Canon G7X Performance

Mixed performance.

Good startup to first shot time for its class. Switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was a bit faster.

The Canon G7 X's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was a bit faster than average for a fixed-lens enthusiast camera. The G7 X's full AF shutter lag clocked in at about 0.2 second at wide angle using center (1-point) AF, which is fast for a compact, however some recent competitors are a bit faster. Full AF shutter lag was a little faster at full telephoto, at about 0.18 second. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag to a rather lengthy 0.89 seconds though, to account for the metering preflash. Manual focus shutter lag was oddly a little slower than with autofocus at 0.22 second. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 97 milliseconds which is slower than average these days, but still pretty responsive.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were fair in single shot mode, ranging from about 0.9 second for Large/Super Fine JPEGs to about 1.3 seconds for RAW+LSF JPEG files. We no longer test just RAW file cycle time in single-shot mode, as it's usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.

The PowerShot G7 X's fastest full-res continuous shooting mode rate was below average these days at 6.6 frames per second for Large/Super Fine JPEGs, however be aware that focus and exposure are locked at the first frame of a burst in this mode, and Live View is not supported. When shooting RAW files, the G7 X slowed down to only 1.2 frames per second for RAW, and to only about one frame per second for RAW+LSF JPEG files.

In Continuous AF mode, the frame rate dropped to about 4.4 fps for Large/Super Fine JPEGs, and burst speed with RAW or RAW+JPEG files was very slow, at only about 0.7 frames per second in our tests.

Buffer depth was fair at 14 frames when shooting best quality JPEGs in the fastest continuous mode, but the G7 X continued shooting at about 3.8 fps when the buffer was full. Buffer depths with RAW files in the fastest burst mode were however very shallow at only 4 RAW frames or 2 RAW+JPEG frames before slowing down even further.

Buffer depths were essentially limited only by card capacity in the slower Contunious AF mode for both JPEGs and RAW files. Buffer clearing was swift with a fast 95MB/s UHS-I card, never taking more than 3 seconds in our tests.

The built-in flash took an average of 6.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is very slow.

Bottom line, the Canon PowerShot G7 X's timing performance was mixed, ranging from very slow burst speeds when shooting RAW files to reasonably fast autofocus.

Battery Life
Poor battery life.

The Canon PowerShot G7 X uses a custom NB-13L rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger. CIPA battery life is well below average for its class at only 210 shots per charge, though there is an Eco mode which improves battery life to a more competitive 310 shots by dimming and then shutting off the LCD more quickly than normal in shooting mode. Still, we strongly recommend you pick up a spare battery for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))