EOS M10 and Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM?

M10 is entry level in the sense that 1300D is entry level, both can be used in full manual.

Downside to M10 is the lack of flash hot-shoe.

Laqup wrote:

First of all: The G7x Mark II should be able to produce better pictures than the G9. Did you stop down the lense a bit or did you always shoot wide open? Did you use proper ISO settings (not too high due to the "small" sensor)? For your macro work you have to stop down to at least to 8.0 if you want lots of stuff in focus. This will lead to higher shutter speeds so you have to be carefull that the camera is stable.

The M10 is a nice "entry level" camera, but I'm not too sure if you would like to use it solely with prime lenses and if it would fit your style of photography. The sensor of the M10 is even bigger than that of the G7x, thus it's quite hard to get "macro shots" without blur. The question is: At which focal length do you shoot mainly? Do you use the zoom functionality of your current camera a lot? You should compare the focal length of your current photos with the focal length of e.g. the 22mm or the 28mm (don't forget to factor in the crop factor for the sensor, for Canon APS-C it's 1.6, for the G9 it's 4.558). The 28mm macro would've helped in some of your shots as some of the close-ups are not properly focused (or made with digital focus, I can't tell).

Other than that: Nice shots! You did a great job with the G9.

Regarding the mentioned lenses:

The 28mm is a "lifestyle" / "all around" lense as well, not only a super macro lense, you don't have to use the "macro mode". The ring light can help to get some additional illumination if you are really close to the subject. Moreover it is stabilized. But the minimum aperture is quite high (3.5), which will lead to higher shutter speeds. For your doll pictures the aperture is a none-issue as you would have to stop down the lense anyway.

The 22mm is a really sharp and versatile lense as well. It is well suited for "whole body portraits". But this is for human sized objects, for your dolls you don't specifically need this "wide angle" field of view. A 50mm lense (like the 1.8 STM) or the 40mm 2.8 might work good as well but they require an adapter and are not as small as native lenses. The "tele" lenses have a more pleasant look for portraits, as they don't have as much perspective distortion as wide angle lenses. And don't forget that the 22mm is not optically stabilized. On the other hand wide angle lenses have a larger depth of field which might suite your shooting style.

In theory the G7x MII should be a good match for you. Maybe you did have a faulty copy or used the wrong settings?