Best Cameras & Lenses 2019

Fancy a brand-new camera or lens for Christmas? Here’s our pick of the best that we’ve used and reviewed over the past 12 months

Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III

£699 www.canon.co.uk

CANON’S G7 X series of advanced compact cameras has long been popular with enthusiast photographers, and this latest version increases its attraction still further. Like its predecessors, it’s based around a 20MP, 1in sensor and a 24-100mmequivalent f/1.8-2.8 lens that offers a really useful combination of range and light-gathering ability. Yet this fits inside a pocketable body with a good complement of external controls, along with a tilting touchscreen for composing your images.

In technical terms, the Mark III’s big update is the adoption of a stacked CMOS sensor and Canon’s latest Digic 8 processor. This brings much faster autofocus and continuous shooting, with a new Hi-speed Raw option that shoots at 30 frames per second.

In addition, 4K video recording is available, supported by the addition of a microphone socket for better quality sound.

Canon has proven to be very adept at making small cameras that handle well, and the G7 X III follows suit with a nice tactile control ring around the lens, top-plate exposure-compensation dial and well-spaced buttons on the back. Most importantly, it also delivers very pleasing images. If you’d prefer to have a built-in viewfinder, along with a longer zoom in a slightly larger body, then also take a look at the G5 X Mark II, which costs £849.

Overall, though, the G7 X Mark III is a lovely pocket camera that we really enjoyed using.

What we like

Small, light and easily pocketable

Excellent image quality

Plenty of useful features

Sony RX100 VII

£1,199 www.sony.co.uk