In summary
The PowerShot G7X Mark II provides worthwhile improvements on its predecessor and is a better all-round performer.
In our tests the still images from the camera had very good colour accuracy, particularly for greens and blues.
Autofocusing was noticeably better than in the previous model. Locking-on was fast and accurate in most types of lighting, including on a very rainy day where contrast was particularly low. Hunting was seldom encountered, even in low light levels.
Consequently, we’ve nominated it as an Editor’s Choice ““ specifically for buyers who can tolerate the lack of a viewfinder.
Full review
Canon’s new PowerShot G7X Mark II addresses some of the criticisms levied at the G7X and adds some worthwhile improvements without increasing its price. Physically similar to its predecessor, the Mark II has the same 20.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and 4.2x optical zoom lens and remains limited to 1080/50p video recording for PAL format. A new DIGIC 7 image processor boosts continuous shooting performance to eight frames/second for both JPEG and CR2.RAW files. Autofocusing and noise performance have also been improved.
Angled view of the PowerShot G7X Mark II with its pop-up flash raised. (Source: Canon.)
Check out our review of the original G7X for details on image and video recording sizes and capabilities, in-camera adjustments that carry over into the new camera, the Wi-Fi and NFC options and the playback and software. Unlike the G7X, the new camera comes without a software CD but all necessary software ““ and copy of the full user manual in PDF format ““ is available for downloading from Canon’s website.
Who’s it for?
The Mark II suffers from the same deficiency as plagued its predecessor: the lack of a viewfinder (or any way to attach one). This is likely to deter many potential purchasers. No matter how good LCD (and OLED) screens are, in bright sunlight, they force users into point-and-guess framing most of the time.
Some of the adjustments to the body design and the updated DIGIC 7 processor will make it more competitive with equivalent models in Canon’s digicam stable and similar cameras from competing manufacturers. However, unlike some competing cameras, the G7X Mark II lacks support for 4K video and really needs a built-in EVF.
What’s New?
The changes to the body design have made small but significant improvements to its operability. The first addition is a small front grip moulding, which is covered with the same rubber-like material as is used for the rest of the front panel. This improves grip security significantly and is welcomed.
The redesigned front control ring includes a new switch, located on the lower left hand side, which makes it easy to swap between smooth turning and stepped rotation with click stops. The monitor screen can now be tilted down through 45 degrees in addition to the 180-degree flip-up offered on the G7X.
Angled rear view of the PowerShot G7X Mark II showing the downwards-tilting monitor screen. (Source: Canon.)
A new Wi-Fi button has been added to the right hand side panel of the camera, just below the USB/HDMI terminal compartment. This button is very small and lies flush with the camera body but it’s better than having the Wi-Fi combined with the drive settings as it was on the G7X. Wi-Fi functionality is the same as in other Canon cameras. Otherwise, the external design of the Mark II is identical to the original G7X.
Top view of the PowerShot G7X Mark II with the lens extended. (Source: Canon.)
Internally, many more changes have taken place, most of them associated with the new DIGIC 7 processor chip. The most significant is likely to be the improvements to continuous shooting, where the top speed has been boosted from 6.5 fps to 8 fps. Even more significantly, the burst rate of 8fps is available for CR2.RAW files, whereas in the Mark I the continuous shooting speed for raw files was only 1.2 fps.
Also for raw files, the images are now 14-bit, a step up from the 12-bit RAW files captured by the G7X. This brings the G7X II into line with the PowerShot G3X, G5X, and G9X cameras. In-camera RAW conversion enables users to adjust brightness, white balance and Picture Style and configure the Auto Lighting Optimiser and noise reduction settings before saving the adjusted images as JPEG files. You can also save the adjustments for future use on other raw images.
Another DIGIC 7-related improvement is in noise handling across the camera’s ISO range, which is now expandable to ISO 25600. The new processor also improves face registration and speeds up subject detection in difficult lighting, particularly with low-contrast subjects that have subdued saturation. Battery life has also been increased by just over 25%.
Autofocusing improvements include a new panning feature that enables users to record moving subjects with a blurred background that conveys a sense of speed. The camera will detect and lock focus on the subject as the camera is panned to track it and users can adjust the degree of blurring with the lens control ring. Image stabilisation is controlled automatically, depending on the direction of the pan.
A new time-lapse movie feature has been added to the G7X II’s video capabilities. Users can set the intervals between frames between one and four seconds and record between 30 and 900 shots per sequence. The camera’s menu displays the time required to record the sequence and the playback time for the resulting movie clip.
Picture Styles, a suite of adjustment pre-sets familiar to users of Canon’s EOS DSLR cameras, makes its first appearance in a PowerShot camera. A new Fine Detail option has been added to the regular Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome and three User Defined settings.
Users gain the ability to adjust contrast, sharpness and colour in-camera to match settings in their EOS DSLRs. Adjusted settings can also be tweaked with Canon’s Picture Style Editor and saved as new Picture Styles. Note: Picture Style adjustments are ONLY applied to JPEG files.
Finally, the PowerShot G7X Mark II supports USB charging, although a USB cable is not provided with the camera. It ships with a dedicated charger, battery and wrist strap and, although one was supplied for our review, no mains cable is listed in the box contents.
Performance
Still images from the camera were a bit more ‘punchy’ than those from its predecessor, although they also required a little unsharp masking in Photoshop to bring out their details. Colours recorded showed the usual slight increase in saturation we’ve come to expect from compact digicams and this proved an advantage in test shots taken under wintry skies and after dark.
Colour accuracy was generally very good, particularly for greens and blues. Imatest showed a tendency to boost warm hues, which would result in ‘healthier-looking’ skin tones.
Autofocusing was noticeably better than in the previous model. Locking-on was fast and accurate in most types of lighting, including on a very rainy day where contrast was particularly low. Hunting was seldom encountered, even in low light levels.
Imatest showed JPEG files from the review camera were able to meet expectations for the sensor’s resolution at a focal length of 22.3mm in the middle of the aperture range. CR2.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFFs with Adobe Camera Raw, shot at the same time had slightly higher resolution. Edge resolution in each case fell slightly short of expectations.
Resolution held up well across the review camera’s sensitivity range with a slow decline in sharpness as ISO settings were increased. Noise was visible in JPEGs taken with the two highest ISO settings but at sensitivities of ISO 3200 and below, files were effectively noise-free and very clean. As usual, raw files had a clear-cut advantage over JPEGs. The graph below plots the results of our tests.
Diffraction took effect from about f/5.6 on, with the decline increasing between f/5.6 and the minimum aperture of f/11. The graph below plots the results of our tests across the aperture ranges for four focal length settings.
Lateral chromatic aberration was negligible at all lens apertures and focal length settings. The graph below shows the results of our tests, with the red line indicating the boundary between negligible and low CA.
Auto white balance performance was typical of many digicams, with close-to-neutral colours under fluorescent lighting and with the camera’s built-in flash but insufficient correction of incandescent lighting. The tungsten and fluorescent pre-sets tended towards slight over-correction with the former introducing a blue cast and the latter a purple one. No adjustments appeared to have been made with the flash pre-set and manual measurement produced neutral colours under all three types of lighting.
Flash performance was as consistent as we found with the original G7X and image quality varied from very good to acceptable across the sensitivity range from ISO 125 to ISO 12800. Shots taken with the highest ISO setting showed slight softening and marginally lower contrast and colour saturation than shots taken with lower ISO settings. But they would be usable for small prints and provided some scope for improvements with effective editing software.
Video performance was similar to the original G7X and rates as satisfactory, rather than outstanding. Even the fastest frame rate was unable to lock onto vehicles travelling along a main urban road but the AF system had few problems locking onto moving subjects and tracking them throughout a clip. Soundtracks were of average quality without much stereo presence.
Our timing tests were carried out with a 16GB Panasonic SDHC UHS-1 U3 memory card, which claims write transfer speeds of 45MB/second. The review camera took just over two seconds to power up ready for shooting, which is relatively slow. With the lens at medium zoom we measured an average capture lag of less than 0.1 second, which was eliminated with pre-focusing. On average, it took 0.55 seconds to process each high-resolution JPEG image, 0.6 seconds for a raw file and 0.62 seconds for each RAW+JPEG pair. Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.6 seconds without flash and 5.2 seconds with.
In the high-speed continuous shooting mode, the camera recorded 33 Large/fine JPEG frames in 3.7 seconds before beginning to slow down, which is somewhat faster than specified and could be due to using a fast memory card. It took 8.2 seconds to process this burst. In the continuous mode with autofocusing, we were able to record 48 frames in 8.0 seconds before the first sign of hesitation. Processing took a further 8.6 seconds.
With raw files, we were able to record 41 frames in 2.2 seconds before capture rates slowed. Processing was completed after a further 7.6 seconds. With RAW+JPEG pairs the buffer filled at 39 shots, which were captured in 2.0 seconds. Processing this burst was completed within 17.2 seconds.
Conclusion
The absence of a built-in viewfinder will always be a deal-breaker for us so we’re inclined to recommend the PowerShot G5X, which has a high-resolution EVF built-in, over the PowerShot G7X Mark II. Particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, where skies are often clear, any kind of viewfinder, no matter how basic, is better than none at all.
However, aside from that, the new camera provides some worthwhile improvements on its predecessor and is a better all-round performer. Consequently, we’ve nominated it as an Editor’s Choice ““ specifically for buyers who can tolerate the lack of a viewfinder.
Local shoppers will find discounting has already started for the G7X Mark II and is well established for the G5X. It’s not worth shopping off-shore as the even the discounted prices listed on the major US re-sellers’ websites are within a whisker of (or slightly above) the prices listed in Canon Australia’s online shop. When you add the cost of shipping you would pay more than AU$900.
But it will pay to check out a number of local re-sellers. The cheapest price we’ve found for the PowerShot G7X Mark II is AU$759 for a ‘special’ offer, which may be a one-off end-of-financial-year price. Otherwise, going on listed prices when this review was posted you can expect to pay between AU$820 and $850 for the new G7X Mark II or around $900 for the G5X.
SPECS
Image sensor: 13.2 x 8.8 mm back-illuminated CMOS sensor with 20.9 million photosites (20.1 megapixels effective)
Image processor: DIGIC 7
A/D processing: 14-bit (CR2)
Lens: 8.8-36.8mm f/1.8-2.8 zoom lens (24-100mm in 35 mm format)
Zoom ratio: 4.2x optical, up to 8.4x digital
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (DCF / Exif 2.3); Movies – MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC / H.264), stereo audio (MPEG-4 AAC-LC)
Image Sizes: Stills – 3:2 aspect: 5472 x 3648, 4320 x 2880, 2304 x 1536, 720 x 480; 4:3 aspect: 4864 x 3648, 3840 x 2880, 2048 x 1536, 640 x 480; 16:9 aspect: 5472 x 3080, 4320 x 2432, 1920 x 1080, 720 x 408; 1:1 aspect: 3648 x 3648, 2880 x 2880, 1536 x 1536, 480 x 480; Movies – 1920 x 1080 at 50/25 fps, 1280 x 720 at 30 fps, 640 x 480 at 30 fps; Star Time-Lapse Movie (Full HD) 30 fps / 15 fps, Miniature Effect (HD, L) 6 fps, 3 fps, 1.5 fps, Hybrid Auto (HD) 30 fps, iFrame Movie (Full HD) 30 fps
Shutter speed range: Approx. 15 to 1/2000 seconds
Self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds delay
Image Stabilisation: Lens shift-type; approx. 3-stop Intelligent IS with 5-axis Enhanced Dynamic IS
Exposure Compensation: +/- 3EV in 1/3EV step increments plus manual and automatic dynamic range correction, automatic shadow correction, built-in ND Filter (3-stop)
Bracketing: AEB – 1/3EV to 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
Focus system/range: 31-point TTL contrast-based AF with Single, Continuous, Servo AF/AE modes plus Touch AF and Face Detection; range:5 cm (wide) or 40 cm (tele) to infinity; macro to 5 cm
Exposure metering/control: Evaluative, Centre-weighted average and Spot metering; Spot AE point can be linked to AF frame, Face Detect AE
Shooting modes: Smart Auto (58 scenes detected), Program AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, Custom, Hybrid Auto, Creative Shot, SCN, Movie
Scene presets: Portrait, Self-Portrait, Panning, Star Portrait, Star Nightscape, Star Trails, Star Time-Lapse Movie, Handheld Night Scene, High Dynamic Range, Standard Movie, Short Clip, Manual Movie, Time-Lapse Movie, iFrame Movie
In-camera effects: Creative Filters (High Dynamic Range, Nostalgic, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Background Defocus, Soft Focus, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect); My Colours (My Colours Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Colour)
Colour space options: sRGB
ISO range: Auto ISO: ISO 125-12800 in 1/3EV steps; Expansion to ISO 25600 available
White balance: Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Underwater, Custom (x2), Multi-area WB correction available in Smart Auto; White Balance Compensation; White Balance Compensation in Underwater mode; Colour adjustment in Star mode
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, Slow Synchro; range: 50 cm to 7.0 m (W) / 40 cm to 4.0 m (T); 3 levels of power adjustment; Flash Exposure Compensation: +/- 2.0 EV in 0.3EV steps
Sequence shooting: Max. 8 frames/second
Buffer memory depth: 30 JPEGs, raw files, RAW+JPEG
Storage Media: Single slot for SD, SDHC or SDXC card (UHS Speed Class 1 compatible)
Viewfinder: None
LCD monitor: Tilting 3-inch sRGB PureColor II G Touchscreen (Capacitive type) TFT LCD with 3:2 aspect ratio, approx. 1,040,000 dots.
Interface terminals/communications: Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (MTP, PTP) DIGITAL connector (A/V output: PAL/NTSC), micro HDMI, Wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b/g/n) with NFC support
Power supply: NB-13L rechargeable Li-ion Battery; CIPA rated for approx 265 shots/charge (Eco mode approx. 355 shots)
Dimensions (wxhxd): 106.0 x 61x 42 mm
Weight: Approx. 319 grams (with battery and memory card)
TESTS
Based on JPEG files.
Based on CR2.RAW files processed with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.
Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.
Auto white balance with flash lighting.
ISO 125, 30-second exposure at f/4; 18mm focal length.
ISO 400, 15-second exposure at f/4.5; 18mm focal length.
ISO 1600, 5-second exposure at f/5; 18mm focal length.
ISO 6400, 1-second exposure at f/4.5; 18mm focal length.
ISO 12800, 1-second exposure at f/5.6; 18mm focal length.
Flash exposure at ISO 125; 1/60 second at f/2.8; 36.8mm focal length.
Flash exposure at ISO 400; 1/60 second at f/2.8; 36.8mm focal length.
Flash exposure at ISO 1600; 1/60 second at f/3.2; 36.8mm focal length.
Flash exposure at ISO 6400; 1/60 second at f/5.6; 36.8mm focal length.
Flash exposure at ISO 12800; 1/60 second at f/8; 36.8mm focal length.
8.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/1250 second at f/6.3.
36.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/1250 second at f/5.6.
2x digital zoom; 36.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/1250 second at f/6.3.
Close-up in Macro mode; 8.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/125 second at f/2.8.
Close-up in Macro mode; 36.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/200 second at f/2.8.
36.8mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/1250 second at f/4.5. (Framing shots like this with the monitor screen is difficult in bright sunlight.)
26mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/1000 second at f/7.1.
16mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/50 second at f/2.5.
8.8mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/30 second at f/5.
8.8mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/50 second at f/1.8.
13mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/40 second at f/3.5.
25mm focal length, ISO 1000, 1/20 second at f/2.8.
20mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/40 second at f/3.2.
8.8mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/30 second at f/1.8.
8.8mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/20 second at f/2.2.
Still frame from Full HD 1080/50p video clip.
Still frame from Full HD 1080/25p video clip.
Still frame from HD 720/25p video clip.
Still frame from VGA/25p video clip.
Rating
RRP: AU$949 (as listed in the Canon Store website); US$700
- Build: 8.8
- Ease of use: 8.6
- Autofocusing: 8.7
- Image quality JPEG: 8.8
- Image quality RAW: 9.0
- Video quality: 8.5
