We were the first to get our hands on the Canon Powershot V1
The Canon PowerShot V1 is the company's second vlogging compact, following 2023's diminutive V10. It has more in common with the company's G1X series of enthusiast compacts, using a large sensor with technology borrowed from its APS-C cameras.
With vlogging in mind, it has a 16-50mm equivalent F2.8-4.5 lens, meaning it can maintain a wide-angle 22mm equivalent field of view, even when cropped-in 1.4x for its 4K/60 mode.
We raced over to the Canon booth the moment the CP+ show in Yokohama opened, so we could be the first to get our hands on the new camera.
HandlingIt feels quite comfortable in the hand: it's quite deep, because of the space needed for the fan and ducting used to keep the camera cool for extended periods of recording, but there's enough of a grip to make it feel secure in the hand.
The body is coated with a soft, grippy rubber coating, adding to a sense of security, as well as giving a bit of a premium feel.
ControlsThe controls on the camera are pretty small, with a small zoom rocker around the shutter button and a miniaturized exposure dial towards the back of the top plate.
There's a small [Rec] button and two mics on the top plate, along with the power button. The power button risks being somewhat obscured when you mount the supplied 'dead cat' wind screen over the mics.
Just behind the mode dial is a stills/video switch because, while it's been designed primarily as a vlogging camera, it should be pretty capable for stills, too.
Back of the cameraThe back of the camera closely resembles the G1 X Mark III and most other Canon compacts, with a little control dial encircling its four-way controller, along with buttons for playback, delete and so forth.
Control dialThe V1 has a control dial around its lens but, rather disappointingly, this is free-rotating. This is great for smooth manual focus or seamless aperture changes in video mode, but it's not ideal for selecting discrete, stepped variables such as exposure compensation, ISO or aperture value in photography and means you don't get any tactile feedback.
By default the function of the dial changes with exposure mode, but you can override this and assign it to control: ISO, Exposure Comp, Focus or stepped zoom.
Ports and flashFor video the V1 has both mic and headphone sockets and can accept a selection of Canon microphones via the connections at the front of its Multi-function hot-shoe.
This shoe can also be used to attach external flashguns because, while it's primarily designed for vlogging, the V1 has an in-lens shutter that should allow it to sync with flash all the way up to its 1/2000 sec max mechanical shutter speed (and it can maintain 1/2000 even at its widest aperture setting).
Raw shootingThe other key feature from a photography point of view is that the V1 can capture full Raw files. As we've got used to seeing on recent Canons, you have a choice of Raw, lossy-compressed C-Raw or the Dual Pixel Raw.
Dual Pixel Raw saves the information from both halves of the camera's split pixels, used to give it depth-aware phase detection from its whole sensor area. In practice we've rarely found the Dual Pixel Raw are worth the extra storage space, and it's a feature that's been dropped from the likes of the EOS R5 II and R6 II, so we're surprised to see it reappear here.
If you don't want to shoot Raw, the camera gives a choice of JPEG or HDR photos for playback on high-dynamic-range displays as 10-bit HEIFs.
Lens and rolling shutterThat 16-50mm equiv F2.8-4.5 lens has an equivalent aperture range of F4.0-8.8 in full-frame terms, if you want to get some idea of the image quality, low-light performance and depth of field it will give. This gives it a distinct edge over the Sony ZV-1 Mark II, the most directly comparable wide-angle vlogging compact on the market: the Sony's lens doesn't go as wide, reaching a maximum of 18mm equiv, and its F1.8-4 aperture is equivalent to F4.9-10.9 in full-frame terms. So the Canon should be able to offer better image quality in both good light and poor.
The Sony's Stacked sensor has faster readout than the V1, so it'll exhibit less rolling shutter. We haven't been able to measure the speed of the Canon yet, but its close relationship to the EOS R7 sensor suggests it won't be super-fast.
AvailabilitySadly we haven't been able to get any details of when it might be available in the US or Europe. But we get the impression its announcement for the Asian market was brought forward so that it could be put on display here in Yokohama.
The PowerShot V1 won't be available anywhere until late April, so there's still plenty of time for a rest-of-world release announcement before the camera hits the shelves. We hope to hear more, including when we can get a shootable example, soon, so please stay tuned.
If there are any other details we can check on, while we're here at the show, please let us know in the comments and we'll head back to the Canon booth to check, if we can.
