I have several big, serious cameras. I carry them in a case you sling over your shoulder. It makes you slouch a bit.
I have always lived with the fear I may leave this bag in a restaurant, where I have brought all of this expensive equipment to obnoxiously photograph the food in the dim light because pocket cameras make pictures in low light look like sand paintings.
I’m glad that’s over. I bought a Canon G7X MK II and if you’re serious about travel photography perhaps you should add this to your mobile desktop as well. It’s a great travel camera.
The G7X is a bit heavy because the light enters through a fat—thus fast—lens. It zooms 4X, from an equivalent 24-100mm, a great wide angle with f1.8 speed. At telephoto the lens comes in at f2.8, still allowing much more light than typical pocket cameras, which often dim the light a couple more f-stops to something like f5.6.
The G7X also has a larger 1” sensor. That means less noise when you’re operating at a high ASA in dim light. Of course you have a lens that lets in more light so you don’t have to use a very high ASA in the first place, so you win twice! Hello church interiors, you don’t scare me a bit!
Speaking of church interiors, what can you do with a fast lens in low light? Here’s a recent example:
Notice how the marble baby stands out from the blurred background. I wanted to isolate it, so I used a small aperture to blur the background so that what I wanted you to see popped to the foreground.
Folks in recent years have begun to call that background blur “bokeh” and discuss endlessly its creaminess. It looks good to me is all I can say.
And all this is because of that fast lens.
You can download your pictures via wifi, so if you’ve left that card reader and/or cable at home you needn’t worry as long as you have internet in your hotel room.
The image stabilization is top notch, and hi-def video lacks the jittery feeling you get watching low grade hand-held video. This was the first video I’ve made from this camera. I didn’t read the directions, I just ran toward the action, pushed the movie button and filmed. If you notice, I also did a zoom in this little clip:
Here’s a picture made during a procession in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome—with a moving subject:
Ok, So Here’s the Negative Side of the G7X
Size. The lens sticks out enough so that it won’t fit comfortably in a normal shirt pocket. Nor would you particularly want to carry it there because of the weight. It fits fine in my pants pocket, and is way better than having to carry a case. It’s also a bit pricey, but…you get what you pay for and there are some options available to you if you don’t want to pay the full price for the MKII model.
The Bottom Line
5 Stars out of 5 for the Canon G7X MKII, without hesitation. The price is just a tick under $700. You can save at least $100 by buying the first version, the plain G7X. The MKII model fixes things original reviewers didn’t like, and gets better battery life (which is quite good). There may be rebates available during Christmas season as well, so look for them.
For more stats and current prices, see the links below:
Canon PowerShot G7 X Digital Camera – Wi-Fi Enabled