Canon’s New Compact PowerShot G- Series Cameras Seem Perfect For Vlogging

Canon India has unveiled two new compact digital cameras in the Indian market. Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II and the PowerShot G7 X Mark III are the latest additions in the company's flagship compact model line-up. Canon PowerShot G5 Mark II is priced at Rs. 52,995 and the PowerShot G7 X Mark III will retail at Rs. 64,995.

The PowerShot G-series by Canon is known for its compact design and lightweight body, which is preferred by a large set of users. Canon has managed to equip the new PowerShot G5 X Mark II and PowerShot G7 X Mark III with a 20.1MP, 1-type stacked CMOS sensor. The cameras use wide aperture of f/1.8-f/2.8 with an optical zoom of 5X for the G5 X Mark II and 4.2X for the G7 X Mark III.

New 1-type stacked CMOS sensor- 20 fps Stills, 4K Video Recording

Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III are essentially designed to work as compact vlogging cameras. Both the cameras are powered by Canon's DIGIC 8 processor which allows for shooting of uncropped 4K videos and 20 fps stills. The 1-type stacked CMOS sensor is essentially the highlight feature. It is claimed to be much larger than sensors found in most compact cameras.

Both the cameras can shoot at high speed of 30 shots per second in RAW burst mode (and 20fps in jpeg). As the cameras come with an expanded ISO range of up to 25,600, we are expecting them to capture some good quality shots in favourable and non-favourable light situation.

Canon mentions that both the cameras work on a newly designed f/1.8- 2.8 lens with 24-120mm focal range. The combination provides a 5x zoom on the PowerShot G5 X mark II, whereas the PowerShot G7 X Mark III with 24-100mm focal range touches 4.2x zoom.

Even though the new point-and-shoot cameras by Canon come in a compact lightweight body, both can capture 4K movies without crop. This will allow photographers to take full use of lenses to shoot landscape videos. You can extract a moment from the video and save it as a high-quality 8MP JPEG on the device as the cameras shoot 4K movies in motion JPEG. You can even review footage at any given point making it easy to select the final output.

Best Suited For Vlogging

In addition to the compact form-factor, the support for video streaming directly from the camera to YouTube makes Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III a great vlogging device. You can use the camera just like a smartphone to livestream events as long as you are connected to Wi-Fi. However, you would need 'Canon Image Gateway' to use the feature.

Another feature that makes these new Canon cameras good for vlogging is the tilting LCD display. The tilting display makes it possible to shoot from different angles, from the ground up, or from high angles depending upon the subject you are shooting.

High-Resolution EVF, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Other noteworthy features include- Focus bracketing, Panoramic mode, High-resolution 2.36 million-dot electronic viewfinder, USB charging, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Remote Live View Shooting feature, which allows you to use your smartphone to control the camera to click pictures.

Both the cameras also support 'Canon Camera Connect' app to perform network-related features. The app allows you to send images from the camera to your smartphone even while you are shooting pictures or recording videos.

What's Our Take?

The new PowerShot G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III offer compact lightweight design and are packed with some high-end features such as 4K video recording, 20 fps stills, large 1.0-type stacked CMOS sensors, etc. The live streaming function offered by Canon makes G7 X Mark III a great imaging device for avid vloggers and content creators.

The spec-sheet of both the cameras look quite promising; however, we would still want to test these new cameras for a better understanding of their overall performance.