Review of the Canon G7 X…In 2025?

During the Global Pandemic, we saw a renewed interest in and all-but-dead segment of cameras – compact digital cameras.  This renaissance was lead by cameras like the FujiFilm X100V and later the X100VI and the Leica Q2/Q3.  Why?  Well, a combination of several factors.  Firstly, it’s clear this movement has been lead by TikTok, Instagram, and other social media “influencers.”  This particular segment of photographers/videographers started out on these platforms simply using their mobile phones to create content.  But the young social media influencer segment is a crowded place – how do you stand out from the crowd if everyone is essentially using the same (phone) camera?  It was this need to differentiate which seems to have driven many social media influencers to look for other kinds of cameras beyond their mobile phone camera from which to create content.  DSLRs and professional mirrorless camera were not going to meet the needs of these youngsters who wanted to capture their lives out with their friends, with selfies and vlogging.  They needed something smaller, portable, and cheaper than an interchangeable lens camera system.  But moreover, social media influencers began to embrace the aesthetic of images produced by older compact digital cameras.  Older cameras tend to generate images which are more “imperfect” and less clinical as compared to modern mirrorless cameras – softer, more chromatic abortions…less polished.  More “authentic.”  With these factors in mind, we can see why demand for cameras like the FujiFilm X100 series simply skyrocketed.  By around 2020 there really were only two kinds of cameras being manufactured – mobile phone cameras and interchangeable camera systems.  The “in between” segment of compact digital cameras had been all but decimated by the always with you, easy to use mobile phone camera.  Camera manufacturers lost a LOT of money on this segment of cameras and are extremely reluctant to risk trying again – even in the face of the overwhelming success of cameras like the X100V/VI and Leica Q series.  As a result, social media influencers have been turning to older compact digital cameras to meet their needs – haunting second hand merchants and eBay seeking out all but forgotten compact digital cameras.  I was pretty guilty myself of forgetting about these cameras – so much so that I was recently digging in the back of drawer in my office and discovered my old Canon G7 X.

 

The Canon G7 X was announced in September 2014 and started shipping in October of 2014.  It originally carried a retail price of $699, but I ended up ordering it about a year later.  I remember I got it at a discounted price – maybe around $450 if memory serves.  I did a review of the camera in 2016, and I recall liking the camera for the most part.  But if I had to guess, I’d wager I’ve taken less than 100 photos with the Canon G7 X.  When I bought it, I had every intention of using it to take photos of my Rottweiler back when we were doing IPO work (it was so long ago, they don’t even call it IPO anymore.  The sport formerly know as “Shutzhund” which was renamed to IPO, is now call IPG).  Which I did a couple of times…but then we stopped doing IPO.  When I started doing more competitive shooting sports, I tried using it to record videos of my practice sessions at the range…once.  But the autofocus is quite inconsistent.  So in the drawer it went.

I was recently reading how that the G7 series of compact Canon cameras is “trending” among young social influencers.  Curious, I dug the camera out and looked it over.  Apparently I had at some point tossed the battery and charger because I could no longer find it.  Thankfully, I was able to order a generic battery and charger combo off Amazon for about twenty five bucks.    When I was finally able to power up the camera, I was quite surprised by a few things.  The menu system is fundamentally the same has what Canon uses to this very day.  God bless you Canon.  If you familiarize yourself with the menu system on a Canon camera…ANY Canon camera, you’ll pretty much be good to go digging into another Canon camera.  In doing so, I was struck by some interesting capabilities of the Canon G7 X that we consider pretty “new” and cutting edge like having a backside illuminated sensor and Face ID.  You can upload up to 12 different face images to the G7 X and it will prioritize these faces when focusing on groups of people.  Here’s a complete run down of the G7 X specifications:

Camera Body
•Type: Premium compact digital camera
•Build: Metal body
•Weight: Approx. 304g (including battery and memory card)
•Dimensions: 103 x 60.4 x 40.4 mm

Sensor and Processor
•Sensor Type: 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8mm) BSI-CMOS sensor
•Resolution: 20.2 megapixels
•Processor: DIGIC 6

Lens
•Focal Length: 24-100mm equivalent (4.2x optical zoom)
•Maximum Aperture: f/1.8 (wide) to f/2.8 (telephoto)
•Lens Elements: 9 elements in 7 groups, including 1 double-sided aspherical UA lens and 1 single-sided aspherical lens
•Image Stabilization: Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)

Display
•Screen Size: 3.0-inch LCD
•Resolution: 1,040,000 dots
•Type: Tilting touchscreen (180° upward tilt and 45° downward)

Autofocus
•System: Contrast-detection autofocus
•Modes: Face detection, tracking, and manual focus
•Focus Points: 31 points

Performance
•Burst Rate: Up to 6.5 fps
•ISO Range: ISO 125–12,800 (expandable)
•Shutter Speed: 30 seconds to 1/2000 second

Video
•Resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 60/30 fps
•Format: MP4
•Audio: Stereo microphone

Connectivity
•Wireless: Wi-Fi with NFC
•Ports: Micro USB, Micro HDMI

Storage
•Media: SD/SDHC/SDXC cards

Battery
•Type: NB-13L rechargeable lithium-ion battery
•Life: Approx. 210 shots per charge (CIPA standard)

Key Features
•Manual shooting modes (P, Av, Tv, M)
•RAW + JPEG support
•Built-in ND filter
•High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode
•Star Mode for astrophotography
•Creative filters and scene modes

Is this camera worth purchasing in 2025?

Much to my surprise, I have to conclude that yes, this camera is definitely worth considering and purchasing in 2025.  And this is coming from someone who owns some of the best, most cutting edge cameras available in 2025.  In retrospect, I don’t think I gave this camera enough of a shot when I first purchased it 10 years ago.  Yes, the auto focus isn’t anything to write home about particularly compared to the experience with more modern cameras.  This isn’t a camera you’re going to use to get pictures of your kid’s soccer game.  But if you stick to the kind of photography that this camera was really designed for…portraits…stills…landscape…street photography…I think that you too will conclude that this camera can be really fun to use and produces some stunning results.  I was even able to take a pretty compelling watch photo using the G7 X:

The G7 X would never be my go to camera for this type of photography, but it produces some pretty impressive results.

I was curious how the color reproduction and image quality would compare to my FujiFilm X100VI, so I took both cameras out with me while I walked around downtown Miamisburg, Ohio and shot some of my favorite building murals:

I think I did a pretty good job of framing these two photos from the G7 X and the X100VI.  Can you tell which is which?  It’s not easy.  The top shot is just a tad wider which gives it away as the G7 X, and the famous faces along the left side wall are just a tad sharper in the 2nd shot, which is the X100VI.  But the G7 X holds up well to the X100VI – the colors are fantastic.  Both shots are straight out of the camera, but here’s the same two photos with some modest enhancement:

The order of the two photos is the same as before – G7 X on top, X100VI on bottom.  In the case of the X100VI photo, I simply applied the Astia film simulation.  With the G7 X version of the photo, I boosted vibrance and saturation in an effort to match the X100VI’s film simulation.  Both photos are very “film like.”

Here’s another building in Miamisburg with a beautiful mural:

Again, both images are shot in RAW and exported.  This time I didn’t try to frame them so similarly so that you can see how the G7 X (top) is considerably wider than the G7 X at the same distance.  And again, the colors are absolutely gorgeous on both camera you really have to hand it to the nearly 10 year old G7 X for looking so fantastic!  I will say that the EVF on the X100VI is a God send – it was tough to see the LCD in these bright conditions.  Looking at these photos I think it’s quite remarkable how well the G7 X holds up against the X100VI.  Here’s another set of images I took with both cameras:

Both photos have been modestly edited in Lightroom – mostly for color and clarity.  Again is remarkable just how similar these two photos are in rendering.  The X100VI again gets the nod for being ever so slightly more sharp – particularly at the edges.  But such a wonderful result produced by both cameras.  The G7 X performed VERY well against the newer, more power X100VI.  In fact, here’s a shot where the G7 X actually outperformed the X100VI.  The dynamic range in the G7 X photo was substantially better and I was easily able to recover the shadows and highlights in this hard to photograph alley shot:

Thinking this was perhaps a one-off situation I went back through my photos and found another extreme dynamic range photo that I took with both cameras:

These images are straight out of the camera with no editing applied.  You can see how well the G7 X handled the highlights as the sky/clouds are visible whereas the highlights are blown out on the X100VI.  Here’s a Lightroom corrected version of the G7 X photo which came out quite lovely.  I could not recover the highlights and being back the sky or the white building in the X100VI version:

What about the Mark II and Mark III?

Canon updated the G7 X line twice before  the market for compact digital cameras, imploded.  The Mark II came out just two years after the G7 X (2016) and introduced the DIGIC 7 processor which improved the burst rate along with subject detect, and auto focus on the Mark II.  The Mark III was introduced about three years later in 2019 and finally addressed my biggest complaints with the original G7 X by including an external microphone input, as well as 4K video recording capability.  However, it seems the hipster content creators, shy away from the Mark III because the 21 megapixel sensor on that camera is sharper and more clinical than either of the two predecessor Canon cameras.  The kids Will still reach for their mobile phone when they want to take videos for TikTok, but use the G7 X for their photos.  Many swear that the G7 X and the Mark II produce more film like images.  If you have the opportunity to pick up up the Mark II for not a lot more money than the original G7 X, then do so as the improved auto focus will be helpful.  Otherwise the Image quality of the two cameras is going to be virtually the same so there’s not a lot of reason to pay a significantly more money for the Mark II.

It’s this perception that the G7 X can produce digital images that look more like photos taken with a film camera that has driven renewed interest in the camera.  Apparently people are paying well above the original MSRP for used examples.  With the desire to create images that are evocative of photos taken with vintage film cameras, The unique look produced by on camera pop-up flashes has become particularly trendy in recent years – another reason why youngsters are flocking to this camera.  When they’re out and about with groups of friends, they can take flash photos with the G7 X that look amazing, or use the pop up flash as a fill flash during the day.  They can then pop out the SD card, plug them into their mobile phone, using an adapter, and upload the images pretty much straight out of camera to social media.  Very little editing is required in most cases with G7 X photos – Particularly given that the segment of users isn’t looking for an overly polished look to their photos.

What do I not like about the Canon G7 X?

A few things keep it from being perfect.  Probably the biggest issue I have with the camera is the absence of a view finder – particularly in bright conditions.  You can see the LCD in bright sunlight, but it’s not great.  So shot composition can be a bit tricky at times.  I also miss having an electronic level display.  The camera is so tiny, and the LCD is so difficult to see in bright conditions that it can be challenging to take a straight/level shot.

Can assign custom functions to only two buttons – the “Ring Func” button and the red dot video record button next to it.  I do wish there were more custom buttons available.  I currently have the “Ring Func” button set to turn on the touch shutter release, and the red record button turns on the ability to move the focus square anywhere on the screen.  I’d love one more button set to turn on/off the internal ND filter.  But I was able to re-order the “FUNC SET” menu items so that the ND filter on/off is the first item that appears.  So it’s still pretty convenient/quick.

In my original review of the G7 X, I was critical of the omission of a mic out on the camera as well as not being able to record in 4K.  Both would still be nice (both features eventually came to the camera in the G7 X Mark III) but I have so many other options for recording video that it’s not a big deal.  This is a photography first camera for sure.

Am I going to give the Canon G7 X another try?

Absolutely.  Last year I really enjoyed the times where I took out my FujiFilm X100VI and ONLY shot with it.  It’s a very freeing, care free experience as compared to shooting with two full size Canon mirrorless cameras and a backpack full of lenses.  But being limited to just a 35mm (effective) focal length is certainly challenging at times.  Now imagine the creative possibilities of shooting with BOTH the X100VI and the G7 X.

The G7 X is literally half the size of the X100VI so it’s not at all burdensome to bring both cameras.  Doing so not only gives the flexibility of framing shots you would not otherwise be able to get with the X100VI, it also provides the option of utilizing the fantastic pop-up on camera flash of the G7 X.  The flash is good for up to about 13 feet – the iPhone flash is only useful at a distance of about 5 feet.  The G7 X also has a very significant feature in common with the X100VI – an in camera neutral density filter!  It makes perfect sense – There’s no way to attach a filter to the retractable lens, And if you want to shoot at f1.8 in daylight conditions, you’ll definitely need a neutral density filter.

”What’s old is new again” – not a saying that’s typically applied to consumer electronics, but is definitely appropriate for the Canon G7 X.  And I am here for it.  It’s currently January (And we’re expecting single digit temperatures over the next week) But I definitely afford to in the next couple of months getting out and getting to know the G7 X again.  Please do check out my original review of the Canon G7 X from 2016 if you’d like to see some sample photos.