Canon G3X First Shots posted: How does Canon’s big lens, big sensor PowerShot stack up against the FZ1000 and RX10?

posted Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 3:05 PM EDT

The Canon G3X, a camera boasting a versatile 24-600mm-equivalent zoom lens mounted in front of a large 1-inch-type sensor, is the answer to Canon fans' yearning for a competing PowerShot model to take on the elephants in the room: the Panasonic FZ1000 and Sony RX10, now with an upcoming "Mark II" version. We just received our review sample and immediately sent it down to our lab for an initial set of Canon G3X First Shots.

While the G3X sports a similar resolution to both the FZ1000 and RX10 II at around 20MP, the Canon offers a substantially longer zoom range than either. The Panasonic tops-out at 400mm-eq., while the Sony hits the end of its range at 200mm-eq. For those particularly interested in wildlife photography or other far-off subjects, the Canon's range should be an enticing factor. And for the landscape fans, all three offer similar 24mm-eq. wide-angle focal lengths.

There are a host of other similarities and differences between these three models, including price, burst rate, build quality and video recording specs, and we will, of course, dive into those aspects as we get further into our Canon G3X review. But for now, it's time to get pixel-peeping on our Still Life test shots with our Canon G3X First Shots.

Below are a few 1:1 crops at ISO 125 and 1600 comparing the new Canon G3X against its FZ1000 and RX10 Mark I competitors (we don't yet have an RX10 II sample, unfortunately). We invite you to head over to the Canon G3X Samples Page to view all our lab First Shots and download both full-resolution straight-from-camera JPEGs and RAW files for your own analysis and tweaking. Be sure to check out the Comparometer, as well, and match up the G3X against other Canon PowerShot cameras, such as the G7X and G1X Mark II, as well as any other camera model we've tested.