Canon G9X Mark II Performance

Good overall performance for its class.

Very good startup to first shot time for its class, about a second faster than the G9X. Switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was also faster than the G9X's 1.9 seconds.

The Canon G9X II's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was faster than average for a compact fixed-lens enthusiast camera. The G9X II's full AF shutter lag clocked in at about 0.18 second at wide angle and 0.13 second full telephoto using center (1-point) AF, which is quite good for its class and significantly faster than the G9X's 0.29 second lag. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag to 0.78 seconds, to account for the metering preflash.

Manual focus shutter lag was quite good at about 0.14 second. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to only 36 milliseconds which is excellent.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were good in single shot mode, at 0.66 second for best quality Large/Fine JPEGs or RAW+LF 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 G9X II's fastest full-res continuous shooting mode rate was a bit below average these days at just over 8 frames per second regardless of file type, however that's a big improvement over its predecessor's burst speeds. The G9X managed about 6.5 frames per second for best quality JPEGs, but it slowed to a crawl when shooting RAW files to only 0.76 frames per second for just RAW files, and 0.61 frames per second for RAW+LF JPEG files. Be aware that focus and exposure are locked at the first frame of a burst in this mode.

In Continuous AF mode, Canon says the G9X II's frame rate drops to about 5.3 fps, however we did not test that mode in the lab.

Buffer depths were also much improved over the G9X. The G9X II managed 31 best quality JPEGs before it slowed down while the G9X could only muster 10 frames with the same, fast UHS-I card. The G9X II's buffer depth when shooting RAW files was of course lower than just JPEGs, at 20 RAW and 19 RAW+JPEG files. The G9X didn't seem to have a buffer limit when shooting RAW files, however that's because its burst rate was incredibly slow (at under one frame per second).

Buffer clearing times were sluggish with our fast 95MB/s UHS-I card, ranging from 9 seconds after a max-length JPEG burst to up to 23 seconds after a max-length RAW+JPEG burst. You can't view just-shot images and you can only change some settings while the buffer is clearing.

The built-in flash took an average of 10.3 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is extremely slow.

Bottom line, the Canon PowerShot G9X II's timing performance is generally pretty good for a very compact enthusiast camera. It offers a significant improvements over the G9X's performance with faster startup, faster autofocus, lower shutter lag, faster cycle times and improved burst performance especially when shooting RAW files, however buffer clearing is sluggish and flash recycle time is quite slow.

Battery Life
Mediocre battery life.

The Canon PowerShot G9X II uses a custom NB-13L rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger even though internal charging via USB is supported. CIPA battery life is below average for its class at only 235 shots per charge, though that is a slight improvement over the G9X's 220 shot rating. There is also an Eco mode which improves battery life to a more competitive 315 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))