Canon PowerShot V1 review: A compelling compact caught between two worlds

Dedicated vlogging cameras are being squeezed by everything from smartphones to action cameras. This doesn’t seem to deter established camera brands like Canon from releasing them, and if the reception of the PowerShot V1 is anything to go by, people still seem to like them.

It’s been a while since I last played around with a Canon camera, and not surprisingly, it was another vlogging model, the PowerShot V10. I loved the feeling of handling a compact Canon, even though it was very different from the 6D I used to use. The PowerShot V1 has the same ‘compact Canon’ energy, yet feels more substantial than its predecessor.

I spent three weeks testing it, and I was surprised by how much fun I had with the PowerShot V1. There is something tactile about using a dedicated digital camera for monkeying around, even if the footage you create won’t go viral online.

That said, the PowerShot V1’s image quality does help videos and photos stand out. Colour rendition is excellent, and image stabilisation is also on point, even though there is excessive cropping in certain modes. Is it worth the cash, though, in a world where you can own DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 for less than half the price?

Canon PowerShot V1 review

Price and availability

The Canon PowerShot V1 went on sale in April 2025, for the recommended price of £960 / $900 (before tax) / €999 / AU$1,449. It's available to buy directly from Canon and third-party retailers.

These days (April 2026), you can buy the camera for less, though it's still not cheap. Offers often bring the price down to $800 in the US, around £750–£850 in the UK, €850–€950 in Europe and AU$1,300–AU$1,450 in Australia.

For comparison, Sony’s ZV-1 II, another popular dedicated vlogging camera, sells for a little less at £750 / $800 / €800 / AU$1,200. DJI’s ultra-popular Osmo Pocket 3 (Standard Combo) is a lot cheaper at £389 / $519 / €439 / AU$799. The Canon PowerShot V10 is around a quarter of the price of the PowerShot V1.

Design and build quality

The Canon PowerShot V1 sits in the middle ground between traditional compact cameras, such as the beautifully retro PowerShot G7 Mark III, and small mirrorless bodies (including my Fuji X-T30 II). Measuring 118.3 × 68.0 × 52.5 mm and weighing 426g (with battery and card), it’s noticeably larger and heavier than older 1-inch compacts (e.g. Sony’s RX100 series), but still small enough to carry in a jacket pocket.

The body feels dense and solid, with a pronounced grip that makes it more secure for handheld shooting, especially when vlogging. It’s not weather sealed, but the overall construction leans more towards a mini mirrorless-style camera than a slim point-and-shoot.

I expected it to be slimmer based on the images online, but I was really happy with the slightly larger body, which made it much easier to hold with my big hands. The chunky, compact approach also makes the PowerShot V1 feel more substantial. Despite the size, the camera fits easily in the Peak Design Travel Crossbody 3L.

Up front, the fixed lens offers a 3.1x optical zoom (8.2–25.6mm, equivalent to 16–50mm), paired with a variable aperture of f/2.8–4.5 and a relatively complex 9-element, 8-group design. This wide-angle approach is clearly aimed at vloggers, offering a generous field of view at arm’s length, though it sacrifices reach compared to travel compacts.

Around the back, you get a 3.0-inch fully articulating touchscreen with 1.04 million dots, which flips out to the side for self-shooting and handles most menu navigation. There’s no electronic viewfinder, so all framing is done via the screen.

Some reviews noted the lack of a viewfinder, but in my opinion, it isn’t a deal-breaker for the PowerShot V1. Even though there seems to be space for one on the camera body (I appreciate it’s debatable, as I know nothing about designing cameras), Most vloggers wouldn’t use the viewfinder for framing.

As sad as it is, optical and digital viewfinders are old tech, and smartphone-trained people don’t need them. As such, companies don’t include them, as I can only assume it saves money and allows other components to spread out, so to speak. A fully articulated screen, which the PowerShot V1 has, is more important.

Control-wise, Canon sticks to a familiar layout, for better or worse. You’ll find the shutter button where you’d expect it, surrounded by the zoom lever. Next to it is the video button, and at the back of the top panel is the mode dial. The microphone is nestled between the hot shoe and the mode dial.

I found the Control ring around the lens interesting. This lets you apply quick adjustments to settings like aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, but I couldn’t get the hang of it and ended up using the touchscreen instead. The PowerShot V1 also has ports like USB-C, micro HDMI, and mic/headphone inputs.

One thing I missed is a built-in flash. Overlit images are quite popular, and a continuous LED fill light would also have been great for selfie videos.

Features

The Canon PowerShot V1 is built as a video-first compact, and its feature set reflects that. It has a 22MP 1.4-inch CMOS sensor, which is significantly larger than the typical 1-inch sensors found in most compact rivals, and I’m sure most people who might read this review understand that's a good thing for low-light performance and image quality in general.

The V1 can shoot 4K at up to 60 fps, alongside Full HD at 120 fps for slow-motion footage, with full-width 4K available at 30 fps and a slight crop applied at higher frame rates. Canon also includes C-Log3, letting you colour grade footage properly in Premiere Pro / Final Cut, which is unusual at this level.

One of the cooler additions is the built-in ND filter, which lets you maintain natural motion blur or balance exposure in very bright conditions without cranking up shutter speed. It’s a 3-stop filter, enough for most daylight scenarios, and better still, it removes the need for screw-on filters.

Autofocus is handled by Dual Pixel CMOS AF II, with reliable subject detection for people and animals, and fast, accurate tracking that’s inherited from Canon’s higher-end mirrorless cameras, such as the Canon EOS R5. I found autofocus fast and reliable in most everyday scenarios. Whether it was face or eye detection, the PowerShot V1 picked up the subject quickly and hung onto it.

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Beyond recording, the PowerShot V1 can be connected directly to a computer via USB-C and used as a plug-and-play webcam, delivering a Full HD (1080p) feed without additional software or a capture card.

I appreciated the versatility the USB-C connectivity provides, especially for streaming, where you won’t need higher quality than 1080p. If you have a decent lighting setup, it’s more than enough, anyway. If you want higher quality video, you can use the HDMI connection and a capture card instead.

Image stabilisation

Image stabilisation on the Canon PowerShot V1 is handled through a combination of optical stabilisation in the lens and digital stabilisation for video, rather than in-body stabilisation.

The built-in optical system is rated at up to 5 stops of compensation (CIPA), which is solid for a compact and helps keep stills sharp at slower shutter speeds. For video, the camera adds Movie Digital IS, which further smooths out footage when shooting handheld, albeit with a slight crop applied to the image.

Whether it’s slight or not comes down to personal preference. I found the crop good for single-person vlogging scenarios, when you’re pointing the camera at your face while walking. You won’t get a bust shot unless you have really long arms, but the crop is usable and shows the main features (face, shoulders, etc.).

There’s also a more advanced stabilisation, including Subject Tracking IS, which prioritises stabilisation around your subject rather than the centre of the frame, helping keep faces steady even when you’re off-centre. In practice, this makes the V1 far more usable for walk-and-talk vlogging than older compacts, especially when paired with its wide 16mm equivalent field of view.

That said, it’s not a perfect system. There’s no in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), and stabilisation is not available when shooting 4K at 60fps, meaning you’ll need to drop to 4K/30p for steadier handheld footage. Even with digital stabilisation enabled, you’ll still see some movement when walking, so it sits somewhere between traditional compacts and fully stabilised systems like gimbal cameras.

Image quality

The Canon PowerShot V1 punches above its weight when it comes to image quality, largely thanks to its 22MP 1.4-inch CMOS sensor, which, as I mentioned above, is noticeably larger than the 1-inch sensors used in most compact rivals.

That extra sensor area pays off in day-to-day use, with images showing strong detail, good dynamic range and improved low-light performance, particularly when compared to cameras like the Sony ZV-1 II.

I love Canon’s colour science, and it really shines in the PowerShot V1. Skin tones look natural, colours are well balanced without appearing overly saturated, and JPEGs straight out of camera require very little tweaking.

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There’s a pleasing level of contrast, too, which helps images look punchy without losing detail in highlights or shadows. Better still, when you send the images over to your iPhone via the Camera Connect app, the smartphone seems to understand the image better than when I use my Fujifilm XT-30 II, which allows me to use the built-in photo editor.

Sharpness is generally consistent across the frame, especially at the wider end, though the slower aperture at the telephoto end does impact low-light performance and background separation.

For stills shooting, the V1 is more capable than its video-first positioning suggests. With burst speeds of up to 30fps using the electronic shutter, it can handle fast-moving subjects well. I haven’t noticed the rolling shutter effect, either, although I can’t say I was pushing the PowerShot V1 to its absolute limits.

Battery life and charging

The Canon PowerShot V1 uses the LP-E17 battery, a unit widely used across Canon’s mirrorless lineup, making replacements and spares easy to find. In terms of capacity, it’s rated at around 1,040mAh, which isn’t huge, but it's said to be enough to deliver approximately. 260 shots when using the rear screen.

For stills, it’s enough for casual shooting throughout the day, but for video, battery life drains more quickly, particularly when recording in 4K or using features like digital stabilisation and the cooling fan.

You can run the PowerShot V1 continuously while plugged into power. In most modes, it can run for as long as there is memory left for the camera to record, although Canon caps the maximum clip time at six hours. I haven’t tried recording for six hours, though, so I can’t verify this.

There’s no external charger included as standard, so charging is typically done in-camera, although spare batteries are relatively affordable given the LP-E17’s widespread use.

Verdict

I’m in a bit of a pickle with the Canon PowerShot V1. As a long-time fan of the brand, I genuinely enjoyed using it for both photos and video. There’s something satisfying about shooting on a dedicated camera again – the tactile controls, the colour science, the overall feel – and the V1 delivers all of that in a compact, well-thought-out package.

Image quality is excellent for the category, and the larger 1.4-inch sensor gives it a clear edge over smartphones and most vlogging cameras. Stabilisation is good enough for handheld use, and features like the built-in ND filter, C-Log3 and USB streaming make it a versatile tool for creators.

The issue is price: at around £750–£850, it sits in an awkward position. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 remains the benchmark for easy, stabilised vlogging and costs significantly less, while many people will find their smartphone “good enough” for everyday content.

That doesn’t make the PowerShot V1 a bad camera; far from it. It’s a capable, enjoyable and surprisingly well-rounded compact, albeit a bit niche. If you want a dedicated vlogging camera that also takes genuinely good photos, it’s one of the best options out there. If not, there are cheaper and simpler ways to get similar results.