Canon G7X

[Goody13]

I haven't seen a specific thread on this camera, so thought I would start one. I have been looking at getting one of these to complement my Canon 450D as an easy-to-carry pocketable camera. I had initially been considering the Sony RX100iii, but then the Canon popped up.

Over the past week or so I have spent far too much time reading reviews and comparisons and I fear I have now muddied the waters. I was set on the Sony RX100iii with its wide aperture and good all-round quality. Then I saw that the Canon had a longer zoom with the lens being faster than the Sony at almost all focal lengths.

The Sony appears to have better video capabilities, although that is not a deal-breaker for me; I am more a stills person. I am a raw shooter and the Canon seems a bit slow at 1.2fps, but then I don't tend to machine gun shots, so that probably wouldn't be an issue either. I also use DPP to process raw files as I do not have Lightroom. I am not sure what Software Sony provide or whether it is as good as DPP. I don't do much with the photos. Just trim, adjust the white balance as required, highlights, shadows and sharpness.

I had a look at both cameras in a shop at the weekend and was drawn towards the Canon, particularly liking the touch screen focussing and touch screen focus and shoot options. It also seemed to focus really quickly and the time from turning on to getting a shot seemed really quick. At that stage I was ready to go for the Canon but decided to read a bit more. Big mistake!

The downside is that on some comparison review sites they say the Canon still lags behind the Sony.

What I want is a camera I can carry to get good shots of my young daughter without the bulk of the DSLR. I suppose that what I am asking is whether anyone with experience of a G7X has found it lacking in anything they would like that the Sony would appear to do better.

I was watching this video review

but is the Sony really that much better? They aren't very complimentary about the Canon. The conclusion on DP Review also indicates the Canon is not as good as the Sony, but the Sony review on DP Review was done before the Canon came out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-g7-x/12

Any thoughts from anyone with real-life experience of the G7X, rather than all the lab testing? How do you find working with the LCD screen in bright light, as the Sony has an EVF which could prove useful, although I think the longer focal length of the Canon would suit me better.

Decisions decisions!

 

[tdodd]

I've had one for a few weeks and I find it a bit of a disappointment. This is not due to IQ, which is no better or worse than I expected, but because as with any compact camera it is such a tedious and slow process to reconfigure it for different shooting situations. I like to shoot raw rather than JPEG, but if you want the benefit of all the automated bells and whistles you have to settle for JPEG. Fumbling to adjust exposure parameters as well as AF mode and drive mode are a chore I struggle to bother with. Things that fall so easily to hand with any of my DSLRs become a complex search through menus to hunt options down and the controls (e.g. the ring round the lens) don't seem to do what I expect, depending on the mode I'm in. I just find the DSLR so much easier to use and adjust. The G7X just frustrates me. And I do miss having a viewfinder. Waggling a camera around at arm's length is really unnatural and not a great way to take photos.

With that said I did win a contest with mine at the first attempt - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1406464

In fairness, I think the criticisms above would probably apply to pretty much any compact camera. I just don't really like them from an ergonomic standpoint. At least the IQ from the G7X is better than most.

 

[Goody13]

Thanks. Nice pic, and well done for winning. Doesn't sound the best experience to use the camera though, but would the Sony be any easier? I must admit, it seems to be viewfinder vs longer zoom between the two, but if the Canon is too faffy, then that points me to the Sony.

 

[tdodd]

I have no experience of the Sony, but it was on my shortlist of two for a high quality pocket sized compact. I was swayed towards Canon as a Canon shooter since 2006, the longer, brighter zoom and the dedicated EC dial. The only plus to the Sony, for me, was the viewfinder, but not enough to outweigh the perceived benefits of the Canon.

I'm not sure the ergonomics would be better on the Sony. No touch screen and no EC dial seem like weak points to me. I imagine it would be even more tiresome to reposition the AF point, for example, but whether you could use face detection AF, or auto switch between one shot, continuous and FD and also shoot raw I do not know.

 

[Goody13]

Thanks for your comments. Image quality and portability are my main concerns, so I think I could/would have to learn to live with any general faffiness.