Canon G7X III vs G5X II review - IN-DEPTH comparison! - Bilingual Subtitles
Hi, I'm Gordon from Camera Labs, and is my in-depth review of the Canon PowerShot G7X Mark 3 and G5X Mark 2.
Yep, I'm doing them both in one videos, they share so much in common, so I'll start with what's the same on both models,
then detail what makes them different from each other, along with their predecessors and key rivals.
So by the end of this video, you'll know exactly which one is best for you.
it.
The G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II are both high-end compact cameras launched in mid-2019.
Both share the same photo and video quality,
although the G7X Mark III is aimed more at vloggers, while the G5X Mark II is more of an EOS companion for stills photography.
At launch,
the G7X Mark III cost around £750 or dollars,
while the G5X Mark II cost around the Mark Both models arrived around the same time as Sony's latest RX100,
the MK7, and since they share a similar target market, I'll compare them throughout this video.
The Sony's higher-end feature set does however pitch it at a higher-end price of around £1,200 or
All three cameras employ 1-inch sensors with 20 megapixels and a stacked CMOS design for fast performance.
A 1-inch sensor has roughly four times the area of the sensor in your phone,
allowing it to deliver lower noise in shadows or dim conditions,
as well as retaining tonal details in bright highlights,
so the overall photo and video quality, not to mention stabilisation and ergonomics, should all be superior to a phone.
Both Canon models share the same flip screen which angles down by about 45 degrees or up
by 180 degrees to face you further vlogging or selfies.
Canon noticed some vloggers holding the camera by the screen so it's beefed up the mechanism over older models.
Canon's touch interface remains one of the best around,
letting you reposition the AF area,
tap the function options, swipe your way through the main menu pages, as well as swiping between images and playback.
Now this degree of touch functionality may seem obvious in the age of phones,
but it's yet to reach Sony's camp where the touch screen,
even on the latest RX100 Mark 7, has no effect on the menus and even minimal use in playback.
You can of course use the physical controls for navigation if you prefer and despite the
size of the cameras both cannons have very tactile buttons which to me personally felt much better than the ones on the Sony RX100's.
Both cannons also offer a dedicated exposure compensation dial with the main mode dial sat on top.
In contrast the Sony's lone mode dial is flush to its top surface making its more easier to slip into tighter pockets,
but losing out on the dedicated compensation control.
Cannons equip both the G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II with micro HDMI and USB-C ports,
whilst only stuck with micro USB on the RX100 Mark VII.
All three can charge their batteries internally over USB, although Canon also supplies an external AC charger.
All three can also be powered for operation over USB,
and while the Sony requires you to only have a trickle of charge in the battery for this to work,
the Canon's amazingly don't even need the battery to be fitted at all,
just connect it to a USB-C supply and you're good to go.
It worked fine with the charger for my 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Good job all three do allow easy USB charging and power delivery though,
as you're only looking at around 200 photos or about 60 minutes of video per charge.
All three cameras have good wireless features with both Wi-Fi for quick photo and video transfer and wireless remote control,
as well as Bluetooth for seamless location tagging via your phone as you shoot.
The G7X Model 3 takes us even further with YouTube live streaming, which I'll show you later.
In terms of video both canons can film half hour clips of 1080 video at 25,
30, 50 or 60p, depending on the video setting, although strangely there's no 24p option anywhere with no satisfactory explanation as to where it's gone.
High speed 1080 video is also available at 100 or 120p for slow motion and here's how it looks for a 4x slow down.
Sadly there's no sound or autofocus during high speed video on either canon, unlike the Sony RX100 Mark 7 which impressively supports both.
Not to mention allowing filming in 2x.
The G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II finally join the RX100 series in offering 4K video, although there's a few key differences.
Canon only lets you film 4K in 25 or 30p depending on the video setting, whilst Sony lets you choose between 24, 25 or 30p.
Canon's 4K video is uncropped compared to a minor crop for 4K on the Sony although in
my test the RX100 Mark VII's 4K video enjoy!
In terms of recording times, the cannons will record 10-minute clips of 4K compared to just 5-minute clips on the Sony.
Although if you reduce the heat warning on the RX100 Mark VII,
I found it could actually record just over an hour of 1080 or 4K footage on a single clip.
It does get pretty hot, but that's still impressive.
both Canon's employer contrast-based autofocus system, which attempt to refocus while filming, but with variable success.
In this clip,
using the touchscreen to pull focus between the Canon the foreground and the back of the shop,
the G5X Mark II is actually doing a fair job.
Although compared to the RX100 Mark VII here, and you'll see the phase detect autofocus on the Sony is just more confident.
You can really see the difference though when filming people.
Here G7X M3 needs a short pause for its focus to catch up with me and if I keep moving back and forth it struggles
to maintain a sharp image.
In contrast,
the phase detect auto focus system on the RX 100,
5, 6 and 7 feels much more confident keeping me sharper as I move back and forth.
Both canons however enjoy a key advantage over the Sony RX-107 when it comes to filming video,
and that's the presence of a built-in neutral-density filter,
which when enabled makes it easier to deploy motion-friendly shutter speeds in bright conditions.
In contrast,
if you want to film with slower shutter speeds on the RX-107,
you'll need to either fit a third-party magnetic filter system,
close the aperture down and miss out on the blurred background, or just seek out the image.
Otherwise, you're looking at using faster shutter speeds with a undesirable choppy effect.
If you're integrating video,
the best option on the Canon's is the neutral profile seen here on the right, with all the parameters turned to their lowest settings.
The Sony's are better in this regard with the Flatter S-Log profiles, an example here on the right.
In this test, I'm focusing between near and far using a single AF area on the RX100 Mark 7.
Here the camera uses a combination of phase and contrast detect water focus and gets the job done pretty quickly and effectively.
Now, for the Canon G7X Mark III, which uses contrast-based autofocus only, and while there's
inevitably some hunting at each end as a consequence, it's still fairly swift.
But the real differences between these cameras comes with continuous autofocus and burst shooting.
The G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II share the same burst shooting capabilities with a
top speed of 20 frames per second in single AF mode.
You can see it in action here as the block is dropped in the water,
although if you want to refocus on the subject moving towards or away from you with Servo AF enabled,
the burst speed falls to 8 frames per second.
Here's the G7x Marl 3 attempting to refocus on me,
simply walking towards the camera, and you can see its contrast-based AF system becomes much less confident.
When set to servo AF for continuous autofocus,
you also lose face detection and are limited to a single AF area, so whoa be tired if you move away from it.
In stark contrast,
here's Cerny's RX100 Mark VII shooting at 20 frames per second with no viewfinder blackout and with face and eye detection working just fine with continuous
autofocus across the camera.
while its phase detect auto focus system is just much more confident for repocusing on moving subjects than the contrast based systems on the cannons.
The Sony will even now offer eye detection for animals.
The Sony is also perfectly at home capturing faster moving subjects such as bend cycling
towards me here at 200mm F4.5 and at 20mm F4 per second.
Sure, the depth of field isn't that challenging on this camera, but the Sony simply does so much better than both of the cameras in this regard when it comes
to sports, action and wildlife, and that includes active kids and pets.
It reaches further and effectively focus on moving subjects wherever they are in the frame.
With the G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II,
Canon also introduced a new raw burst mode which exploits the speed of the stacked sensor to shoot a burst of raw files at 30 frames per
second for up to a generous 70 frames.
Better still it offers a pre-shooting option that keeps a rolling buffer of the last half seconds worth of action as you keep the shutter half
pressed.
push down fully, these last 15 images are committed to memory plus up to 55 more depending on how long you keep the button pressed.
These are stored in a single large file which can be navigated during playback on the cameras.
You can then convert these into jpeg or raw files.
You can see it in action here with the vertical bar on the left representing the state of the buffer filling as I half pressed the shutter.
I then pushed it fully the moment I saw the block enter the frame by which time it had already hit the water.
Without the benefit of pre-shooting I'd have missed the initial impact but thanks to the half second in the bank I can effectively rewind and extract JPEGs or raw files of the key moments.
You do as many of these as you like.
It's not dissimilar to the 4 and 6K photo modes on the Panasonic cameras,
but they operate at low resolutions and only allow you to extract.
Now, not to be outdone, Sony also introduced a new higher speed mode on the RX100 Mark
7, which can shoot up to 90 frames per second, but only for a measly 7 JPEG images and crucially
without the useful benefit of pre-buffering, making it almost impossible to time the extremely short burst to correspond with your moment of action.
The cannons and Sony can now also preserve the orientation of video filmed vertically for use on Instagram stories or other phone apps.
On the cannons you can choose whether the original orientation is respected or not,
but in a crucial difference with the RX100 Mark VII,
I found the Canon app imported video with sound as you'd expect on my phone,
whereas the Sony app didn't import audio onto my phone I think this is actually an incompatibility with the audio in Sony's XAVCS and Android
phones, and I resolved it by converting the file on my computer, but that's
nowhere near as convenience as just wirelessly copying the videos from the cannons onto your phone
and being able to post them as stories straight away.
Wrapping up the other features are a menu system that more resembles EOS cameras with identical sharpening in the picture styles,
focus bracketing, although not stacking in camera, and a star mode which can now generate 4K videos.
Ok, so that's covered everything the Canon G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II have in common, now for what makes them different.
Most obviously there's their respective zoom ranges of 24-100mm on the G7X Mark III versus 24-120mm on the G5X Mark III.
Here's how the G7X3's range looks zooming from 24 to its longest 100mm while filming 4K video.
Now for the G5X Mark II's range,
starting at the same 24mm wide angle, but zooming longer to 120mm, giving it greater flexibility as a do-it-all walk around camera.
The lens on the G5X Mark II also proved a little sharper than the G7X Mark III in my tests.
Here's a shot I took with both cameras at 24mm F4,
that's the aperture where I found them both performing at their best,
and I'll now show you crops taken from the five areas marked by the red rectangles.
The G7X Mark III crops are on the left, and G5X Mark II crops are on the right.
The biggest differences are towards the edges and corners where the G5X Mark II is visibly sharper.
Towards the middle of the frame,
there's less difference, but I'd still say the G5X Mark II lens is a little crisper and more contrasty than the G7X Mark III.
But there's more.
Both cannons have a closest focusing distance of 5cm when zoomed wide to 24mm,
and here's an image showing the kind of depth of field you can expect at close range with the aperture opened fully.
The Canon G7X Mark III is on the left,
the G5X Mark II is in the middle,
and on the right is the Sony RX100 Mark Both cannons allowed an aperture of f1.8 at 24 mil,
while the Sony's maximum aperture at 24 mil is f2.8, so you can compare the depth of field here.
And I also took this at 8 centimetres, which is the closest focusing distance of the Sony when it's at 24 millimetres.
Zoom-age camera to their telephoto end though and their respective closest focusing distances vary considerably.
The Sony RX100 Mark VII's closest focusing when it zoomed to 200mm is 100cm, it will not focus close to the mic.
The G7x Mark III's closest focusing distance when it zoomed to 100mm is 40cm,
while the G5x Mark II's closest focusing distance when it zoomed to 120mm is 20cm, a light focus much closer when zoomed in.
But what does that all mean in practice for micro shooters?
Well, here's the Cernier X100 Mark VII zoomed into its longest focal length at 200mm and
shot from its closest focusing distance when it zoomed Now,
here's the G7X Mark III,
again at its longest focal length of 100mm and its closest distance of 40cm and despite only zooming to 100mm and 200mm,
the ability to focus closer than the Sony has allowed a slightly bigger reproduction,
but do kind of balance each other out and deliver a fairly similar result here.
But now here's the G5X Mark II and its longest focal length of 120mm and its closest focusing
distance of 20cm and the difference is dramatic.
It can focus so much closer than the G7X Mark III or RX100 Mark VII when zoomed in,
allowing impressive close-ups without the distortion you'd normally get at wide angle.
Indeed, when weighing up the G5X Mark II against the G7X Mark III, the longer zoom range,
crisper optics and closer focusing distance, at least at the telephoto end, all make it more tempting to photographers.
But how do they all compare at more typical portraits?
To illustrate the impact to their telephoto differences,
here's a portrait shot taken with a G7X Mark III at 100mm F2.8 and now here's one taken with a G5X Mark II at 120mm
F2.8.
Now, it can be fairly subtle, but I prefer the perspective and slightly shallow depth of field on the G5X Mark II version.
Just for comparison,
here's the Sony RX100 Mark at 120mm to match the coverage of the but where it operates at a slower F F For me,
the biggest difference between the Canon and Sony images here isn't the depth of field,
or even the benefit of being able to use the lower ISO on the brighter Canon lens,
but it's actually the image processing and colours out of camera.
Now this is entirely personal,
but I prefer the look of the portrait on the left from the G5X Mod 2,
versus the one on the right from the Sony RX100 Mark 7.
Let me know which one you prefer in the comments.
Beyond the longer zoom, another major difference between the two cannons is the built-in viewfinder on the G5X Mark II.
It pops up and is pulled outwards in a two-step motion which isn't as quick or convenient as the one-touch movement on the Cernier X100 6 and 7,
but simply having a viewfinder of any description made the G5X Mark II just much more pleasant to use for general photography than the G7X Mark III.
I shot with both cameras side by side and really missed having it on the G7X Mark III.
it does add to the price and if you're mostly vlogging you'll be using the screen on the G7X.
Before you think all the benefits are skewed towards the G5X Mark II, the G7X Mark III fights back with a 3.5mm microphone input.
This allows you to connect to microphone for far better audio quality on movies and while there's no hot shoe for mounting an accessory,
you can easily use a bracket or simply connect to lavmark directly.
The ability to connect to mic is pretty unique on a camera of this size, although Sony's RX100 Mark VII also has one.
Thanks I have a separate video comparing these three cameras for vlogging,
along with one dedicated to the G7X Mar 3 alone which demonstrates their audio, video and stabilisation.
The G7X Mar 3 extends its superior credentials over its sibling for video by offering the chance to live stream direct to YouTube over WiFi.
Here's an example in action.
Hi, I'm Gordon from Camera Labs and I'm live streaming direct to YouTube using the Canon
Powershot G7x Mark This is one of the very first cameras that I've tested to allow
this facility at least a camera with a decent sized sensor.
And it's pretty easy to set up.
All you do is connect the G7x Mark III to your WiFi network.
In this instance, I'm using my home WiFi, which uses a virgin media in the UK broadband connection.
not always a great upload, so let's see how the quality on this looks.
I'm filming in a very equity place in my house, I'm afraid, so the sound isn't going to be very good.
But I was a little bit further away from my access point,
well, I just wasn't getting the connection speed, so I'm right next to it.
Now, so fingers crossed, this is going to work fine.
Now, the other important In my tests at home on my Virgin Broadband, I the port upload speed, typically around
5 megabits per second at best, was insufficient to keep a live stream going for more than about 2 minutes.
I had even less joy tethering to 4G on my 3 mobile connection and brighten peer, I don't worry.
when it cuts out, that's me, not you.
Keep watching and you'll see.
The sun never shines in England, well I do sometimes, but I would say.
So in both cases I couldn't stream effectively, but I believe that's down to my own internet speeds.
Your mileage will of course vary,
and if you have faster internet,
whether it's a home, at the office, or even in a mobile environment, you should be able to livestream for longer.
Either way, it's a cool new feature that I've not seen on any of the camera of its class.
While the zoom range,
viewfinder, microphone input and live streaming are the main differences between the G5X Mark II and G7X Mark III, there are a number of subtle variations on
their bodies.
Both have clicky lens control rings,
which no longer de-click for smooth operation, like the older models, but they look and feel different to each other.
Here's the G7.
ring.
And now here's the G5X Mark II's ring.
Meanwhile Sony's gone for a silent smooth lens ring which is great for video but gives no tactile feedback for general photography.
Give me the clicky one.
Both cannons have small but effective front grips that make them far more comfortable to hold and use than the smooth fronted Sony's.
Here's the G7X Mark III's grip, and now here's the G5X Mark II's grip, which is slightly different in styling.
The viewfinder on the G5X Mark II means its pop-up flash is now positioned in the middle of the body versus the corner on the G7X Mark III.
Both flashes can be popped up and held manually in a position pointing upwards for an improvised balance effect,
although their mod size means you'd need a very low roof and close subject to enjoy any impact.
Both cameras share the same screen articulation,
although a strip along the top of the G5X mod 2's display actually makes it a little bit easier to fold down for shooting above.
Both have movie record buttons on the rear, but the G7X Mark III adds an extra touch record button in the corner of its screen.
And finally, the shutter release buttons on both bodies are actually slightly different.
It's a little bit domed on the G7X Mark III,
but slightly indented on the G5X Mark II,
and to my own fingers,
I'm To be honest,
none of these design differences are significant,
but it is interesting how Canon's made two otherwise very similar-looking cameras feel slightly different when used side-by-side.
Okay, now for some further examples, taken with both models, all JPEGs out of
camera, where they share essentially the same quality in output, up to 100mm, leaving the G5X Mark
II to extend a little further to 120mm with a long end.
As I mentioned earlier,
I enjoyed having the extra range of the G5X Mark II,
but still found the 24-100mm zoom on the G7X Mark III fine for general use.
Of course,
if you desire longer reach,
still, Cerny's RX100 Mark VII extends considerably longer to 200mm, but in return for a dimmer lens with less chance of blurring and a great
reliance on higher ISO sensitivities, not to mention an absence of that useful ND filter.
Now, while both the Canon's and Sony delivered great-looking results outside, I personally
preferred the colors and tones from the Canon's inside or in lower light.
It's not that the Sony looked bad in this respect and in isolation actually looked fine,
but next to the Canon's I personally preferred the way that they looked over the Sony.
Again, it's all personal, so let me know what you think in the comments.
The bottom line is both Canon cameras delivered great-looking images out of camera under any of the conditions I tried them in.
Just before wrapping up, let's take a look at the high ISO noise by examining crops made from the red rectangular area at each sensitivity.
I'll pitch the G5X2 results on the left,
which also represents the G7X Mark III because they both have the same central image processor, while the RX100 Mark VII crops are...
These are all JPEGs straight out of camera once more,
and while there's some differences in brightness and tonal processing, the degree of actual detail resolved is similar from both sensors and processors.
Not that surprising,
since they share the same size,
resolution and probably the same manufacturer too,
although the RX-107 does have a newer version As such,
I'd say the very finest tonal details are beginning to smear up 400-800 ISO,
while overall reductions in detail kick in around 1600 ISO, especially beyond 3200 ISO.
If you're interested in video performance in particular, check out my separate RX100 Mark 7 review and my comparison of all three cameras for vlogging.
As for this video, it's time for the verdict.
With the G7X Model 3 and G5X Model 2,
Canon's delivered a pair of classy compacts which deliver good-looking photos and videos with a number of useful upgrades over their predecessors.
So I'm a shed, such as the 4K video and fast burst shooting, while others steer them towards specific tasks.
As I said at the start of the video,
while both models deliver the same quality photos,
The microphone input and live streaming make the G7X mod 3 more appealing to vloggers,
while the viewfinder and slightly longer zoom range of the G5X mod 2 will attract stills photographers.
The decision to dump the cute mini DSLR designer,
the original G5X with its viewfinder hump, side screen and multiple dials, will be seen by many, including myself as a bit of a shame.
And there's no denying the result is a camera that now looks and feels a great deal like the G7X.
Indeed the latest G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II shares so much in common that it's hard not to wonder whether it would have been better to just create
a single model with the microphone input, live streaming viewfinder and longer zoom all in one.
that's proven very successful for the Sony.
Conversely, having a model without a viewfinder allows the G7X Mark III to hit a lower and much more attractive price point than the Sony's.
In terms of their overall performance,
I the look of the photos out of the cannons and found their grips, buttons and controls all superior to the Sony RX100 series.
I enjoyed shooting with them a lot more.
On the other hand,
the autofocus on the cannon still falls way behind that of the Sony's RX100 5,
6 and 7,
which all boast phase-detect autofocus, which boosts confidence not just for sports and action photography, but also vlogging or simple handheld videos.
The will focus if you give them time,
but you need quicker or constant response for videos or burst shooting, the Sony's are simply way ahead.
But then the cheapest RX100 with phase detector to focus is the MK5A,
which still costs 100 more than the G5X MK2, and 250 more than the G7X MK3.
And remember the 5A has a shorter zoom than the cannons, and no touchscreen either.
Choose the Sony with the longer zoom and touchscreen, and you're looking at spending considerable time.
So while it's easy to criticise Canon on falling behind Sony in terms of autofocus,
burst tracking, 4K quality or even a single action viewfinder, it is important to take pricing into consideration.
Yes, the RX100 Mark 7 does a great deal, but it's the price of a mid-range interchangeable lens camera with a lens.
Admittedly, one that won't fit in your pocket, but it's still a serious option to weigh up.
In contrast, the two canons are comfortably cheaper, making them an easier prospect to swallow.
As someone who shoots both stills and video, I'm finding it hard to pick between the two new cannons.
The viewfinder on the G5X mod 2 transforms the compositional experience,
but then the microphone for an input on the G7X mod 3 transforms the As
mod who on ultimately as a hybrid shooter I'd personally probably go for the G5X Mark 2 and use an external sound recorder when required.
But to choose features would also make me look towards Sony and wonder if they'd ever do an RX100 Mark 5A with a microphone input.
That camera does it all then.
Even if they did though I remained very fond of Canon's output and ergonomics and it was revealing that when I handed it all to...
showed them images from each, more of them sided with the cannon's look and feel over the technical prowess of the Sony.
As for the existing G7X Mark II owners out there,
the upgrade to 4K, live streaming and especially a microphone input made the G7X Mark III an attractive upgrade.
But if you're only looking for a boost in sound quality and don't mind syncing audio in the edit later,
you could just get yourself a sound recorder instead, like the Zoom H1N.
Right, that's it for this video, I hope you found it useful and don't forget if
you're into vlogging,
do check out my separate video comparing the quality and features of the Canon G7X Mark III, G5X Mark II and Sony RX100 Mark II.
As always,
there's also links to check the latest pricing on all the products I've mentioned below,
as well as to treat me to a coffee or to treat yourself to a camera lab's t-shirt or my in-camera book.
Most importantly, if you like mine or indeed anyone's videos, you can really help our channels grow with a like and a follow.
Thanks again and I'll see you next time.
Unlock More Features
Install the Trancy extension to unlock more features, including AI subtitles, AI word definitions, AI grammar analysis, AI speaking, etc.
Compatible with Major Video Platforms
Trancy not only provides bilingual subtitle support for platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Udemy, Disney+, TED, edX, Kehan, Coursera, but also offers AI word/sentence translation, full-text immersive translation, and other features for regular web pages. It is a true all-in-one language learning assistant.
Supports All Platform Browsers
Trancy supports all platform browsers, including iOS Safari browser extension.
Multiple Viewing Modes
Supports theater, reading, mixed, and other viewing modes for a comprehensive bilingual experience.
Multiple Practice Modes
Supports sentence dictation, oral evaluation, multiple-choice, dictation, and other practice modes.
AI Video Summary
Use OpenAI to summarize videos and quickly grasp key content.
AI Subtitles
Generate accurate and fast YouTube AI subtitles in just 3-5 minutes.
AI Word Definitions
Tap on words in the subtitles to look up definitions, with AI-powered definitions.
AI Grammar Analysis
Analyze sentence grammar to quickly understand sentence meanings and master difficult grammar points.
More Web Features
In addition to bilingual video subtitles, Trancy also provides word translation and full-text translation for web pages.