under control throughout the ISO range. The ISO 1.600 limit reappears at the input dynamics. Until then, the G7 X can handle an outstanding ten or more f-stops of subject contrast, after which the performance drops. The tonal value transfer takes place in the Canon-typical way as a quite divided curve, which stands for a crisp and high-contrast reproduction. If you don’t like to have the result dictated in this way, you can switch to the raw format at any time. Also typical of Canon, the G7 X likes to shift colors into the somewhat reddish-orange range, but the overall color rendering is in an acceptable range. If one takes a look at the number of brightness levels that the camera can differentiate, the impression already created is confirmed. Up to ISO 800, the G7 X delivers an excellent result, up to ISO 1,600 it is tolerable and then quickly sinks into the unusable.

Conclusion

The G7 X deserves its reputation as an ultra-compact camera. It is an excellent fast snapshot camera, which can be used also times only for snapshots. It offers more demanding photographers all the necessary manual adjustment options and can be individually configured. Their equipment is correspondingly high and actually only lacks a panorama program. In terms of image quality, the G7 X up to ISO 800 is convincing all along the line. You can still use them up to ISO 1.600, above that the result becomes too soft and details are missing. A particularly positive feature is the fast lens, which makes flash use necessary only very late and allows a wonderful sharpness/unsharpness play. With WLAN and NFC, the G7 X shares its images with various other devices.