Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II - Review 2022

We've come to expect i-inch sensors in premium cameras. The sensor size, about 4 times the surface area compared with a standard point-and-shoot and six times the size of an iPhone sensor, delivers images with a clear advantage over phone snaps, especially in dim light. The Canon PowerShot G9 Ten Mark Two ($529.99) is one of the smallest cameras bachelor with a i-inch sensor. It delivers excellent images, and features a big touch LCD that will appeal to photographers used to using a smartphone, but the lens is rather curt, and dim at the telephoto finish. It's a solid option, but our Editors' Option in the premium price range remains the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 Iii, which features a brighter lens and EVF.

Design

The G9 X Mark 2 is a pocket-size, pocket-friendly camera. Information technology measures ii.three by three.9 by i.2 inches (HWD) and weighs just vii.3 ounces. Compare that with the RX100 Iii, which is just a chip larger, at two.iii by four.0 past ane.6 inches, and heavier, at ten.two ounces. Canon sells the G9 10 Marking II in black, or in a two-tone silver and brown finish, which is what we received for review.

Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II : Sample Image

The zoom is a modest 3x design, similar in range to Sony's RX100 III, Iv, and 5, just while the competing models apply 24-70mm f/one.eight-2.8 designs, Canon sacrifices some wide-bending coverage in favor of telephoto reach for the G9 X. Its zoom covers a 28-84mm (full-frame equivalent) field of view, with an discontinuity that starts at f/2, but narrows to f/4.9 when fully zoomed. Information technology's a shame Catechism didn't go with a 24-70mm here, every bit wider angle coverage is more benign than a slight bit of advantage in short telephoto accomplish

The lens protrudes a bit from the body, fifty-fifty when the G9 X is turned off. Canon uses the space to contain the G9's master physical control, a band that surrounds the lens itself. If you're shooting in aperture priority (Av) mode it controls the f-finish, and it adjusts the shutter speed in shutter priority (Tv) and the overall effulgence of the image (EV) in program (P) mode. If you work in manual (Grand) mode y'all tin can accommodate whatever of the three settings with the band, y'all just need to tap the rear screen to tell the camera which value y'all'd like to adjust.

The On/Off and Play buttons are on the top plate, along with the zoom control and shutter, the Mode dial, and switch that raises the pop-up wink. In addition to the standard P, Av, Tv, and G settings you lot become a full Auto option, a Custom setting (which saves preferred settings), Scene modes, and Hybrid Automobile. Scene Modes give you lot access to numerous artistic filters—like to what Canon used to put in its Artistic Shot setting, which is absent-minded from the G9 Ten Mark Two. Hybrid Auto captures both an image and a brusque video clip. Clips and stills shot on the aforementioned day are automatically cut together in what Canon calls a Movie Digest, suitable for sharing on social networks.

In that location are 4 rear buttons—Info, Menu, Q/Gear up, and Tape. They run in a single cavalcade, nether the rear thumb rest and to the correct of the LCD. Q is the only one that isn't self-evident in function. Information technology launches an on-screen menu with options to adjust focus, bulldoze, prototype quality, flash, white balance, metering, and focus range settings, as well as an option to control the in-lens neutral density filter. The ND filter cuts the corporeality of light passing through the lens, so you shoot stills and video at broad apertures under very brilliant conditions, or narrow the discontinuity to shoot longer exposures in daylight hours. You lot tin can control it manually, or let the G9 X enable or disable information technology automatically.

The residue of the rear is dominated past the 3-inch bear upon LCD. It's very sharp, 1,040k dots, and bright. As you'd wait from a premium model, information technology's just as responsive as a premium smartphone—you can tap to set a focus point, swipe through images in playback mode, and pinch or double tap to zoom in on details. The camera is a scrap besides slim to support a tilting brandish—the next model upward in the Canon line, the G7 X Marker Two, is a better choice if you lot desire an articulating brandish.

There's built-in Wi-Fi, a must for a modern photographic camera. You tin apply your Android or iOS device as a wireless remote, or transfer images from the camera to your phone for easy sharing on Facebook or Instagram. To start Wi-Fi press the button on the left side of the G9 X, connect to its network on your phone, and launch the Canon Camera Connect app. NFC is included to brand pairing easier for Android owners.

Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II : Remote Control App

The memory card slot, with back up for standard SD, SDHC, and SDXC media, is accessible via the lesser, in the same compartment with the battery. Canon includes a wall charger, but you can as well charge the battery in the photographic camera itself. There'southward a standard micro USB port for this purpose, every bit well as micro HDMI to connect to a Boob tube.

Performance and Image Quality

Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II : Benchmark Tests We were a scrap unhappy with the responsiveness of the original G9 X, especially when shooting in Raw format. The Mark II is a lot snappier. It starts, focuses, and fires in i.4 seconds and tin can lock focus in simply 0.05-second. That figure can extend to about 0.ii-second if the lens needs to move from its close focus distance to infinity, or vice versa, merely in nearly situations you'll find very niggling lag betwixt pressing the shutter and snapping a photo.

Burst shooting is bachelor at a speedy 8.1fps. It can proceed that footstep for 21 Raw+JPG, 23 Raw, or 39 JPG shots. It'south an ample capture rate for a pocketable camera, and even if you fill up the buffer, you'll only have to wait virtually vii seconds for all of the images to write to memory, assuming y'all are using a decent SD carte du jour like the 95MBps SanDisk we used to test the camera's speed.

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I used Imatest to check the quality of the G9's lens. At 28mm f/2 it scores a strong ii,400 lines per motion picture meridian on a center-weighted sharpness exam, much meliorate than the 1,800 lines we want to see at a bare minimum. Most of the frame is well-baked, though the very outer edges are just barely, notching 1,793 lines. Stopping downward to f/2.8 bumps edge quality to one,979 lines, and raises the average score to ii,445 lines.

Yous don't become any benefit to shooting at narrower f-stops, other than a large depth of field when focusing close. At f/4 the lens scores 2,368 lines, and it'south still strong at f/v.6 (ii,330 lines) and f/viii (2,302 lines). At the minimum f/11 setting the resolution drops to one,944 lines.

Zooming to the 50mm position reduces the maximum discontinuity by two stops to f/iv. There'due south no hitting in image quality; the camera manages 2,330 lines, with strong performance correct upwards to the edge of the frame (2,148 lines). You become a modest advantage by stopping downwardly—2,341 lines at f/v.6 and 2,471 lines at f/viii—before losing a little flake of clarity at f/11 (ii,239 lines).

At 84mm the lens maxes out at f/4.nine, and paradigm quality remains strong, 2,519 lines, with edges that approach 2,400 lines. There'south a modest bump in resolution at f/5.6 (two,679 lines) and f/eight (2,718 lines), before the expected drop at f/11 (2,381 lines). This is the but setting at which we run across any barrel baloney, most 1.ii pct. Information technology's a small amount, just outside our 1 percent threshold. The lens itself is likely creating a lot more than, merely compact cameras typically utilize corrections to images, even Raw files, which are transparent to the photographer.

1 of the big advantages of a one-inch sensor camera over a typical meaty or smartphone is low-light performance. The G9 X Mark II boasts a 20MP chip with a BSI design, which gives it a further border at the loftier ISO settings the photographic camera will employ in dim lighting.

When shooting JPGs it controls noise, curbing it to one.5 percent through ISO 3200, only a close expect at shots from our ISO exam scene shows that image quality does have a step back when pushing the camera this far. You lot'll become crisper details and less noise if you lot keep it to ISO 1600 or lower, and the all-time results at ISO 400 or less. Shooting at the wide end of the range and at f/2 will go a long style to keep the ISO low when shooting under typical indoor lighting.

If you're a more advanced photographer y'all may want to enable Raw capture. Like most i-inch cameras, Raw images take a flake of sharpening piece of work to match JPG shots in crispness; we don't apply any additional sharpening to the images in our lab test images, however. Raw shots show a proficient amount of particular, without too much grainy noise, through ISO 3200. Pushing to ISO 6400 does increase the grain, just notwithstanding nets good results. The top setting, ISO 12800, is very noisy, wiping away details in our ISO test scene.

The G9 X Mark Two doesn't tape video in 4K resolution, merely it does evangelize pretty good 1080p footage at 24 or 30fps, and 720p or 480p video at 30fps. Details are articulate, you can tap on the frame to set a focus point or let the G9 focus on its own, and audio is potent when you consider the camera only has a small built-in microphone. Activity shooters will be turned off by the lack of 60fps back up, simply mostly speaking the video is quite good.

Conclusions

At that place is some stiff competition in this infinite. You lot can get the older Sony RX100 II for about the same price and savor a longer zoom range, but you lot won't get a touch screen. The next model upwardly in Canon's line, the G7 X Marking II, is more expensive, but features an articulating touch LCD and a brighter, longer zoom lens, and is the photographic camera I recommend to casual photographers who desire a high-quality compact and don't mind spending some coin to go it. Our Editors' Option, the Sony RX100 3, includes a popular-up electronic viewfinder, and an impeccable lens, two features that brand it a favorite among photography enthusiasts.

All of these models have something in common with the G9 X Mark II—the same image sensor. Coupled with a expert lens, it delivers strong strong, abrupt images, even in challenging low-cal, and slides into your pocket with ease. The performance issues that held the original model dorsum have been remedied by a more than powerful prototype processor, which allows the Mark 2 to rattle off shots at 8.1fps. And a big touch LCD means that photographers who are used to a smartphone will feel right at home. Y'all can spend more than on a similar camera with a lens that is brighter throughout its range and with a slightly longer and wider zoom capability, just for casual snappers who don't want to spend $700 or more, the G9 X Mark 2 is a solid performer.