Excellent viewfinder

Battery life is miserable

I do most of my photography on a smartphone or DSLR; for a quick snap, it's usually the smartphone for easy sharing capabilities. If I want a better quality photo, I bust out the DSLR. But in the words of Old El Paso, "por que no los dos?".

Excellent build; Manual controls feel great; Fantastic photo quality

Battery life shorter than a DSLR; LCD and viewfinder could be higher resolution

The G5 X comes fully-stocked with a large 1in sensor, an Electronic Viewfinder, tiltable touchscreen and a versatile lens with a wide aperture. It's durable and well-built so it was impossible to give it anything less than 5 stars for features and build.

About 7 years with heavy use my Canon G10 decided to retire. After some very useful collaboration with Paul C and others at the Abt photography department I got the G5X as replacement and couldn't be happier with the choice.

Easy To Use; Good Image Quality; Good in Low Light; Large Clear LCD

Limited Zoom

The Canon G5X proves to be a more user-friendly and enhanced version of the G7X. With many more controls, a vari-angle LCD, an OLED viewfinder, a flash hot shoe, and additional enhancements to the camera body design and layout, the G5X takes what's good about the G7X and puts it in a more...

Photographer-friendly controls; Good OLED viewfinder; Good image quality with sharp detail especially with RAW; Vari-angle touchscreen display

Only 31 autofocus points; Subpar continuous shooting performance; Soft corners at wide-angle; Flare issues and fringing shooting wide-open; No 4K video; Poor battery life

The 1-inch sensor size has proven to be a winner in the compact camera space. Once exclusive to Sony, it's now available in models from other manufacturers. Competition is good for innovation and customer choice, and the Canon PowerShot G5 X ($799.99) certainly hits a niche.

Big 1-inch image sensor; Wide aperture zoom lens; Vari-angle touch display; EVF and hot shoe; Quick focus; Wi-Fi with NFC; Raw capture

Expensive; Burst rate slows when shooting Raw; Lacks 4K video support

The 1-inch sensor size has proven to be a winner in the compact camera space. Once exclusive to Sony, it's now available in models from other manufacturers. Competition is good for innovation and customer choice, and the Canon PowerShot G5 X ($799.99) certainly hits a niche. From an optical standpoint, it's the same camera as the pocket-friendly G7 X ($584.00 at Amazon) . But its body is a bit bulkier, adding an integrated EVF, a hot shoe, and a vari-angle display. We still give the Editors' Choice edge to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III ($598.00 at Amazon) , since it manages to include an EVF in a more compact form factor. But the G5 X might appeal if you desire a bit more zoom range and prefer a camera that's larger than pocket-size, and it offers excellent image quality in its own right.  DesignThe G5 X ($799.00 at Amazon)  is bulky for a compact camera, but it's not huge. It's a little too big to slide into a pair of jeans, but it's a fine fit for a coat pocket or small hand...

The Canon PowerShot G5 X is a bulkier twin to the G7 X, adding an EVF, a hot shoe, and a vari-angle display. It's an excellent choice if you want a beefier compact.

Big 1-inch image sensor; Wide aperture zoom lens; Vari-angle touch display; EVF and hot shoe; Quick focus; Wi-Fi with NFC; Raw capture

Expensive; Burst rate slows when shooting Raw; Lacks 4K video support

With the same 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor and 24-100mm f1.8-2.8 lens as the G7 X, the Canon PowerShot G5 X targets basically the same enthusiast photographers, but with a photo-nerdier design that includes a very nice high-resolution built-in OLED electronic viewfinder, hot shoe and a more useful flip-and-twist articulated touchscreen rather than the selfie-oriented flip-up screen. It's a fine camera, but unless the more useful display and above-average viewfinder matter most to you, then it doesn't really stand out from the pack.

Sluggish performance and a more limited feature set than similarly priced competitors hold the Canon PowerShot G5 back from being a leading contender among its peers.

The Canon PowerShot G5 X has a great viewfinder and a comfortable shooting design for serious photographers.

It can be frustratingly slow; with a short battery life.

One of two recently-launched additions to Canon's collection of high-end compact cameras, the PowerShot G5 X is the first G series snapper to come with an OLED electronic viewfinder, which it teams up with a touchscreen, a large sensor, a wide aperture lens and metal construction.

With truly exceptional image quality from such a small camera, anything less than five stars may seem unduly harsh. The G5 X's performance should be better, though, and it's important to remember that – unlike the Canon G7 X and Sony RX100 IV – the G5 X won't fit comfortably into a trouser pocket.