Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-07-26)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 20 July 2019 9

First impressions

G7XMarkIIItargets

vloggers and bloggers

ASWELLASbeing

a populargeneral-

purposepocketcamera,

Canon’sG7X seriesof

compactshasbecome

a hitwithYouTubersand

vloggerswho’dliketocarry

a small,capablecameraat

alltimes.Improvingwhere

theG7X MarkII leftoff,

theG7X MarkIII shares

manyof itscorefeatures

withtheG5X MarkII,

includingits1in,20.1MP

stackedCMOSsensor;

DIGIC8 imageprocessor;

high-speedburstshooting

at up to 30fps; and touch

All-in-one travel lens

arrives in RF mount

CANONlookstobeontracktohititsgoalof

releasingsixnewlensesintoitsRF-mountlineupthis

year,withtheRF24-240mmF4-6.3IS USMbeingthe

latestzoomtobelaunched.Thearrivalcan’tcomesoon

enoughforCanonEOSRPandEOSR userswho’dlike

anall-in-onelensfortravelling.It featuresCanon’sNano

USMtechnologytoprovidefastandquietautofocusand

providesopticalimagestabilisationthat’seffectiveto

5 stops.It benefits froma focus/controlring,zoomlock,

hasa minimumfocusingdistanceof 0.5m(wideangle)

and0.78m(telephoto)andaccepts72mmfiltersand

adapters. Available from September, it’ll cost £899.99.

modethatinitiates30fpsburst
shootingin theCR3Raw format for
upto 70 frames.

Pop-upelectronicviewfinder
Thekeytalkingpointis thepop-upEVF.
It verymuchsharesa likenesstotheone
SonyintroducedontheRX100III in
2014,butfeaturesa higherresolution
of 2.36milliondots,noblackoutduring
continuousshootinganda 120fps
refreshrateforsmoothviewingwhen
photographingortrackingfast-moving
subjects.Afterthefinderswitchis flicked
at theside,theeyepiecerequirespulling
outbeforetheEVFcanbeused.The
beautyof thisdesignis thatit helpskeep
thebodyslimlineandeasytostowin a
jacketpocket.Thepop-upflash,like
theEVF,sitsflushtothetopplatewhen
notin use.Attherearthevari-angle
screenof oldis replacedbya tilt-angle
touchscreen.Thissupportstouchand
dragAF,andit hasaneye-sensorbuiltin
justaboveit toautomaticallyengagethe
EVFwhenit’sraisedtoyoureye.
Topreventaccidentalpressesof the
movie-recordbutton,thishasbeen
shiftedbelowthethumbrest.Onthe
topic of video, the camera records 4K

moviesat 30fpswithnocropof the

sensorandallowsuserstograbstill

imagesfrom4Kvideousingitsframe

grabtool.It alsohastheabilitytoshoot

highframeratevideowithfixedAF

at upto120fpsin FullHD.Elsewhere,

there’stheoptiontochoosefromeight

well-knownEOSpicturestylepresets,

it inheritsthehorizontalandvertical

panoramashotmodefromtheG1X

MarkIII andtheAutoLightingOptimizer

hasbeenimprovedbyaddinga new

‘Strong’settingthat’sintendedtoreduce

highlightblowoutin exceptionallybright

areas.Otherimprovementshavebeen

madetotheStarModeshooting

performance,whichnowusesthe

electronicshutterratherthan

mechanicalshuttertoreducevibration.

Therefinedfocus-bracketingfunction

nowalsoletsyousetthenumberof

shots(uptoa maximumof 100)aswell

asthestepwidthof focustocreate

imageswitha largedepthof field.

TomakeCanon’sPowerShotmodels

morefamiliartoexistingEOSusers,

Canonhaschangeditscompactcamera

userinterfacetoa moreEOS-like

version.Naturally,thecameraalsohas

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built-in.

CANONhastakena differentdirectionwithitsG5X MarkII andmadea conscious
efforttomakeit moretravelfriendlyandconvenientforthosewhowanta camera
that’seasytocarry.Thepop-upEVFis a strokeof genius,butyoudohavetoforgo
a hotshoeandit doesn’tfacilitatepoweringthecameraupordown.Thefeelof the
camerain thehandis good,butI didnoticethefinishof thelenscontrolringis rather
plastickyanddoesn’tturnaspositivelyasthatontheoriginalG5X.Thosecoming
fromtheG5X arelikelytomissthefront-mounteddial,butbyremovingit the
camerahasa sleeker-lookingaesthetic.It’sgreattoseeCanonanswerthecritics
of itssluggishburstspeedwithfastercontinuousshooting,butnoteveryonewill
appreciatetheshiftfromfullyarticulatedscreentotheless-manoeuvrabletilt-type.
Overall,theG5X MarkII lookspromising.I successfullysqueezedit in mytrouser
pocketdespiteit beinga camerathat’sintendedtobecarriedin a jacketpocket.It
hasa closerresemblancetotheG7X seriesnowthatit haslostitsSLRstylingand
sitsbelowCanon’stop-of-the-linepremiumzoomcompact,theG1X MarkIII.With
review samples just a week or two away, you can expect a full review very soon.

AP’sreviewseditor

triestheG5X MarkII’s

new viewfinder

anddragAFonitsreartilt

screen.It lacksa pop-up

EVF,butdoeshavea small

pop-upflashandbuilt-in

NDfilter.Mostof thenew

featuresaredesignedwith

vloggersandmoviemakers

in mind,offering4K-movie

outputat 30fps,a 3.5mm

microphoneinput,120fps

movieshootingat FullHD,

livestreamingtoYouTube

andtheoptiontorecord

videoin theverticalformat

forInstagram.It’llbe

availablefromearlyAugust

in silveraswellasblack,

and will cost £699.99.

The lens will be sold with the Canon EOS RP for £1,999.

The G7 X Mark III’s zoom covers a 24-100mm focal length