Canon PowerShot G5 X Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 20 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 8Mb.
The Canon PowerShot G5 X produces images of very good quality. It recorded noise-free images at ISO 125-800, with some noise at ISO 1600. ISO 3200 and 6400 show more obvious noise but still remain perfectly usable, although the fastest setting of ISO 12800 is best avoided.
The Canon PowerShot G5 X handled chromatic aberrations well, with some purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations and generally at the edges of the frame. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure, although there's noticeable vignetting at 24mm. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode being long enough for after-dark shots.
Anti-shake works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. Macro performance is good, allowing you to focus as close as 5cm away from the subject. The images were a little soft straight out of the Canon PowerShot G5 X at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting.
The extensive range of My Color modes and Creative Filters make it easy to spice up your images, while the Dynamic Range and Shadow Correction modes help to extract more detail from the shadow and highlight areas.
Noise
There are 8 ISO settings available on the Canon PowerShot G5 X. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for both JPEG and RAW formats.
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ISO 125 (100% Crop) |
ISO 125 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 6400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 6400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 12800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 12800 (100% Crop) |
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Focal Range
The Canon PowerShot G5 X's 4.2x zoom lens offers a fairly versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:
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24mm |
100mm |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Canon PowerShot G5 Xhas 2 different JPEG image quality settings available, with SuperFine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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SuperFine (6.87Mb) (100% Crop) |
Fine (4.36Mb) (100% Crop) |
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RAW (23.5Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon PowerShot G5 X handled chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with a little fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
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Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop) |
Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Canon PowerShot G5 X has a good macro mode that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cm away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card).
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Macro |
Macro (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Canon Powershot G5 X are Auto, On, Auto Red-eye Reduction, Slow Synchro and Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (100mm) |
Flash On - Telephoto (100mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-eye-Reduction settings caused any red-eye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye Reduction |
Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Canon Powershot G5 X's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode too, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds at ISO 125.
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Night |
Night (100% Crop) |
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Dynamic Range Correction
The Dynamic Range Correction mode automatically takes three exposures of the same scene at different settings, then combines them in-camera to create a single image with greater dynamic range. Note that you need to mount the G5 X on a tripod or stable surface to avoid camera-shake.
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Off |
Auto |
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200% |
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Shadow Correction
The Shadow Correction mode improves the shadow areas of the image without impacting on the highlights.
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Off |
Auto |
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My Colors
The My Colors function menu option contains a range of colour options for tweaking the look of your images before shooting.
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Off |
Vivid |
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Neutral |
Sepia |
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B/W |
Positive Film |
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Lighter Skin Tone |
Darker Skin Tone |
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Vivid Blue |
Vivid Green |
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Vivid Red |
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Creative Filters
The Creative Filters shooting mode contains 10 different options to help spice up your images.
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Off |
High Dynamic Range |
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Nostalgic |
Fish-Eye Effect |
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Miniature Effect |
Toy Camera Effect |
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Background Defocus |
Soft Focus |
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Monochrome |
Super Vivid |
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Poster Effect |
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