Canon PowerShot G5 X Review - Review 2022

The 1-inch sensor size has proven to exist a winner in the compact camera space. Once exclusive to Sony, it's now available in models from other manufacturers. Competition is proficient for innovation and customer choice, and the Canon PowerShot G5 X ($799.99) certainly hits a niche. From an optical standpoint, it's the aforementioned camera as the pocket-friendly G7 X ($536.00 at Amazon) . Just its body is a fleck bulkier, calculation an integrated EVF, a hot shoe, and a vari-bending brandish. We still give the Editors' Choice border to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 Iii ($598.00 at Amazon) , since it manages to include an EVF in a more compact course factor. Only the G5 X might appeal if you want a fleck more zoom range and prefer a camera that'south larger than pocket-size, and information technology offers splendid image quality in its own correct.

Blueprint
The G5 X ($699.00 at Walmart) is beefy for a meaty camera, only it's not huge. It's a little besides big to slide into a pair of jeans, but information technology's a fine fit for a coat pocket or small handbag. Information technology measures 3 by 4.4 past 1.7 inches (HWD) and weighs thirteen.3 ounces. Compare that with the G7 Ten, which has the aforementioned sensor and lens; it measures 2.4 past 4.one past ane.6 inches and weighs 10.7 ounces. The congenital-in EVF and hot shoe add some bulk, as does the vari-angle LCD, which can swing out to the side of the trunk if desired.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

The lens is a 24-100mm (full-frame equivalent) zoom with a variable f/1.8-ii.8 discontinuity. It covers the same wide-angle field of view as the RX100 III and RX100 Iv ($798.00 at Dell) , but zooms in a bit more than. Both competing Sony models take 24-70mm f/1.viii-2.8 zooms, and then the actress achieve offered by the Canon is a plus. The lens has a leaf shutter (so it can sync with the in-torso flash or with an external flash at any speed up to 1/2,000-second), and an integrated 3-stop neutral density filter. You can activate the ND filter manually, or set the camera to automatically enable it when needed to get a proper exposure.

The G5 X has iii control wheels—one around the lens, one only above the handgrip on the front end plate, and one on the rear plate. The wheel above the handgrip adjusts aperture or shutter speed (depending on mode) by default. The lens control band just has a default behavior when in Manual mode—aperture command. I reprogrammed information technology to act equally a step zoom when shooting in discontinuity or shutter priority, but be enlightened that you'll need to customize its part for each separate manner. This gives you lot plenty of flexibility, but information technology does require you to spend a bit of time configuring the camera to your liking. Several rear controls—the flat control dial, exposure lock push button, flick tape button, and AF frame select push button—tin be adapted in the same manner.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

The meridian plate houses the mode dial, to the left of the hot shoe and EVF. The power push, zoom rocker, shutter release, and EV bounty dial (which tin be set from -3 to +3 EV in third-finish increments) sit to the right of the hot shoe and EVF. The rear controls are bundled in a column, underneath the EV punch. The movie button is recessed into a rubberized thumb grip, with the exposure lock and AF frame select buttons straight beneath it. The rear dial has iv directional presses (AF/drive mode, Flash, Info, and Macro/MF), likewise as the middle Q/Set push button. Playback and Carte buttons sit at the bottom of the cavalcade.

The Q card is an on-screen display that runs along the sides of the Alive View feed and gives you lot access to a number of settings that aren't mapped to physical buttons or dials. The left cavalcade includes the AF manner, image quality control, video resolution and frame rate adjustment, the self-timer, neutral density filter control, and the metering pattern. The right column adjusts ISO and white residue, equally well as color, dynamic range, and shadows. The menu can be navigated via bear on or by using the rear control dial.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

Like other contempo Canon cameras, the G5 Ten includes a Creative Shot way. It automatically applies a number of artistic filters and crops to your photos, saving the original image and v filtered shots along with it. Filters are applied automatically, simply you do accept some control over the pool from which the G5 10 selects. You can set information technology to fully automatic filtering, or limit the options to Monochrome, Natural, Retro, and Special effects. Artistic Shot is only bachelor for JPG image capture.

The rear LCD is splendid, just as yous'd wait from a premium camera. It's a 3-inch touch on panel with a well-baked one,040k-dot resolution. It's mounted on a hinge, then it can swing out to the side, confront forward, upwardly, or downwards, and you can hibernate it against the torso to protect it during ship or for those times when you want to use the EVF exclusively. You lot can utilise the bear on functionality to swipe through photos during playback, navigate menus, or tap on an area of the frame to fix focus.

The EVF is of the same quality as the EVF-DC1 ($188.00 at Amazon) addition that works with other G cameras, including the G3 X and the G1 X Mark II ($296.00 at Amazon) . Information technology has a 2.36-one thousand thousand-dot resolution, and is fairly large to the eye—just slightly smaller than an EVF that you'd discover on a adept mirrorless camera like the Panasonic G7 ($447.99 at Amazon) . In that location is an eye sensor, which automatically switches the video feed from the rear LCD to the EVF.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Remote Control

The G5 X also incorporates Wi-Fi into its feature set. Images and videos can be copied to an Android or iOS device by mode of the free Canon Photographic camera Connect app. The simply caveat is that Raw image transfer isn't supported, so you'll want to ready the camera to Raw+JPG if y'all want the flexibility of Raw epitome capture and the convenience of immediate social sharing of photos.

Remote control is likewise available via the app. You lot can adjust the focal length of the lens, tap on an area of the frame to focus, and control aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation. Finally, you can log your location and add GPS metadata to images, so you know where you were when the photo was captured. Just make sure your phone's clock and camera clock are synchronized for the all-time results.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

In improver to the hot shoe, which works with Catechism Speedlites too equally wireless triggers like the PocketWizard ($89.00 at Amazon) , the G5 X has a trio of ports on its right side, protected by a rubber flap. There'southward a connector for a wired remote control, a micro USB connector, and a micro HDMI port. The SD/SDHC/SDXC memory menu slot is located on the bottom, in the bombardment compartment. A wall charger is included; in-photographic camera charging is not supported.

Performance and Prototype Quality Canon PowerShot G5 X : Benchmark Tests
The G5 Ten starts, focuses, and fires in about 2 seconds. That's a typical result for a compact camera, which requires some time for the lens to extend from the body. The RX100 Three, past comparing, takes 2.two seconds to start and shoot. The outburst shooting rate varies based on file format; if yous're shooting in JPG way the G5 Ten tin rattle off shots at 6.3fps, but if you opt for Raw or Raw+JPG shooting the speed slows to 0.8fps. Compare that with the Sony, which can capture Raw images at half dozen.6fps and JPGs at 10fps.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

The G5 X focuses very quickly, requiring just 0.05-second to lock focus and burn. There are two focus modes, Confront AiAf and 1-Betoken. The former incorporates face detection and looks for focus across the entirety of the frame, while the latter only looks for focus in a small box that you can select via affect or concrete controls. Discipline tracking is available in Face AiAf. I institute that when using the G5 X in Confront AiAf that the focus was consistently quick and accurate. You have more than control over what'due south exactly in focus when using the 1-Indicate method, but if you've got the box over an area of the frame with depression dissimilarity, the G5 X tin neglect to learn focus. When this happens you're greeted with a xanthous outline and assertion signal, rather than the green outline of a successful focus lock. It doesn't happen often.

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The G5 Ten uses the same lens and sensor every bit the G7 Ten, and then I expected to see like performance. Imatest shows that to be the case for the most part. At 24mm f/1.8 the G5 X scores 2,278 lines on a middle-weighted sharpness exam; that'due south meliorate than the 1,800 lines we wait for in an image. The outer third of the frame is soft, nonetheless, showing about 1,550 lines. That's a disappointment when compared with the Sony RX100 3, which is consistently sharp beyond the frame at its widest angle and aperture. Stopping downward doesn't do anything to improve functioning here; sharpness is consistent through f/5.half dozen, and there'due south a significant drop in epitome quality at f/8 and f/11 due to diffraction—you should avoid stopping the lens downward that far.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

At 50mm the maximum aperture has narrowed to f/ii.five. Epitome quality is very strong here, with a ii,437-line centre-weighted score and edges that hit two,150 lines. The G5 10 is consistent through f/five.6, and again, diffraction takes a toll at f/8 and f/11—avert those settings.

Our exam sample of the G7 10 showed some weakness at 100mm when compared with wider focal lengths, scoring just 1,985 lines with noticeably soft edges. The G5 Ten fares improve. It scores two,434 lines at 100mm, with crisp image quality fifty-fifty at the edges of the frame. In that location's a slight drop at f/5.6 (2,200 lines) and f/eight (2,142 lines). Don't shoot at f/11; the drop in clarity is more than significant in that location, at 1,940 lines.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

Imatest also checks photos for noise, which can backbite from item and give photos an unwanted grainy look when shooting at high ISO settings. The G5 X uses a twenty-megapixel image sensor that is much larger than you'll find in well-nigh compact cameras and features a BSI design—that gives it a leg up in dim light when compared with less expensive pocket cameras. When shooting JPGs at default settings it keeps dissonance under 1.5 percent through ISO 3200, a strong consequence. At that place is some noise reduction at play, of grade. Close exam of images on a calibrated NEC MultiSync PA271W( at Amazon) display shows that images are well-baked with excellent detail through ISO 400. There's a slight drop in detail at ISO 800 and 1600, just images are even so very proficient at both settings. ISO 3200 is a bit problematic—fine item is washed away. Images are blurrier at ISO 6400 and show nearly no small details at the top ISO 12800 sensitivity.

The G5 Ten does better at high ISO settings when you shoot in Raw format. Noise reduction isn't practical, and while images evidence some noise, they also have more fine item. Raw images are crisp and clear through ISO 800. Very fine lines are a little muddy at ISO 1600, but much clearer than when shooting in JPG format. In that location's some roughness at ISO 3200, with grain overtaking a bit of detail, only images are however quite useable, fifty-fifty for print output. Grain starts to take over the frame at ISO 6400, but information technology'due south not until ISO 12800 that it compromises image quality entirely. Total-size crops from our ISO test scene, in both JPG and Raw format, are included in the slideshow that accompanies this review for reference.

Canon PowerShot G5 X : Sample Image

The G5 X shoots 1080p MP4 video at upward to 60fps, with 30fps and 24fps options also available. You tin can shoot at 720p and 480p at 30fps but. At that place's no 4K support, as there is with the RX100 IV and the Panasonic LX100 ($695.98 at Amazon) , just the 1080p footage looks practiced. Focus is smooth and accurate, and the sound of the lens zooming in and out isn't distracting to the soundtrack.

Conclusions
There has never been a ameliorate time to purchase a high-quality compact digital photographic camera—assuming you're willing to spend some money. At that place are numerous models of varying shapes, sizes, and capabilities on the marketplace, and for the most function they're all quite expert. The Canon PowerShot G5 X fills a niche—information technology includes a bright zoom lens, an integrated EVF, a hot shoe for external flash employ, and a vari-bending brandish. In that location'southward non some other model in this form factor that matches all of those features.

That said, the EVF and articulated display practice add together some bulk, but some photograhers prefer a scrap more photographic camera to hold onto. If that's non you, the G7 Ten, which shares the same lens and paradigm sensor, is smaller and delivers similar operation—simply it doesn't have an EVF. Our favorite camera in this course is all the same the Sony RX100 III, every bit it has the best residue of features, image quality, and price. Simply you may adopt the RX100 4 or the Panasonic LX100 if you want 4K video, or a larger model like the Sony RX10 ($698.00 at Amazon) or the Panasonic FZ1000 ($497.99 at Amazon) if y'all prefer a model with a longer zoom lens.