Thoughts on the Canon Powershot V1 (And R50V) and the resurgence in Compact Cameras

Ever since it was released in the Asian markets a few weeks ago, I’ve been quietly obsessing over Canon’s new Powershot V1 compact camera. The original launch was somewhat muted here in the west, with no-one really getting their hands on it apart from a few Japanese photographers and filmmakers. Now that Canon has officially launched it worldwide, we’re getting more details and coverage, and I have to say, I really like what I see.

While lots of manufacturers have been jumping in on the “vlogging camera” market, many, if not all, the models released so far have had fatal flaws that made them far from the perfect vlogging devices. While the space for a video centric compact camera has been filling in, personally, I have found it challenging to find the one that has all the features I need. But the V1 looks (almost) perfect from what I’ve seen online.

Allow me to explain why I think so…

Before I get to that, though, a quick disclaimer. I have not used, or tried, this camera. This is NOT A REVIEW. This is just me expressing an opinion about a camera I’m interested in. I know this seems silly to have this disclaimer, but every time I write one of these pieces, someone invariably leaves an angry comment telling me that I should be excommunicated for daring to “review” a camera that I haven’t used yet.

I’ve been interested in this segment for quite a while. My first foray into vlogging was using a Canon G7X Mark II. In fact, I used this camera as my main vlogging camera for my most popular videos on YouTube. While it was only 1080p and had no form of Log recording, or even an external microphone input, I found ways around most of the issues. I know many popular YouTubers of the day used this camera for vlogging, and it was probably the go-to compact for video before a dedicated segment even existed.

Eventually though, the limitations were starting to frustrate me. When Sony came out with the ZV-1 I was delighted, as it seemed someone was creating a camera that did just what I wanted. However, having owned it for a few years now, it’s an incredibly frustrating camera to use. While the ZV-1 did address the issue of having an external microphone input, and added log recording and 4k, it had problems. The biggest publicised issue was the fact that the wide end of the zoom was a 24 mm full frame equivalent, and it just wasn’t wide enough for Vlogging, especially when the stabilisation was activated which cropped the resulting video (as did shooting in 4k). While this was a bit of an issue, the G7XII also had that problem to an extent, so it didn’t bother me personally too much.

The biggest problem with the ZV1 is that the screen is terrible on it. When you go to record in 4k the screen dims, and you can barely see it depending on the type of light.

To be more technically accurate, you can’t adjust the screen brightness when shooting in 4k. So if you have the screen brightness turned up - which you will absolutely need to do - when you go to shoot in 4k it reverts to “0” brightness, effectively dimming the screen.

In some circumstances, when recording outside, you can’t see the screen at all. There was one time, I thought there was a problem with the camera, it was so bad. Funnily enough, it’s not even in direct sunlight where it’s at its worst, but when it’s slightly overcast, the reflectivity of the screen reflects the clouds and makes it almost impossible to see. It’s an almost fatal flaw for a camera, especially since there’s no viewfinder, and it’s something that almost no reviewers mentioned. It’s so bad, I mostly used it in 1080p to avoid the problem. I actually don’t like using the Sony at all now, and avoid it whenever possible. While the company did address the wide-angle problem with the ZV1 Mark II, as fart as I can tell, it still doesn’t allow you to adjust the screen brightness (i.e. it dims) when recording in 4K.

I’ve spent the past while researching vlogging alternatives, trying to find a suitable small camera for my YouTube needs, and here’s what I want to see in such a device:

It should have a wide enough lens for hand held vlogging and have decent stabilisation for walking shots. It needs to have a microphone input (and ideally a headphone jack, although that is less important) It should have 4k and log recording, and it should have a screen that you can see outside. Not too much to ask for, right? Except most of the compact vlogging cameras that have been released lately have been missing one or two of those key features.

I had considered the Sony A6700, but it’s expensive, given you’d have to get a wide-angle lens too. I had also looked at the Fujifilm XS-2 which does fit the bill nicely, but I still really wanted a compact camera. And again, I would need to add a wide-angle lens to that price.

Ever since I got my Canon R6II it would also be nice to have a smaller Canon for vlogging to keep the shots consistent, but I had looked at the R50 and the lack of Log recording was an issue.

Then Canon announced the Powershot V1. It ticked all the boxes on my wish list.

First of all, the lens. It was wider than I was expecting, starting at a 16 mm full frame equivalent. This is more than wide enough for me, and even with additional software stabilisation it still looks suitable for recording oneself. It also has built in optical stabilisation, which based on the videos reviewers have posted so far, looks ok for stability on its own, even without the additional software stabilisation.

It has C-Log 3 which, is perfect for when I want to match to my bigger Canon, and it has a larger sensor than the previous 1.0 types (with a 1.4 type sensor which is similar in size to Micro 4:3.) It has microphone input (tick) and it has a headphone jack (tick, tick). It even has a built-in ND filter and a fan to make sure there’s no overheating. Oh, and it has dual pixel autofocus, so it should be much superior to the autofocus of the Canon G7XII (which was a bit crap at times)

I’m not going to go on and on about the specs, you get the point - it does the job. And that’s the main thing. If I can ever afford to add this to my kit bag, it would be a definite buy from me. I genuinely think Canon has made a great little camera here. And while it’s primarily aimed at video, I see no reason this won’t be great for stills as well. I know some people have pointed out the lack of viewfinder, but that never bothered me on the G7X.

At the end of the day, the proof will be in the pudding, as they say. Plenty of western YouTubers and pundits have now published hands on reviews and videos about (and with) this camera, but that’s not what excited me the most. When it was first announced in Japan, there were some videos published by Japanese creators that were really nice (from an image quality/look perspective) and that’s what made me sit up and take notice. I’ll embed a couple of these below.

If you want to see a good take on it from a more familiar YouTuber, I suggest you watch Peter McKinnon’s video about it as he actually used it to shoot a mini promo video.

The R50V

Canon also released the R50V, which is an updated video-centric version of the R50. I’m less interested in this, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it, but they did address at least one of the issues with using the R50 for video and that was the lack of log recording. They also added 60p (even though it is cropped on the R50v, at least it’s there now). However, there is still no IBIS in the camera, which means you really need to use it with a stabilised lens. Luckily, they also released a new stabilised wide-angle kit lens to go with this. It’s even a power zoom, although it is a bit slow and there aren’t that many stabilised faster options. Even so, it is a big improvement over the R50 for video.

One interesting feature I almost missed was the fact that they added a second tripod mount on the side of the camera for vertical video, which is somewhat telling about the current state of the market. I’ve never seen that before, and I’ll be amazed if more manufacturers don’t start adding it to similar cameras. For me though, the V1 is definitely the winner of the two.

The return of the Compact Camera

I’m kind of fascinated by the resurgence of compact cameras recently. The second hand market has exploded given the dearth of newer models, so there is certainly a market for some innovation here. While some of this is undoubtedly started by TikTok trends (what isn’t nowadays?), there is definitely more to it than that. In a world of ever increasingly powerful smartphone cameras, you may think that this is something that just shouldn’t happen. Yet despite the fact that smartphones had almost killed off the compact camera segment, perhaps two can quite happily coexist.

I think it comes down to the importance of having physical controls. While many compact cameras have limited buttons and knobs compared to bigger cameras, even compared to smartphones, they are a lot more hands on. I think the experience of this physicality when shooting shouldn’t be underestimated.

There’s something to be said too about having a device dedicated to a sole function: to be able to concentrate on your photography without being distracted by emails, messages and push alerts. |in a world of online overload, even a digital compact camera is an escape for a moment to focus on one thing. Having a compact camera with you is also not a huge inconvenience compared to, say, carrying a larger mirrorless camera, and so I think that’s something to do with it too.

I’m sure people more intelligent and clued in than me have thought about this more than I have, but it is interesting. We’ve been told so many times that some piece of technology is dead only for it to revive. Think vinyl, film, and even physical books and magazines. These were all to be killed by the tablet and the smartphone and the internet, and yet all have made a comeback.

I also think it’s related to the phenomenon of the resurgence of film recently. Film is expensive, and getting a secondhand compact camera probably seems more economical than going down the film rabbit hole for many. I’ve always liked compact cameras and I still cary around my Canon G7XII even though it’s showing its age and the hand grip has been glued back on recently. I still shoot a lot on my iPhone of course, but even with the latest camera improvements on the iPhone Pro 15 and 16, I still prefer the results from my much older compact Canon. Likewise, I hope manufacturers see beyond just the need for video first compacts too and start to bring back the compact stills camera too.

*Epilogue: Of course, shoutout goes to Fujifilm and the X100 series, which have always kept the compact camera market alive, but I think that’s really a different beast, given the fixed lens nature of it. However, it still deserves mentioning as I think the X100 series's success is at least partially responsible.