tech_enthusiast
This camera has lots of great features, but many of them are not fully implemented. One defining feature of this camera is that it has built-in bluetooth. However, the Canon Android & iOS apps have poorly implemented bluetooth functions, which do exactly what the WiFi functions do except the bluetooth is much slower. So whats the point of having bluetooth? Well, its low power, which allows the camera to continuously or regularly connect to your smartphone and retrieve GPS coordinates. Unfortunately, the app is not capable of doing this with this camera. So having the bluetooth chip is completely useless until Canon implements this feature in the app for the G9X. Another annoying feature is that the camera takes 1-2 secs to save each photo, unless youre shooting in continuous mode, which takes several photos per second but takes even longer to save them. The third disappointment is that the G9X does not shoot panoramas. OMG, Really? All smartphones shoot panoramas! Its annoying that I have to whip out my phone anytime I shoot panoramas, which takes them with a much smaller sensor than the 1" on the G9X. Those are the 3 main negatives of the G9X, but it does have 3 advantages. 1st is the touchscreen works really well & smoothly, making touch focusing easy and changing settings fast. 2nd is the size and weight of the camera make it really portable; I can easily slip the phone into my pocket and it weighs like your phone + keys. Thats amazing considering the G9X has a 1" sensor and 3X zoom. 3rd advantage is the cost; only $429 as of June 2017. Ill compare the G9X with 2 of its competitor: Canon G7X markII and Sony RX100M2, which both have 1" sensor and image stabilization like the G9X. The Canon camera app is absolutely the worst camera app Ive ever used. As stated above, you cannot get GPS coordinates for the photos by bluetooth, which defeats the purpose of having it! The settings are hard to find in different pages, and the defaults are set to really stupid values. For instance, by default when youre transferring photos by wifi, the default is to transfer reduced quality/ size photos instead of the original image. Also, by default when transferring photos by wifi, the GPS coordinates will not be transferred (even though Canon makes you manually save & set the GPS). To keep the GPS coordinates with the photos, you must take out the SD card, insert it into your computer, and manually transfer the photos. OMG, Really?! Canon G9X markII, Pros: smallest size & weight with a 1" sensor, smooth & useful touchscreen, $429 (as of June 2017) Cons: useless bluetooth (unless Canon fixes its app), takes 1-2 secs to save each photo, no panorama mode Canon G7X markII, Pros: more zoom (4.2X), tiltable screen, 3X brighter lens at zoomed range (same at wide range) Cons: same as G9X camera, also $250 more; does not have bluetooth so it can never be upgraded for auto GPS Sony RX100M2, Pros: more zoom (3.6X), tiltable screen, faster photo saving & better object tracking Cons: no touchscreen, no bluetooth, no built-in ND filter (which Canon has), also $150 more Although the G9X has several faults, its pros slightly outweighs its cons, so I kept the camera because of its relatively low cost and small size & weight. Hopefully, Canon will update its app so the camera can automatically get GPS coordinates for the photos.