Canon G7 X - is it good for travellers?

Five years ago I went to India with DSLR. It was packed on a bike in a camera bag, so I lost many opportunities to take pictures.

This year I decided to buy a camera which:

1. I can put to the pocket,

2. costs about 500 $,

3. has wide ISO range,

4. has bright lens,

5. has good manual mode.

I chose Canon G7 X.

Examples you will find in gallery http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/5502648372/albums/canon-g7-x-test

Please note that as I wanted to simply take pictures and share them, I decided to shoot in JPGs.

My comments:

Lens is bright and it captures a lot of light.

Zoom range (24-100) is perfect for travels and image stabilisation is very helpful.

Some cameras are sealed, so you don't have to worry about weather conditions. This one is not. I decided I will not take pictures in rain, but I did not predicted that big piece of ash can get under the front lens so easily on sunny day. See example.

Auto White Balance works very well but sometimes it can surprise you a little bit. It changes very fast so if you decide to shoot in JPG, as I did, you can get pictures from the same place but showing different atmosphere.

Shadow Correction is nice tool, especially when you shoot in strong light conditions. What also helps is ND filter. In India, during sunny days, I couldn't take pictures without it.

Bokeh is really nice when your subject is close to you or you use zoom. On wide angle all the frame is almost same sharp everywhere.

Focus a little bit slow but good in good light conditions and is almost a disaster in low light! Important - I turned off focus assistant beam, because I did not want to attract the attention of my subject! With assistant beam turned on it is much better. I have to point out that I take a lot of pictures in low light conditions.

Highest ISO is 12800 but be careful! Noise reduction, when you shoot JPGs, is very hard and it is impossible to turn it off. You will see some examples in gallery. On ISO 800 it is OK, but the higher sensitivity the more details you loose. I couldn't check pictures on a big screen in India and now I regret I didn't shoot in JPG + RAW.

Battery live is poor! I bought second battery (Hanhel) and it saved me! 2 batteries for one day is minimum for a traveller. Fortunately charging time is short.

The M mode is convenient and intuitive. Changing aperture with lens ring will be a pleasure for those who shoot / shot film cameras. Unfortunately you can not change aperture and shutter time at the same time. When you scroll one ring, the second doesn't react I decided to use Exposure Compensation Ring for most time.

WiFi allows you to download pictures to you mobile phone within a seconds. Then you can share it easily. It is great!

What I like: dimensions, weight, bright lens, lens ring, exposure compensation ring, wide ISO range, colours, image stabilisation, zoom range, image quality on low ISO, WiFi.

What I don't like: a piece of ash inside my lens, high ISO image quality, noise reduction, battery life, focus speed and accuracy (low light!).

Conclusion:

I think Canon G7 X is good camera for traveller who needs light, small camera and will share pictures through the internet. It gives great results in good light conditions. In low light you can use 1,8 aperture and image stabilisation what is a big advantage. During very bright days ND filter helps a lot. Zoom range is the best in this category of cameras. And what is most important, it is value for money.

What you have to remember is that you will probably need second battery.

I am aware that not so many photographers like to shoot in low light, that is why I give 4 points in overall rating. Normally I would give 3,5.