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  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Conclusion

  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Conclusion

So how do you get people excited about point and shoots again? Make 'em better, of course. To that end, Canon released a slate of additions to their G-line of PowerShot point and shoots. However, only one of those cameras can actually fit in a pocket.

That camera is the Canon PowerShot G9X (MSRP $499.99). Cramming a 1-inch, 20.2 megapixel sensor into a super slim body, this camera takes what worked famously for the PowerShot G7 X and gives it a more polished look.

Design & Usability

Pocket cams see a huge upgrade

At first glance, both the all-black and silver/brown iterations of the G9 X are knockouts. Highly polished from a design standpoint, each finish looks like it belongs in a higher-end camera lineup–and they're priced to match. A somewhat slippery grip material covers the right side of the camera, while the rest of the camera is covered in a textured metal.

If there's a defining feature of the G9 X, it's how small it is. Though we've seen point and shoots with 1-inch sensors before, this little shooter is deceptively powerful for a camera this small. Though it can easily fit into a pocket, cameras with a lens this wide and a sensor that big generally have a little more bulk to them. Hats off to Canon for slimming this shooter down as much as it did.

As far as controls go, the G9 X is exactly what you'd expect for a camera trying to tango with the Sony RX100 IV: though compact, it has fully fleshed-out controls, and is straightforward enough to be used out of the box by a beginner. Despite the lack of a d-pad, the touchscreen interface isn't much of a chore, and just about all of the common functions you'll use have their own buttons on the rear of the camera, and shooting modes have a dedicated dial on the top.

A photo of the Canon PowerShot G9X taken at PhotoPlus in New York City.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

A mode dial is flanked by the shutter release, zoom slider.

Even if this camera has a simpler control scheme than the G9 X's sibling, the G7 X, there's enough for anyone to dig into. For example, a control wheel rings the lens on the front of the camera, allowing granular control of shot settings. On top of that, having both JPG and RAW capture modes unlocks greater control in post-processing.

Despite its relatively small size, the lens of the G9 X is good on paper. It packs a full-frame equivalent focal length of 28-84mm (3x optical zoom) and a maximum aperture of f/2-4.9. If you take shots at or near the minimum focal length, you'll notice a more pronounced depth of field than you would with a smartphone camera or older point and shoot.

A photo of the Canon PowerShot G9X taken at PhotoPlus in New York City.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

A surprising collection of ports is on the right side of the G9X.

I will point out that the battery life is very poor, partly owing to the camera's lack of space internally. The G9 X uses the same NB-13L cell found on other Canon point and shoots, and that means you can take about 220 shots before needing a recharge. However, the G9 X has both in-body charging via USB, as well as a wall charger for the battery, so if you pick up a few spares, you should be able to get back to shooting quickly.

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Features

Some tradeoffs for size

Though this camera is undoubtedly intended to punch above its weight class, there are some apparent tradeoffs to get everything into its small chassis. It's not surprising, and most people who pick up the G9 X will happily do without things like 4K video if it means good image quality that fits in a pocket. I'm willing to bet that most would-be shooters of the G9 X will be perfectly happy with 1080p/30p video, and I don't think it's a big stretch to think that the heat, power, and storage problems posed by 4K video in a point and shoot are best avoided at this stage of the game unless you've really got it locked down.

For the social shooter, the G9 X boasts NFC/WiFi pairing like the rest of the G-series clan, allowing you to wirelessly port photos between camera and mobile device with relative ease. Canon's app could definitely use some TLC, but that's hardly a knock on the camera itself.

A photo of the Canon PowerShot G9X taken at PhotoPlus in New York City.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

The G9X's lens has a full-frame equivalent focal length of 28-84mm, with a maximum aperture of f/2-4.9

Though we'll need to take the camera into our labs before making any statement on image quality, there's a lot of things working for the G9 X. For example, despite its blocky shape, the camera has in-lens image stabilization to dispel motion blur when you're shooting without a death-grip on the G9 X.

Canon boasts that the Digic 6 processor in the G9 X grants the camera the ability to shoot up to 6 frames per second shooting JPEG only, but we weren't able to determine that (or the capacity) on the show floor. It's reasonable to assume that this will be about the case, but we'll report back when we have a full review up.

A photo of the Canon PowerShot G9X taken at PhotoPlus in New York City.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

The flash is toggled by releasing a small catch on the top of the camera.

For low-light shooting, the G9 X has an expanded ISO range of 125-12,800. Though the camera undoubtedly will suffer the natural consequences of shooting with high ISO speeds, having the option to grab a snap—even when not ideal—is better than not having it at all.

Conclusion

A promising low-end for the G-series

Canon has been putting in the hours to make its G-series point and shoots something special, and it shows. Though they've yet to offer commensurate features to Sony's competing models, Canon's design choices make a lot of sense, and sometimes it's better to stick to what works instead of swinging for the fences.

Giving a super-slim camera a 1-inch, 20.2-megapixel sensor is a coup when you consider the necessary hardware to make that happen. It's tough to say what the future holds for Canon's G-series, but it doesn't look too dim from this standpoint—Canon is attacking every niche it can with smartly-designed hardware.

A photo of the Canon PowerShot G9X taken at PhotoPlus in New York City.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Chris Thomas

The AF lamp hides near the front control ring.

That's not to say that this camera doesn't have its drawbacks, however. Despite being super easy to charge, the G9 X has a really poor battery life, which can be a dealbreaker for some. Even though the camera will have a comparatively small pricetag of $499.99 at launch in November 2015, you're going to need to budget in a battery or two on top of that.

Even if the G9 X is somewhat unique, there are always alternative models that can give just about any camera a run for its money. For example, if you have somewhat bigger pockets, you could spring for Sony's loaded-for-bear RX100 IV, or Canon's own G7 X if you want a wider aperture or a discount. If money is no object, Panasonic's GM1 and GM5 both have an even bigger sensor than the G9 X, but are definitely not as simple to use.

Still, this is one of the more exciting G-series cameras to date—even if it's because this is the shooter that meets its consumer with solid specs in a friendly package. If this is how the camera industry pivots after taking a hit from smartphones, I'm interested to see how this fight plays out.

Meet the tester

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas

Staff Writer, Imaging

@cthomas8888

A seasoned writer and professional photographer, Chris reviews cameras, headphones, smartphones, laptops, and lenses. Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink.

See all of Chris Thomas's reviews

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