When you’re building a website there are two key raw indigents that you need, written content and visual content. One of the most effective ways of getting visual content for your site is to take your own pictures. In this review I take a look at 3 premium compact cameras. These cameras may be tiny, but they are serious photographic and video tools that can help any business or organization capture great images to use on their website. !
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE CONTENDERS:
I’ve selected these cameras because their compact size means that you can take them with you anywhere so you can’t use camera size as an excuse not to take great pictures for your business, organization or personal website. These three cameras all feature automatic modes as well as full manual controls so they’ll work for you if you just getting started in photography or are already a photo enthusiast.!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, they cost you nothing extra, and give me a commission if you decide to buy the product. It’s like buying me a nice frosty beverage for sharing some cool tools with you 
Camera Size Comparison (video)
Key features:
- Interchangeable lenses
- Largest sensor of the 3
- Wifi Image Transfer to smartphone or tablet
- Powerful Wifi Remote Shooting for both video and stills
- Touch Screen
- accurate auto white balance
- Great for shooting video stand ups by yourself with wifi remote and touch autofocus. (hint turn off continuos autofocus in video mode to lock the focus after pressing record)
- Great lens
- Wifi Image transfer
- Basic Wifi remote (stills only)
- Physical exposer compensation dial
- Clean simple user interface
- Touch Screen
- Flip up screen for selfie
- Smooth auto focus in video
mode - Built in ND filter
- Lots of built in special features like time-lapse and star shooting.
- Good Lens
- Lots of image customization options
- Best video recording codec of the 3 cameras, XAVC S
- Flip up screen for selfie or slight tilt down, not touch screen
- Charge camera with easy to obtain usb cable
- Built in ND Filter
- Special features like timelapse and star shooting available at an extra cost.
- Wifi image transfer and basic remote for video and stills
Both the Sony and the Canon are pocketable cameras. The Panasonic would be actually a little bit smaller then the other two if it weren’t for the lens. In the following videos at take a closer look at the body and menu design as well as the wifi controls of the cameras.
Canon G7X (video)
Sony RX100 III (video)
Panasonic GM1 (video)
Photographic Quality
All three of these cameras perform really well for taking still images. The main difference comes in the lenses. The lens that I like the best comes with the Canon G7X, it has a nice range 24 – 100 equivalent. The fast aperture throughout the range can help you separate your subject form the background especially at the longer end of the lens. The Sony RX100 III lens is also very good, with the 24 – 70mm equivalent range but having that little bit of extra reach on the Canon really makes a difference. The Lens that’s included with the Panasonic GM1 is a 24 – 64mm equivalent. It’s slower then the Canon and Sony, it almost makes up for it with the larger sensor, but not quite. The advantage for photographing subjects like products with the GM1 is buying additional lenses. One of my favorite is the Sigma 60mm 2.8
Video Quality
The biggest difference with these cameras is in the video quality. The Sony RX100 III is the clear winner here with the XAVC S mode, shooting in this mode produces the smoothest cleanest images, but if your video is intended for Youtube even uploading it at 1080p you will be hard pressed to see the difference. You really have to be looking at the native footage on a high quality monitor to easily spot the difference.
Photo and Video Samples (video)
Cheapskate Alternatives
These are my top picks for cheaper alternatives to these cameras.
SONY RX100 III AND G7X ALTERNATIVES:
The Sony RX100 III and Canon G7X are very similar cameras, they both also have some great cheap skate alternatives. The Sony RX100 and RX100 II
Image of RX100 with link: |
Image of RX100 II with link: |
With these two cameras you get a longer lens, but it’s not as fast as the RX100 III, neither of these options includes a view finder either. The RX100 II does feature a hot shoe and Wifi which is lacking on the RX100.
Conclusion
Any of these cameras are great choices. They all make great images.
Of course the best camera would be a mash up of all of these cameras, I would want lens from the canon, the high quality video mode from the Sony and the amazing wifi controls of the Panasonic. All three cameras take amazing photos and great video, I’d break them down this way if you want a simplistic but powerful interface and an amazing lens, get the canon, If you love diving deep into the settings, and you need the highest video quality get the Sony. If you want the best wifi remote control, and consistent automatic operation and the option for additional lenses get the Panasonic. I don’t think there is a bad choice between these cameras. Get the one with the interface that you think will be most intuitive for you. Then get to know the camera take lots of shots try different angles, experiment. Have some fun
Hi,
Thanks for your nice review. I bought the Canon G7X (new) about 3 weeks ago on eBay.
By far the main and only reason was its price : The seller asked $587 AUD but eBay had a special temporary action and discounted 20% so I paid $470 AUD or $345 US. Postage to Australia was included in this amount.
I think that must have been a pretty good deal as the Sony would have costed at least double that amount.
I have bought a bag for it and put a screenprotector on the LCD screen at the back.
It looks a great little camera but sofar I have only used “AUTO” because it seems quite complicated to me.
I bought it also because my old Canon Ixus 960 (Powershot SD950 in USA ?) from 2007 started making problems getting its lens out. Now suddenly with the arrival of the G7X it works properly again ….. which is quite annoying however the G7X should be a vast improvement over the Ixus 960 which I still keep as long as the lens comes out. And I don’t expect that problem to disappear just like that.