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Cameras

Is the Canon G1x Mk III Still a Good Camera in 2026?

Chris Gampat
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Last updated on 04/20/2026
06/15/2026
4 Mins read
A Canon G1X camera rests on a textured, khaki-colored canvas bag with a metal buckle.
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My Canon G1x Mk III sat in my Canon-specific camera bag for around a year. The camera, which I often tout to be the single best point and shoot camera in the digital world, was unused for various reasons. At times, I often feel like Canon constantly abandons their customers. We’ve reported on this before, and it’s something that I share with other staff here at the Phoblographer. So this year, I pulled the camera out of the bag. And in so many different ways, I felt validated.

The following text has been added to our full review. To read that whole review, please click here.

The Canon G1x Mk III in 2026

The Canon G1X Mk III is still the best digital point and shoot camera ever made in my opinion. It does everything the Ricoh GR series does plus it has a zoom lens and weather resistance. It can emulate the look of Fujifilm’s RAW files. And it’s small. Folks have contacted me before about this, but the one email that really stood out to me came from reader Katharina Scheidig. She wrote:

Dear Chris,

This is a bit of a strange email, but I just wanted to say I read your article about the Canon G1X Mark III and really enjoyed it. I’ve used mine almost every week since I bought it in 2018. 

Over the past couple of years I started eyeing up other, more “chic” models (Sony etc.) and got a bit bored of it — I even thought about selling it and upgrading.

I’m a photographer, so I use different cameras and brands for work, as you do. The G1X is my personal camera, so upgrading it was never a priority. I kept it.

Then today I crashed it in Kyoto and it genuinely made me sad. I tried to talk myself into the idea of buying something newer and fancier, but realised I actually love this camera. 

I was trying to explain to a friend why it matters to me so much, and ended up googling: “Does anyone love the Canon G1X Mark III as much as I do?” — which is how I found your article.

So yes: I just wanted to tell you I can absolutely relate. 🙂 Thanks for your work. 

Every now and again, Canon makes something that really slaps. There was the 5D Mk II, the 5Ds, the EOS R, the original EOS R5, and of course, the G1X series. Others really like the G7x series because their content creators. But if you consider yourself a photographer who makes still photographs and doesn’t make them so you can get some upvotes on Reddit or hearts on Instagram, then you’ll understand my love.

And to really do that, you have to embrace this idea: photographs aren’t social currency. They’re an expression of self. And often all I see on Reddit are a bunch of testosterone driven men posting photos for likes. If you ever try to talk to them about relating in words how they’re feeling or what they’re trying to express, they can’t do it. Often when they do this, it feels subversive. So what I end up doing is asking them about print sales, zines being made, or anything else that shows authenticity. None of them can.

That was quite a rant from me — and even I admit that. But it comes from a place of frustrated love that content creators really ruin photography for photographers in the same way that rich kids ruin art for the people who actually try to be sustainable.

As I write this article, an email came in from Profoto entitled, “Elevate your photography with Vanessa Joy and the Profoto A2.” Like all things in capitalism, it’s just a sales pitch.

But using older cameras isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a sign that you’re sick of all the products out there being nothing else but the same thing.

And that, ultimately, continues to blow my mind. So many years later and the Canon G1x Mk III is still my favorite point and shoot digital camera.

The other day, I did something with it that I haven’t done with any other camera: I cycled through all the images on it with someone else. Think about that, how often do you do that with a camera anymore? So many of us are used to importing, formatting, and then making new photos.

All of this from a camera that nothing else comes close to touching.

It boasts an APS-C sensor, a filter thread for stuff like pro mist filters (and doesn’t need a stupid special attachment), weather resistance, a zoom lens, and remains very pocketable. Plus there’s Wifi and it can take three imaging presets. In all ways, this camera was insanely ahead of its time.

Ultimately, it’s too bad that Canon let it die and chased after creators, who will ultimately not matter anymore because everyone is getting sick of influencers.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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