Big test
of a sequence. The Raw burst mode makes use of the electronic shutter and this offers a maximum 1/25,600sec speed whereas the mechanical shutter tops out at 1/2000sec. The former is handy for working in bright light therefore, and the GX7 III also has a three stop ND which can be set to Auto. The G7X Mark III’s image quality is pleasing, with good colours and detail, and though there’s not masses of texture as we’re used to from larger sensors, that’s to be expected. Images look fine on screen, but obviously won’t support big prints. You can find out more about this in the ISO, exposure
latitude and lens quality panels. Compact cameras often fall down on handling, especially if you’re used to bigger CSC or DSLR bodies. Canon has done a good job on the G7X III’s ergonomics though, and while the body is small, it never felt cramped to me. The contact points are sculpted and rubberised, and therefore give a decent grip, and though there’s obviously not that much purchase, because the camera is so light you’re not fighting to support it. The flip-out screen is of course handy for high- and low-angle work, and its touchscreen functions augment the physical controls well.
PERFORMANCE: ISO
With an ISO range spanning 125 to 12,800, and expandable to 25,600, the G7XMark III put in a reasonable performance, despite its small sensor size. Raw test exposures were made throughout the ISO range and compared at 100%. Noise isminimal up to ISO 400, and the 800 and 1600 settings are still very usable with only a little loss of detail. At 3200 and 6400 fine detail becomes is more disturbed, and things get quite fuzzy at the 8000, 10,000 and 12,800 settings, where colour saturation is also affected.The expanded 25,600 is very blotchy.
THE G7X MARK III’S IMAGE QUALITY IS PLEASING, WITH GOOD COLOURS AND DETAIL For instance there’s a virtual button for ISO within easy reach of your thumb. However, while there are four input dials on the body, it could really do with a front dial for your index finger. Performance wise, it didn’t feel sluggish in any regard. The camera turns on and off quickly with the lens retracting for travel, and the only criticism I’d have there is that the lens won’t return to its previous focal length when you turn it back on. Settings like aperture are stored, so why not focal length, too? It’s quite annoying if you’ve set up a shot, and the camera goes to sleep, as you then have to reframe again on startup. Focusing was fast and accurate for a compact, and the face+tracking AF mode works very well, even holding focus as you move towards or away from the subject in servo AF mode. A quick tap of the touchscreen locks it on the target and hit rate was near 100%, though in fairness it’s not dealing with a razor thin depth-of-field as you’d get on a larger sensor. When using the single focus mode, I found spot AF better than the 1-point AF area which has an area large enough to get confused. When shooting stills, the servo AF
125
800
1600
3200
6400
12800
25600
ABOVE With a typically clean layout, the G7XMark III handles well and is great to use
PERFORMANCE: EXPOSURE LATITUDE
-1EV
-2EV
To test the editing latitude of the G7XMark III’s Raws we set up test exposures, varying the compensation by +/-3EV, then corrected in Photoshop. In the corrected overexposed Raws, there was some highlight detail returned at +1EV, though also a slight loss of saturation.At +2EVhighlights started to grey, and this got progressively worse at +3EV. Results were better with the underexposed shots.All showed some increase in noise, but the -1EVpic was very close to the 0EV file when corrected.The -2EV shot showed more noise, although it was still very usable, but -3EV showedmuchmore pronounced noise.
-3EV
0
+1EV
+2EV
+3EV
52 Photography News | Issue 70
photographynews.co.uk
Powered by FlippingBook