Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II vs Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV — Which Is Better?

The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, from 2016, and the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV, from 2015, are fixed-lens compacts with built-in 1-inch sensors. The Sony is the smaller and lighter carry: 102 x 58 x 41 mm and 298 g against the Canon's 106 x 61 x 42 mm and 319 g, a 21 g difference.

The RX100 IV is the stronger choice for moving subjects, shooting at 16 fps against the G7 X Mark II's 8 fps, doubling the frames in a burst of a running child or a leaping dog. It also offers in-body stabilisation and a built-in electronic viewfinder, so handheld shots in dim interiors are steadier and bright sunlight no longer washes out framing.

The core sensor specs are shared: both use a 20 MP CMOS 1-inch sensor, a native ISO range of 125 to 12800 and a 1/2000 second maximum shutter. Canon offers more autofocus points, 31 against Sony's 25, and its expanded ISO ceiling reaches 25600 against Sony's 12800.

The RX100 IV is the clear winner for video editing, recording 4K while the G7 X Mark II tops out at Full HD. That extra resolution leaves room to crop and reframe a clip without dropping below HD quality. Both offer up to 60 fps recording and write MPEG-4 and MOV files.

Canon holds one practical shooting advantage: built-in timelapse recording, which Sony does not offer, so sunset or cloud sequences can be captured without an external intervalometer.

Both cameras compose and review through a 3-inch touch LCD that tilts, which makes waist-level and selfie framing comfortable on either body. The Sony's panel is sharper, with 1,228,800 dots against Canon's 1,040,000, an 18.2 percent difference in dot count that shows up as finer detail when checking focus on a shot just taken.

The connectivity matches: each has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for transferring images to a phone, plus a built-in flash. Neither offers GPS tagging or weather sealing, so neither is the right pick for geotagging a hiking log or shooting in the rain.

Sony's battery is rated for 280 shots against Canon's 265, a 15-shot difference. The practical difference is charging: the G7 X Mark II charges over USB, so you can top it up from a power bank between locations, while the RX100 IV does not offer USB charging.

Both use a single card slot with SD, SDHC and SDXC support at UHS-I speed. Sony additionally accepts Memory Stick Pro Duo and Pro-HG Duo cards, which matters if you already own Sony media from an older camera.