Amateur_Photographer_-_04_October_2019

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 28 September 2019 43

Noise

AtISO160,JPEGsproducea

figurejustover3,400l/ph,

althoughwithcarefulprocessing

it’spossibletosqueezeoutupto

3,600l/phfromrawfiles.The

clearmessagehereis thatif you

wanttoextractasmuchdetail

aspossiblefromtheG7X MkIII,

you’rebetteroffshootingin raw

andprocessing imagesyourself.

Resolution

FEATURES 8/10

BUILD& HANDLING 8/10

METERING 8/10

AUTOFOCUS 8/10

AWB& COLOUR 8/10

DYNAMICRANGE 7/10

IMAGEQUALITY 8/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 8/10

+Verygoodimagequality

+Plentyofusefulfeatures

+Small,lightandeasilypocketable

+Capableof4Kvideocaptureand

YouTubelivestreaming

• Displaycanbehardtoseeclearly
  in brightsunlight


• Touchscreencould be fiddly for
  larger fingers

For and against

AtISO 125 and200,JPEGandrawimagesarefreeofnoise

anddisplayplentyoffinedetail.AtISO 400 someslight

lossofdetailbeginstooccurwhenviewingimages1:1,

althoughit reallydoesn’timpacttheoverallimage

quality.It’sonlyatISO 1600 thatnoisestartstogetsmore

noticeable.Beyondthispoint,noisewillbemuchharder

toignore,even whenviewingimagesatsmallersizes.

RAW ISO 100 RAW ISO 400 RAW ISO 1600

RAW ISO 6400 RAW ISO 12,800 RAW ISO 25,600

RAW

ISO 25,600

RAW

ISO 6400

RAW

ISO 100

Belowaredetails
takenfromour
resolutiontestchart
pattern (shown above)

Whilethemaximumzoomreachdoesn’tlend

itselftocapturingfaraway,fast-movingaction,

the20.1MPresolutionletsyoucropintoyour

photosandproducereasonableresults

100mm equivalent, 1/320sec at f/4, ISO 400

TheG7X MarkIII is a lovely

pocketcamerathatwereally

enjoyedusing.There’splentyof

scopetosetthecameraupvia

itsvariousJPEGprocessing

optionstogetexactlythelook

youwant,whiletheabilityto

shootrawalsoprovidesscope

toprocessimagesyourselfafter

thepointof capture.Eitherway,

it deliversonitspromiseof

producingimagesof a notably

higherqualitythanyoucould

expectof a smartphonecamera

• evena high-endone.
  Whiletheadditionof a built-in
  externalmicrophoneinput
  alongsideflip-upLCDdisplay,
  built-inYouTubelivestreaming
  and4Kmovie-recording
  abilitiesmarktheG7X Mark
  III outasanexcellentchoice
  forthosewithaninterestin
  onlinevideoblogging,the
  cameraexcelsasa stillimage
  cameratoo.Forthoseseeking
  somethingtheycaneasilycarry
  in theirpocketandthatwillgive
  themmoreadvancedcontrols
  andbetterresultsthana
  smartphone,theG7X MarkIII
  is a seriouscontender.Wehave
  nohesitationin recommending
  it purely on its own merits.

Verdict

grabbingnewfeature,theG7X
MarkIII alsoenjoysa notable
boostin performanceoverits
predecessorthankstotheaddition
of a Digic8 imageprocessor.
Thisis mostnotablein termsof the
maximumburstspeed,whichhas
risenfrom8fpsto20fps.This
putsit intothesamebracketas
Sony’slatestRX100VIIpremium
compact,althoughat around
£1,199theRX100VIIis obviously
quitea bitmoreexpensive,making
it moreof a directrivaltothe
CanonG5X MarkII. LiketheG5X
MarkII, theRX100VIIalsosports
a pop-up electronic viewfi nder.

Autofocusmodesextendtoa

FaceDetection+ Trackingmode

thatwillprioritisefacesbutcan

alsobeusedtotrackmoving

subjectssimplybyselectingthe

desiredpointof focusonthe

touchscreen.Duringtesting

wemustadmittobeingpretty

impressedwiththeG7X Mark

III’strackingperformance,with

thecameradeliveringconsistently

sharpresultswhenfacedwith

movingsubjects.OtherAFoptions

includea moveable1-pointAF,

whichagainis selectedusingthe

touchscreenalongwitha more

precise Spot AF that provides a

smallerfocusboxthanOnePoint

AFformoreprecisionwhen

required.Lastbutnotleastis a

manualfocusmodethatcanbe

activatedviathecontrolwheelat

thebaseof thelens.

ShootingJPEGs,wewereable

torecord 85 consecutiveimages

in justunderfivesecondsbefore

thebufferfilled.In rawthis

droppedtoapproximately

48 imagesin justunderthree

seconds,whilein JPEG+ raw

capturewealsomanaged

approximately 48 imagesin

justunderthreeseconds.

Impressive fi gures!

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