Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II Compact Digital Camera w/ 1 Inch Sensor and 3inch LCD - Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth Enabled (Black)

Comment

The Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II is the updated version of Canon’s G9 X “entry level” premium compact camera. I was looking for a small camera to take along with me when I did not want to lug around a DSLR camera and lenses. After much research, I settled on the PowerShot G9 X Mark II and so far, I am very pleased with the results. The premium compact cameras give the user the option to manually control settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO), while also offering the traditional “Auto” point and shoot mode, as well as other creative settings typically found on a point and shoot. These cameras also feature a 1” CMOS sensor, which produces better images than a typical cell phone camera. Updates to the Mark II version include the Digic VII image processor, which means faster processing and continuous shooting times for JPEG and RAW photos (a maximum continuous shooting speed of 8.2 fps in RAW shooting mode). The Mark II also features dual sensing image stabilization, a quicker autofocus feature and improved subject tracking, auto shooting mode, and a slight improvement in battery life. The Mark II also is Bluetooth compatible, a new feature (the camera also has Wi-Fi and NFC capabilities). Transferring photos from the camera to your phone is easy with the Canon Camera Connect app. I have used the camera for a few weeks and I like it. The camera is small (it can literally fit in my front pocket) and the large 3” touchscreen is relatively intuitive (the camera has a limited amount of buttons). The user can control mostly everything via the touchscreen, and I have found that visibility of the screen is still very good for daylight shooting. The lens range itself is limited, but what you lose in zoom you make up for in quality photos and compactness. The focal length in the lens of the Canon G9X II is 28mm-84mm, with a 3X optical zoom and a 12x digital zoo, which will produce grainy photos. Maximum aperture is F/2 at 28mm and F4.9 at 84mm. I have attached photos that show what is captured at 28mm, 50mm, 84mm and at maximum zoom. The zoom on this camera will not give you close ups of the moon. The lens barrel also has a ring, which can be used to control a variety of settings. There is no viewfinder. Overall, I am very pleased with this camera. The only negative at this point has been battery life, but the battery life I have experienced may have been comprised since I have been setting up the camera and using its various features. Still, it probably makes sense to buy and carry a spare battery if you are going to be out all day shooting. Highly recommended!

Show more

Comment

This is a great little camera. Honestly if you want the highest image quality in the smallest profile possible, this camera is it. Is it worth upgrading from the original though? I guess it depends on whats important to you. If you feel that you would use the in camera raw processing and more in depth adjustments for picture styles then its worth considering. While its JPEGS are slightly sharper due to the newer processor, overall image quality is about the same. The photos look great with excellent color reproduction and the auto white balance has improved a bit over its predecessor. Video quality is also very good. The overall layout of the camera is essentially the same at its predecessor. You only get one control dial and have to rely on the touch screen for the rest of setting adjustments. But as with other cameras, the touch screen works great so this might not be as big of a deal as it seems. Ergonomics are pretty good for such a small camera. With a nice textured surface up front for a more secure grip. Autofocus performance has improved over the original G9X, mainly in the form of being less sluggish and more accurate in low light conditions. Movie AF has improved a bit too with less back and forth motion while focusing over the original. Battery life has also improved like it did on the G7X Mark II. Although if youre taking this out for a long day of shooting, you still might pack an extra one. Enthusiast compacts in general dont have the greatest battery life. Overall, this is a likeable little camera that does photos and videos very well and is slim enough to fit in most pockets. Some may find the lens too restrictive as far as focal length is concerned but thats one of the tradeoffs you have to make when you stuff a larger sensor in a small camera body. If you have the original G9X, this is not the no-brainer upgrade. But if youre a new buyer to this series, its worthwhile to spend the extra money to get the Mark II for the extra features and slight bump in overall performance it provides.

Show more

Comment

Best compact travel camera I have ever owned. No camera is perfect. Its just the matter of where you are willing to make compromise. In term of light traveling camera, this is as good as you can get. The camera is truly pocketable, decent focal range, grate image quality. Wifi is a big bonus since I travel without a laptop and can transfer photos over to my iPhone to edit and post on social media during the trip. The photos include in my review are shot in jpg (with neutral setting) and lightly touch-up/re-frame with iPhone Photoshop app. I have used Sony RX-100 (v1-v3), Canon S90-S120, and G9 X mark1 in my traveling and so far this G9 X Mk2 is my favorite.

Show more

Comment

I did good deal of research before making my decision on this model. The competiton includes the Canon Gx7 and various Sony, Nikon and Lumix models. This camera by spec Is a lesser model to these competitors (all have 1 inch sensors which I wanted for superior low light shots), but they also cost 150 to 400 dollars more! If you are an a amature enthusiast like me and probably do not need great manual flexibility (although this model has some flexibility), and want a very good P and S to use instead of you cell phone, I would highly recommend this model.

Show more

Comment

I will start off by saying this is the best compact camera Ive ever used. The menus and settings are intuitive giving me the ability to drill down into how much I want to do manually vs. automatically. The touch screen responsive such a great idea where once I was limited to pressing buttons - and, it supports gestures like pinch to zoom and touch to focus. It takes great pictures for a compact camera and does well in high contrast scenes as well as low light. The retro styling is reminiscent of a vintage Leica M6 chrome Gold Dragon. Its small yet the screen is large and bright. It does everything - movies, still photos, macro photography, manual focus, and most important raw format. My favorite feature is the exposure lock which allows me to dial in the shutter/aperture combination Id like for the intended exposure i.e. if I want to blur the background I simply open the aperture and not need to rely on digital magic. Yet, I nearly returned it after looking at the first photographs. This is NOT my idea of a "point and shoot" camera. Its a compact camera which requires a learning curve and has firmware which fights with you rather than helping you to take great pictures. My idea of a phd camera (Press Here Dummy) is that if I set the dial to "AUTO" or "P" I expect the camera to take the photograph in the best possible way. This is sadly not the case. Here are all the gotchas, some of which can be compensated for by learning to use "C" custom settings and custom scenes. My first photographs were both blotchy and grainy. The camera defaults to ISO 320 rather than AUTO, even in a brightly lit scene. The noise filter was turned all the way up to compensate. The better idea is to set the ISO to the lowest possible setting to reduce noise on a bright day for the best clarity. I also used the "Fine Detail" scene. I thought it was a good idea at the time. What this does, however, is crank up the sharpening filter which produces unwanted blotches and artifacts. In fact, most of the so-called scenes are just combinations of 6 settings, 3 of which are sharpening. Sharpening should not be done in the camera. If you want a sharper photo use a tripod and focus carefully. One of the great features is combination AF+MF which allows you to autofocus then tweak in for perfect sharp focus. Thats how you get sharp photos. Dont use the built-in sharpening because it wont look as nice. Automatic White Balance was fine outdoors but indoors under LED lighting it had a difficult time. Yet, the custom white balance was great, once I figured out how to use it. You need to first take a photograph of something mostly white, then get into the settings for custom white balance. It took me a while to figure it out. Im used to a single-button, "press shutter for custom white" but this is a confusing multi-step process. Its worth learning how to use it and obtain a white balance card. 20.1 megapixels. True, but you get that resolution at the expense of digital zoom and image stabilization. Digital Zoom uses your unused pixels to magnify the image. If you use all 20meg of them theres nothing left to zoom. Solution: use the full resolution and crop your photos with your PC while ditching the digital zoom. Image stabilization? yea, kinda. Once again the camera uses your unused pixels to lock in on the photograph to eliminate unwanted movement blur. You loose this feature if you shoot at full resolution or save your RAW files. Solution: Use a tripod or enforce a higher shutter speed using shutter speed priority setting or locked AE to reduce motion blur and forget about image stabilization. Geo-tagging? yea, kinda. Its mentioned in the manual and is a function of the camera if (big IFF - If and only If) you shoot your photos using the Canon smartphone app. The camera lacks GPS on its own. Bluetooth? yea, kinda. Its only for the shutter and zoom. If you want to remote view on your smartphone the app automatically switches to WiFi for those operations. Its good for selfies and selfie sticks. WiFi transfer to PC or cloud? yea, kinda. Once again, Canon cripples this functionality to force you to obtain an on-line account, transfer the images to Canons website after forcing you to agree to all kinds of stipulations about your photographs and agreeing to let them delete photographs they dont like. You need to do this just to transfer photos wirelessly to your PC located just 6 feet away. It might be fine for bloggers and tweeters but not for professionals. Despite having Bluetooth and Wifi, the most direct way to get photos off the phone is via a microUSB cable which Canon does not supply. At least its a standard connector. Or, open the bottom door and pop out the CF card to use with a card reader. The most useful software Canon provides is the RAW developing to bypass a lot of the dysfunctional automatic camera settings. Care needs to be taken with their RAW software development which *defaults* to heavy sharpening. Again, if you are shooting RAW you probably dont want to apply your sharpening filter at this stage. The first time I used it I neglected to scroll down to notice the sharpening filter defaults to ON and was disappointed with the blotches and artifacts. Solution: double-check everything and save your settings. Another helpful tip - the settings in your "C" custom profile are NOT saved by default. You need to "register" your settings. You can also toggle the automatic save to ON; else, the next time you turn your camera on it will reset all your settings. I found that if I always use the "C" setting and custom scene setting to town down the sharpening filter, lower the ISO, save my RAW files, and double-check all my settings every time then I get good quality pictures. This is not my definition of a "Point and Shoot" camera. Its a good "compact camera." I just wished Canon had chosen to make this a "smarter" camera.

Show more

Comment

I bought this camera because it was the only 1-inch sensor camera of its generation that truly fit in my pocket, and I was SICK AND TIRED of lugging a camera bag around all day- literally planning my trips around "camera bag days" because I felt so bogged down. My multi-lens DSLR kit was heavy, so I pared it down to a compact DSLR and a spare lens, but then it became a nuisance to me to still have a bag of any size to contend with all day, so I caved and got a pocketable 1-inch sensor camera. I wouldnt get anything lower end than the G9 X, or it would just be too close to my smartphone to bother with a separate camera. The Sony RX100 has gotten too big, and the older generations of it lacked features the G9 X has. I am generally pleased with the image quality, and only really miss my DSLR when it comes to low light and zoom lenses. I did a few trips with this camera instead of bringing my DSLR and it was great, but having a heavy, bulging pocket full of this camera has unfortunately further converted me to using my iPhone X alone for most uses because it is even more liberating to not even have the G9 bogging me down. However, my iPhone X camera now makes me painfully aware how many shots I miss because I dont have better low light or zoom on it. What a cruel cycle! My full DSLR kit weight makes me want to carry a lighter DSLR kit, still having a camera bag makes me want to carry this pocketable camera, the weight and bulk in my pocket makes me want to just use my phones camera, and my phones camera lacks enough low light and zoom performance to make me miss the capabilities of my full DSLR kit.

Show more

Comment

Lets get one thing out of the way. If you only shoot in daylight, and only shoot stationary targets, or if you shoot in full manual mode most of the time, Im sure this camera will be great for you. My use-case is the recording of the life of my family, particularly the adventures and misadventures of my four year old boy. We spend a fair amount of time indoors, and its the winter so there is not too much light most days. My primary target moves around a lot and has little patience for composition, fiddling with settings, or slow shutter speeds. So I find myself spending a lot of time shooting in auto or program auto. Im a casual photographer looking for a casual camera. And, as a casual camera, I was not too impressed with the G9X. The big missing feature is a minimum auto-ISO shutter speed. It does have a variable for setting the ratio at which the camera trades off ISO for shutter speed, but there are only two relevant settings: prioritize shutter speed over ISO, and vice-versa. On default settings, the camera will adjust the shutter speed to 1/20-1/60 (depending on zoom) before cranking the ISO at all. On the fast setting, it will crank the ISO to the max unless that brings the shutter speed above 1/1000. This is . . . not great. Shutter priority mode does exist, but then you forget you put it on that the next day when youre taking pictures in the park, and everything is washed out or shot with a narrow depth of field. Why cant Cannon just give me this simple knob, like its cleverer competitors have done? The other big drawback is USB charging. I could never get it to work. There was some stuff online about needing to use the original cable, so I bought one, but it still didnt work. That is pretty weak for a device of this generation. Overall, its a fine camera, if it werent for the existence of much better alternatives. I recommend any of recent RX100s, which all lack the problems Ive complained about. Most of them have wider apertures to boot. I just got rid of my G9X Mark 2 for one of these and I much prefer it.

Show more

Comment

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.

Show more

Comment

Bought this for my husband, who is a professional photographer. He had a previous version that was ruined, but this one is 10 times better! He was like a little kid with it - and this is a guy who has 5 full-size Canon cameras with every gadget and lens known to man. I can’t really speak the professional lingo, but he took some pics at a ridiculously high ISO and said they were a-ma-zing with no graininess. Very pleased!

Show more

Comment

I bought this Canon G9X II camera for my wife before our trip to Yellowstone. I personally use a full frame DSLR and am kind of picky about photos. I am pretty impressed with the G9X II. I attached several jpegs taken straight out of the camera (SOOC). NO post processing AT ALL ON ANY OF THE ATTACHED PHOTOS. I included the photo of me just to show skin tones, not to show off my gear. I included pic of elk because it was very low early morning light and taken at 12,800 ISO. The 1" sensor seems to help in low light situations. Of course camera also shoots in RAW so you can post process to your hearts desire, but I think the jpegs SOOC are pretty nice and might speak for themselves. Original batteries last long enough, but havent had same performance with third party batteries. So get original if you want backup. My wife is a beginner so she needs help when trying to use any setting besides full Auto. This definitely is more camera than a beginner needs or will likely use. The attached photos were taken in manual mode with some guidance from an experienced photographer. Full auto probably would not have had the same results. But for my wife, and as a backup for me to carry around when I dont want to lug around my DSLR, the G9X II is a pretty great little compact camera.

Show more