The Canon PowerShot G1X III is my favorite point and shoot I’ve used to date, bar none. My former Canon PowerShot G1X II and S110 although very capable, had shortcomings that drew me to the EOS M series (the original, then the mark 2, 3 and 5) until the G1X III came out.

As a matter of a fact the G1X III is akin to a souped up EOS M5 with its 24MP DPAF APS-C sensor, EVF, and touch and drag AF, with an EF-M 15-45 f/2.8-5.6 IS STM permanently bolted on, in a G5X form factor with weather sealing, leaf shutter, built-in ND filter and panorama mode.

There’s a couple angles to view the G1X III in… in light of the RX100 series, in light of the EOS M series, in light of its predecessor the G1X II and as a professional’s personal option.

The first, in light of the Sony RX100 series as this will likely be most folks other option on the table for consideration: I’ve shot the RX100 III when it came out several times at the Sony store where they gave me unadulterated access to it, at BestBuy and at mom and pop brick and motors; I really gave this guy a HARD look when it came out needless to say and have probably read most reviews on it and looked at countless samples of others, and my own shots that a brick and motor store let me bring home via my own card. The pop-up EVF is nice, the compactness and decisiveness of the AF are a huge plus. But, what brings it down is the Sony SOOC jpeg colors, the lack of Canon ergonomics and ease of use in which to wield that powerful AF. The strides its successors the IV and V have made haven’t addressed those former grievances, hence it was off my table after careful consideration.

The second, in light of my EOS M5 (or EOS M system) which I had immediately prior to “switching” to the G1X III (I sold my M5 and all my EF-M optics when I purchased the G1X III). The EOS M system has a close cousin lens to the G1X III’s lens in which to compare, the EF-M 15-45 f/3.5-6.3 IS STM. It’s the kit lens that comes with new EOS M’s these days, other than the EF-M 18-150 kit option for the M5. In this light, the Powershot G1X III represents a stronger option clocking in 2/3 stops faster on the wide end and 1/3 stop faster on the long end, and a closer macro focusing distance plus a 9-blade aperture for quality bokeh (not necessarily quantity though at f/2.8-5.6) and completely silent AF motor for video vs the not completely silent STM motor of the EF-Ms making it a better video option. The PowerShot G1X III is a bit sharper optically in my eyes vs the EF-M 15-45, which isn’t surprising given the price tag of the EF-M 15-45 lens IE cheap at around $100 extra when bundled as a kit. Also the G1X III offers a smaller and lighter footprint then any EOS M with any lens attached, except, the M2 with the 22mm attached, which is a hair lighter, that combination only. The G1X III also as I mentioned carries a leaf shutter, built-in ND filter, panorama mode and weather sealing, something no EOS M has to date. But all isn’t peaches and cream, it comes at the expense of that 24-70 equivalent lens being permanent vs the EOS M’s, you can swap the lens out. But, that too isn’t all it’s cut out to be either (swapping lenses) as the G1X III, like the original EF-M 22mm f/2 lens which is highly regarded and was the kit lens for the original EOS M, forces you to use your feet and think about what you’re shooting more, and you don’t have to worry about lens swaps IE simplicity. For a personal option, its better in my opinion then carrying around lenses, and thinking about swapping them. Better to have a strong 24-70 option and make it work. That’s an opinion though obviously. But, it’s more pragmatic as I have 3 little ones I have to keep up with and swapping lenses doesn’t go well, or carrying them, at this junction of life.

The third, in light of the G1X II which I also owned; the G1X III doesn’t have as much reach, or as bright/fast of a lens as its predecessor, which I do wish the G1X III had more of both, but, it’s AF is so much better, and it just nails exposure and WB vs the G1X II on the other hand had a nasty habit of overexposing highlights and is the only Canon I’ve owned that actually had a problem with not having enough dynamic range in which to correct for its overexposure tendencies, that alone caused me to sell it. Its (G1X II’s) optical quality actually is quite poor too; I had to stop down in many cases on the wide end; f/4 was my starting point on the wide end as many images from the copy I had would look smeared otherwise at f/2 vs every G1X III I’ve ever seen a shot or sample from, mine included, flawless regardless of what f-stop or wide or tele end. Something on paper doesn’t always translate into something in practice, this is a good example of that even Canon isn’t immune to making boo boos in real life translation. The optical quality could be a copy issue, but, it’s a copy issue the G1X III doesn’t share.

Some anecdotes I’ll mention and expound upon about the G1X III having owned it since last November now:

The weather sealing… Its survived sand exposure of sand pits you’ll find at local playgrounds which is the same you’d find at the beach. It’s survived several drizzles, but not outright deluge rain, I haven’t had the opportunity to try that yet (and may not either). It’s taken a couple direct splashes from water parks. The only issue has been I’ve had to blow out a piece of sand that got jammed in the exposure comp dial with a lens blower, and the touch screen wasn’t reactive to touch until it dried off after being exposed to sustained moderate/light rain, both of which are understandable and both were transient. The claimed weather sealing appears to be more than something on paper, it holds up in real life. It’s also survived many knocks, and even drops, without incident, not recommended by the way.

Some things you wouldn’t think much of, the built-in neutral density filter, completely silent AF and combination IS make big difference for video quality. Honestly my favorite video quality isn’t 4k coming off my iPhone, or the raw video I did off my former magic lantern 5DIII, it’s the video coming off this little guy. I’m a mere mortal, not a video nut with a gyro rig, external mic, and wants to spend lots of time in post processing. The G1X III really delivers in the video front for mere mortals. Just obey the rule of 2 times your frame rate IE if you’re shooting 60FPS like I usually do, 1/125 should be your shutter for natural appearing movement, and dial in your f-stop as desired. That automatic built-in ND filter proves valuable as such so you can have some subject isolation and maintain a reasonable shutter. So does the combination IS, making my footage non-jerky. DPAF is worth a mention even though that’s an assumption for most readers, but it’s the only Powershot to date to feature it, which makes for very natural video AF and is best in class.

The lens itself, a few notes: The bokeh quality is often overlooked, with folks focusing on how much bokeh IE f/1.4 or f/1.2, as that’s a hard spec on a piece of paper and is a exploitable talking point if you will. The 9-blade aperture makes for very pleasing results for the bokeh it does produce which isn’t something you can quantify on paper other than me indicating it has a 9-blade aperture, which odd-numbered higher numbered blades are better geometrically speaking, and specifically 9 at that. Also, the AF motor is pretty quick, it’s a hair shy of the EF-M 18-150 f/3.5-6.3 IS STM in speed, which is the fastest AF motor for the EF-M options, and is almost as fast, to say very impressive. Also, the macro distance is reasonable, but not earth shaking.

I find the front lens dial smooth operation annoying as when I owned the G1X II, I had the twin lens dials assigned to Av and Tv, which I like my Av being on a dial with click feedback, not a smooth easy to fumble dial. I have my front dial on my G1X III disabled as such. I suppose it’s only good use would be manual focus, something that’s completely unnecessary with the DPAF speed and accuracy combined with the touch and drag capability which can be used in any of the 3 available AF methods at that.

I’ve actually found the optical IS to be somewhat ho-hum though. Perhaps it’s my copy of the G1X III, or the fact that I’m very hard on my camera: my son’s dropped it before, and I literally run with it strapped on me or in my pocket thus I’m sure that gyro motor doesn’t like that at all and may be completely shot. I’ve tested it recently to make sure it still works as such, it does, but my copies doesn’t come near its 4-stop rating, I can tell you that. The EF 70-300 or say the EF-M 18-150 on the other hand, they’re both rated 4-stops, and they mean it; they can do 4-stops, and then some I wonder. At a pedestrian 24-70 range though, IS actually delivering 4-stops or not is pretty minimal. If I’m dropping below 1/60 on the shutter speed, I have to worry about subject motion blur anyways in most of my shooting scenarios, but, it’s noteworthy.

The shutter is quiet, makes a slight tick when you turn off the sound on the camera that emulates the traditional shutter clunk via the speaker sound. It’s virtually, but not entirely silent. It’s the next best thing to completely silent.

The leaf shutter is quiet handy actually. Being stuck to 1/200 really on a traditional shutter is the pits when using a flash (without being able to bounce). 1/2000 of a leaf shutter opens up a range of fill flash possibilities outdoors making the built-in flash actually useful for me, as I’m a big natural light shooter. Fill flash with the leaf shutter is useful for my mind set / style of shooting vs the traditional built-in flash, if it can’t bounce, is otherwise useless to me.

Fully articulating screen is nice to have again; really opens up a range of possibilities of “epic” low angle shots or ease of over-the-top shots.

Oddly, although I’ve slung the G1X II, and all the EOS M’s on me for roughly the past 4 years (except the EOS M/2/3 with the 22 pancake, I could coat/cargo pocket those), I never really made much of pocketing cameras... The S110 was an exception as that was clearly designed for a pocket, much as a G9X is. But, I’ve actually found lately, particularly during the summer where I’m commonly found in cargo pants, pocketing the G1X III pretty often when I can. Would’ve never thought I’d do that. It’s actually kinda nice that Canon didn’t do the extra oomph of a lens like the G1X II in that regard, even though I personally would’ve preferred the tradeoff of not pocketable, but still compact and more powerful lens personally.

Overall I’m very happy I made the move from the EOS M5 and EF-M’s to the G1X III, and also strongly considered the EOS M50 recently due to its aggressive pricing and capable, inexpensive, quality native lenses (the 22mm f/2, 28mm macro, 11-22 and 55-200 come to mind) but ended up not going back as I’d rather keep the G1X III as a personal camera, and when I go back to lenses, do something big and heavy again IE a full frame mirrorless from Canon or Nikon, and when I get tired of either the weight or the complexity of lens swapping (moreover thinking about which lens I want to use while also keeping up with my crazy family), the G1X III will be there. I really wish the G1X III existed back when I owned my 5D III and L’s, I might’ve kept them and not sold them, a move I regret. But now’s not the right time to jump back in, soon though with sports and special activities starting to enter the lives of my children and rumored offerings that I’m interested in ticking boxes I have now, that I didn’t use to have. Need and capability will meet, but till then, the need I have now is well met by the G1X III and it’s a real pleasure to use as are its results satisfying.

Oh, regarding as a professional’s personal camera, I’m no professional, but, I used to tow a 5D III and a range of L’s… As I said, this would’ve been really nice back in 2013 to have. But glad to have it now. It’s a substantial step up from existing smartphone photography in capability and enjoyment and an excellent choice for any professional Canon shooter looking for a personal option in the 24-70 range in my opinion.

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