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Despite a few gripes, a great pocket cam for the money

Started Mar 20, 2016 | User reviews thread
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pacnwhobbyist Contributing Member • Posts: 789
Despite a few gripes, a great pocket cam for the money
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While I like the G7X better overall for its control layout, the G9X is a great camera for the price and an excellent upgrade option for people using the Powershot S120.

IMAGE QUALITY: I find nothing to complain about regarding lens sharpness, detail capture, or ISO performance on this camera. It does those very well, about as good as the G7X in all areas. One minor issue about the image quality though, I find the Auto White Balance produces results that are too warm in daylight conditions. But that may be a personal preference. That can be fixed easily within the White Balance settings though.

PERFORMANCE: AF speed is generally good, maybe ever so slightly faster than the G7X but I would not trust this camera to shoot action. The touch screen works well as always. Despite having only one control dial, I find changing the settings in manual mode using the touch screen to be a snap. Battery life is just okay, but I'm willing to forgive the small battery because the camera itself is so small. It uses the same battery as the G7X and G5X. Image stabilization is rock solid just like other Canons.

ERGONOMICS/LAYOUT: The camera is comfortable to shoot with. It has a nice thumbrest on the back with a textured raised surface on the front that helps give it a secure grip in the hand. I do have some gripes about the button layout, mainly there is no direct access button to delete photos and also the playback button being on top of the camera, which is weird. Once you get used to it though, it's not a big deal.

VIDEO: Haven't dabbled much into it, but from the short clips I've taken with it, the quality looks pretty good...again, about the same as the G7X.

Overall, I'm fairly impressed with what this camera can do given its price tag. It competes very well with Sony RX100 models in its price class on all fronts (if you're on the fence between this and the original RX100 model, this beats the original RX100 hands down). Very high recommended for those who want something significantly better than their cell phone but don't want to spend over $500.

 pacnwhobbyist's gear list:pacnwhobbyist's gear list
Canon G7 X III
Canon PowerShot G9 X
20 megapixels • 3 screen • 28 – 84 mm (3×)
Announced: Oct 13, 2015
pacnwhobbyist's score
4.5
Average community score
4.1
bad for good for
Kids / pets
okay
Action / sports
weak
Landscapes / scenery
excellent
Portraits
excellent
Low light (without flash)
good
Flash photography (social)
excellent
Studio / still life
excellent
= community average
Canon G9 X Canon PowerShot G5 X Canon PowerShot G7 X Canon PowerShot S120 Sony RX100
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