The New Canon G7 X

The new Canon G7 X

By Kevin Purcell

In the usual Photokina binge of "really interesting stuff" I think the Canon G7 X rather got lost. It's in a different category of compact to the excellent Panasonic LX100 or the tiny Panasonic GM5. It's also missing the EVF which will turn off some people.

Thom Hogan has a nice summary of the camera:

What we get in the US$700 Canon G7 X is the Sony 20mp 1" BSI sensor coupled with a 24–100mm (equivalent) ƒ/1.8–2.8 lens, a 1m dot touchscreen, a built in ND filter, 1080P/60 video and some other PowerShot stuff.

I can see the elevator pitch for this product: The G7 X is an S90 with a bigger sensor and a faster lens.

I'd add the following thoughts about Canon G7 X:

1. It's the same size as the S90/S95/S100/S110/S120 "enthusiast" Powershot series. That's small, perhaps as small as you'd want a camera to be. It is thicker though at the lens, like the Sony RX100. (The lens size limits the camera size for larger sensor compacts.) It might fit in a not-too-tight jeans back pocket like my Canon S95 and my Ricoh GRD4 do. I feel this is one real definition of "compact camera." A useful one too as I often take one of those two cameras when I'm not in "photographer mode," just stuck in my back or front pocket waiting for an opportunity.

2. It has a longer and faster lens than the RX100 but still fits in the same space. They might have let some other design parameters go, perhaps distortion or chromatic aberration (all fixable in software...to some extent) or Canon has better optical chops than Sony does. This is a nice move.

3. It isn't called an S series Powershot anymore but a G series with an extra X. I think that implies that there won't be a G12 equivalent in this range. That would be a shame for those who like the "knobs" UI and an EVF. Perhaps Canon think that might compete too strongly with the "too big and too slow" G1X and its not-so-great APS-C sensor.

4. Are Canon really using the Sony 20Mpx type 1-inch BSI sensor that everyone else, including the Sony RX100 III and the Panasonic FZ1000 are using? They're being tight-lipped about it and not mentioning it in their press releases, but both Thom and dpreview have been told that it's a non-Canon BSI sensor.

This is perhaps an admission that to compete in this product area, Canon has to use a rival's CMOS sensor rather than develop its own. In the S series the S90/S95 used a rather good Sony CCD sensor and then switched to a Canon CMOS sensor for the S100/S110/S120. Now they've switched back to Sony.

To continue this line of thought, it's interesting to compare the latest Canon APS-C compact with the Sony RX100 III as a proxy for the sensor in the G7 X. You can get a rough idea of the relative performance of the sensors from the DxOmark comparison for these cameras.

Click on the Measurements tab for a more detailed comparison. Too few people do this, I think. DxOmark provides more information than single numbers often referenced in Internet forums. Especially the Tonal Range measurement that nobody pays attention to but that I think is the best way to judge a sensor. In this case you can see the two cameras have identical tonal performance. But the Sony wins on dynamic range, especially below ISO 400.

You get more technical details on sensor performance at sensorgen.info for the G1X and the RX100 III.

The Sensorgen numbers are sensor engineering parameters reverse engineered from DxOmark sensor measurements by curve fitting. They're quite accurate when compared to sensors whose specifications have been made public.

The G1X sensor limitations are in quantum efficiency (what fraction of photons hitting the sensor contribute to the image) and analogue to digital converter read noise (a problem that Sony, and others, solved some time ago). Back-side illumination is one contribution to improved QE in the Sony sensor.

The smaller type 1-inch Sony sensor equals or outperforms (in dynamic range) the bigger Canon type 1.5-inch sensor. That's got to be a worry for Canon as it's a trend across all of the sensors Canon manufactures.

Kevin

Current cameras mentioned in this post:

Canon G7 X (pre-order)
Panasonic LX100 (pre-order)
Panasonic GM5 (pre-order)
Canon S120
Sony RX100M III
Panasonic FZ1000
Canon G1X Mark II

TOP reader Kevin Purcell is the only Scouse street photographer in Seattle with a Ph.D. His first camera was a Diana that used Kodak 120 film. He owns too many cameras and still hasn't found the "best" one. He is interested in everything. His "workprints" are on Flickr.

©2014 by Kevin Purcell, all rights reserved

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Comments

[Pak-Ming Wan]

Well... If you can't lick 'em, join 'em!

Pak

[Woollyback Mike]

Wait a minute, you can nick a PhD?

;)

[Eric Brody]

The one sentence, "It's missing the EVF, which will turn off some people," says it all for me. The very idea of spending anything close to this kind of serious money on a camera without a finder in this day and age seems outrageous. Well, maybe outrageous is too strong a word, but I'm about to get rid of the highly touted Sony RX100 (first version, no finder) because it's almost unusable for me. Clearly some folks seem to do fine without one. But the idea of anything like careful composition, or looking closely at any detail in the image with my carefully corrected presbyopic eyes is impossible, as are really great photos. For that I'll stick with my iPhone. Thanks for letting me rant.

[FuzzyOptics]

The G7 X is not the same size as the S90-S120 model line. If it were, that would be phenomenal.

Rather, it's about the same width and height, which is great, but is 1.33cm thicker (including the lens). Thickness-wise, it's in between the RX100 MkII and RX100 MkIII. It's also very slightly taller and wider than the two, and that's not counting the protruding command dial and shutter/power cluster.

But the important measure -- when it comes to pocketability -- is thickness/depth.

And while 1.33cm doesn't sound like a lot, it feels MUCH different in one's pocket.

[Lorenzo C.]

As a fan of the Canon S-series with an S90 and S110 cranking out great shots year after year, this G7X is a bit of a let-down on price. At $550 maybe I'd be interested. For higher I would've already bought a Sony RX100-series if I thought they had nailed the camera handling part.

Panny's LX100 appeals as well but for almost a grand I think I'll enjoy my S110's many virtues a bit longer and contribute to my kid's college fund instead. Or maybe that Leica T is worth getting irrational over...

[Saul]

Eh! Calm down! I'm very dissapointed at the lack of curly wigs in Kevin's Flickrstream but these street photographers do do don't dey do?

Now I've got that off my chest, nice little summary. Cheers!

[YS]

Well, Canon USA are having a joke on you, because I can get it here for US$580! I got a bit of a shock, it seems the latest round of camera releases have been pretty good value (the D750's street price is silly and pretty much kills the D610).

[Wayne]

The upside is that the camera is likely good enough for anything you need a camera of this class. It's shortcomings will likely result in a lower price in the near future.

Reading this post prompted me to dig up my s95. On switching it on, it reminded me that I had left the CHDK (hack) card in the camera. I had forgotten all about the fun of CHDK. I wonder if there will eventually be a hack for G7X?

To bad about the lack of VF......Not even a hot shoe for an OVF.

[kirk tuck]

No EVF? WTH? LCD Only = DOA.

[Marcelo Guarini]

This camera will sell quite well because it has a key feature, the name Canon on it.

[kbreak]

YS^^ where do you find the G7X for 580$ ??

[Gary]

I don't see a reason to replace my Ricoh GR