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| Canon PowerShot G5 X |
Over four years ago, Sony released the Death Star equivalent in compact cameras, causing much shock and awe. With the RX100, they managed to put in a 1-inch sensor in a camera body that fi t inside the pocket of your jeans. Sony released four subsequent versions of the camera and for the longest time, the RX100 series remained unchallenged in the advanced compact segment until two years later when Canon and Panasonic entered the game. Canon’s G7 X offered a longer focal length and better price than the reigning RX100 III at the time, but, fell short with sluggish AF and no EVF.
This year, Canon’s latest champion is the Canon PowerShot G5 X, which takes the innards of the G7 X and places it in a slightly bigger, sturdier body with improvements. Will the G5 X cause a disturbance? I was eager to fi nd out, because the force is strong with this one.
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| Even with the strong backlight of the sun coming into the frame, you can see how well the camera has controlled flare. Exposure: 1/50sec at f/8 (ISO 320) |
Features
Housed in a sturdy body, the G5 X has a 1-inch 20.2MP BSI CMOS sensor, a f/1.8-f/2.8 lens and manual control over focus and shooting, along with a 3-stop ND fi lter and ISO speeds of up to 12,800, much like the RX100 III.
The G5 X takes things further with its 24–100mm lens, offering a 30mm advantage over its competitor, a hot shoe, a better resolution 2,360,000 dot Electronic Viewfi nder and a fully articulated, 270° tilt and swivel, 3-inch 1,040,000 dots, touchscreen LCD. The RX100 III’s LCD only tilted upwards and was not touchscreen capable. It manages a 6.4fps when shooting JPEGs and without AF which is low compared to the 10fps of the RX100 III. With RAW, the camera manages a meagre 2 fps and 0.8 fps with RAW + Superfi ne JPEG.
The G5 X also includes a microphone input, which the RX100 III lacks. Video capabilities include full HD video at 60p and 30p and NTSC and PAL outputs but still doesn’t compare to the AVCHD, XAVC S encoding of the RX 100 III and IV. And sadly, still no 4k recording included. Although as a casual user of video, the advanced encoding is something I would not be upset about. A serious video enthusiast, would go the extra mile and invest in the RX100 IV, which is a video powerhouse.
Handling
One of the most appealing things about the G7 X and the RX 100 series was the pocketability factor. In this aspect, the G5 X, like Yoda, is forced to say “Size matters not... judge me by my size, do you?” The inclusion of the EVF and the hotshoe have resulted in it having a hump-like formation on the top of the camera body. The fl ash is nestled here as well, making the G5 X much bulkier than the G7 X. It is defi nitely not something you can carry around in your pocket, but weighing at 377g, it is still small and not much of a hindrance to carry around in a bag or coat/jacket pockets. Actually, the body of the G5 X is more like the original G series while the sleeker G7 X was actually like the Canon S series. Which, in an Inceptionesque turn was the design infl uence for the RX100 series.
With the thumbpad and handgrip on the right of the camera body, the G5 X defi nitely has a better grip than the RX100. Within the Better Photography team, we seem to be evenly split between whether a camera should ‘feel’ like a solid camera or whether pocketbility is more important.
Including the front dial, the G5 X allows you to customise two dials, the control ring, the video record and the AF point selection button. Interestingly, each shooting mode allows you to assign the function as you desire. The dials and buttons are located quite comfortably, although someone with larger fi ngers may have a slightly tough time navigating.While the control ring is comfortably placed, it is the clicking kind, which I personally did not enjoy when I had assigned it for Manual Focus. A smoother control ring would definitely have been better, but when assigned as an aperture ring, it makes sense.
The camera has a flash that you manually have to raise instead of a pop-up flash. This can get a little tedious at times, but then again, it has eliminated yet another button from the controls.
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| Camera Specification & Noise Test |
Performance
When we tested both the G3 X and the G7 X, we were quite pleased with the image quality. The findings stand for the G5 X too. RAW files produced good results, with plenty of retrievable details in the highlights and shadows. The JPEG engine too fared well, but it suffered in low light where details became a little smudged. Flare and purple fringing are controlled exceptionally well and the G5 X has a pleasing dynamic range.
AF performance is admirable in bright light, decently good in low light. The face detection mode can get a little fooled sometimes with the focus going on the background instead of the subject. However, for general shooting, the AF overall performs fine and is a huge improvement over the G7 X. The lens performs well at both the wide and telephoto end and centre sharpness is excellent throughout. Corner sharpness does suffer at the wide end from apertures f/4–f5.6 but is better at f/8 and f/11. We found no such problems at the telephoto end where centre to corner sharpness was excellent. Shooting at f/8 at the the telephoto end will result in some detail loss due to defraction but at an acceptable level.
Much like other 1-inch cameras in the G Series, the G5 X has a disappointing battery life, allowing around 210-220 shots in one cycle. It does come with an Eco Mode which lets you shoot up to 320 shots but the RX100 III does offer 300 shots in one go. But, it does not, have a bundled charger like the G5 X, unless it is bought additionally.
Conclusion
Panasonic’s LX100 comes in the same price range with a Micro Four Thirds sensor, but, is unavailable in India. The G5 X is portable, offers good picture quality with a longer focal length, an excellent EVF and LCD not to mention a hot shoe and a dedicated charger, making it much more value for money than the RX100 III. That is unless you really need the pocketability. Thus, I conclude by saying in my best Yoda voice, ‘buy this camera, you definitely should.’
FINAL RATINGS
1-inch sensor, portable body, stellar EVF and LCD, 24–100mm focal length, Wifi and NFC. 18/20
Performance
Good image quality and low light performance. 31/35
Build Quality
Sturdy and easy to shoot with. 23/25
Ergonomics
Thumb pad and good hand grip support. 13/15
Warranty & support
One-year warranty, limited service centers. 4/5
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