In pursuit of a viral, five-year-old compact camera

I was trying to buy Canon PowerShot G7 x Mark III for two weeks, and I no longer think this camera is present.

Certainly it was at one point. The camera was released in 2019, and I am sure I used at least a little bit because I was working on the website of the web after that. The G7 X III was the latest in a long series of very good “distinct” compact cameras with sophisticated specifications such as a large sensor, manual control tools, and a decent lens. G-Something-X cameras have been recommended for people for more than a decade, but they are far from the only option if you want to really good compressed. The last time I reviewed, Sony was selling nearly twenty different RX100 models, as well as the friend ZV-1 II. So I found that the news that the G7 X III was in particular was very common between Tiktokers to the point that it was impossible to find inventory it is difficult to believe.

Aside from being a good camera in general, the G7 X III represents Canon’s attempt to attract creators. The all -built cameras market except Doa was at that point, so Canon and other manufacturers began to add your friend’s features to YouTube, such as compact broadcasting possibilities, uninterrupted 4K video, and packets that focus on creators in an attempt to cancel the latter group of people who already buy compressed cameras. You are skeptical at that time – don’t the influencers just want to use their phones? -But the time made us a lie from all of us, because Canon G7 x III is so popular that strategies for their purchase have become a complete sub -type of videos on Tiktok. Searching for “How to buy G7 X” will lead to dozens of it, and I can confirm your algorithm will feed you with the endless G7 X content after watching a few. But it seems that the reasons for her popularity have nothing to do with the advantages of the influence. Since G7 x III stumbled on me in the next few weeks, I had time to find out these reasons.

All this started when a handful of obsessed with the camera in edge Slack noticed some Tiktokers who post videos on how to buy Canon G7 x III. In these videos, creators described their long and reserved trips to find the camera, often including the help of friends and the use of the Hotstock app. But … seriously? “no road There are between four to five Canon G7 x IIIS that flying on my local target shelf every morning, “I announced. This was true, as I learned over the following weeks. But only because my local goal cannot even get one of them in the stock.

The challenge, specifically, is to find Canon G7 x III or G7 x II – widely similar and still new – retail price, It is $ 799. You can buy the G7 x III from some of the legitimate third -party sellers on Amazon and Walmart for about $ 1500 if you are desperate. And if you can find one used, you can still expect to pay more than $ 1,000 for that. Imagine selling a camera I bought five years ago with three hundred dollars. This is how the G7 X mode is, especially when you remember that you can just buy Sony ZV-1 now from each partial camera you examined.

in The video that sparked this investigationDestiny Deniz says that the trick is waking up at 5 am and checking the target site. I did it for several days in a row, and also participated in email alerts with every retail dealer I could think of. No luck. I started taking more sharp measures, and summoned reinforcements.

Antonio de Bandeto Drilling Lecture references, but also a type of tool that is difficult to find. It offers me TrackalaackerAnd it gives me some other useful advice, such as “preferring” the product in the target application so that it does not continue to disappear when searching for it. I take his advice and make alerts with Trackalacker. It also happens to me that the goal may refresh it at 5 am East time, instead of 5 in the morning, so I start checking the web site when I go to bed, at 2 am, and when I wake up around 7 am.

Nothing of it works. Every time I get an alert in the inventory, the product has already ended with the time we acknowledge it, and I haven’t seen any stock that floats on the surface on the checks late at night. This is when I start searching for more Tiktok G7 x-buing videos and I find that the rabbit hole becomes deeper and strange. One person recommends He asks a nurse for a day To check the target site for you. (I can’t find any rhyme or reason to target the target retail schedule, so the presence of a person awakes all night, and verify periodically, may actually help.)

Another says that the secret is to call B&H directly and give them your credit card number over the phone to get an invisible waiting list. One blogger It is recommended not to buy the camera Very close to mercury back. I stopped calling B&H or consulting an astronomical specialist, but I managed to book one on Backorder with Adorama. In theory, this will cost me $ 799, but they will not impose on my credit card until it is already available. Expecting availability: June. The search continues.

I stopped by managing the electronics on a targeted tour of an opportunity outside that the G7 X III has reached the shelf. It was not, of course. But the thing I noticed about the Target camera section is that it consists of two things: Canon cameras and instant cameras. There is a big and wonderful picture on the screen that features some smiling Gen Z’ers who spend a great time with its digital cameras. Anywhere on the horizon: Nikon, Sony, Fujivity, or any other brand of the camera. In one way or another, the Canon closed below the targeted demographic.

To try to understand what was happening behind the scenes on the side of retail stores, I spoke with Rebecca Kaplan, the co -owner of the GLAZER Camera in Seattle. I have seen this all over the past decade-specifically, the collapse of the integrated cameras market, followed by popularity such as the G7 X and Fujifilm X100 VI- which is also somewhat confusing.

“I do not know why this was launched,” she says, noting that other sellers such as Sony and Nikon are selling a sophisticated point and shooting with similar features available easily, and predicts that with manufacturers turning into their resources towards exchange camera cameras, and producing these advanced points, slowing over the past few years.

“We only get a handful at one time,” she says, and when the cameras come, they are presented to customers on a pre -waiting list. But the number of people waiting for the G7 X III greatly outperforms the cameras that already come. “There are many people who are waiting – we will never deny the request, unless anything changes from the presentation perspective.”

I asked Canon about the show problem, and got a response from Drew Maccallum, chief manager at Canon Usa for planning for products. Canon “works to meet the demand for Powershot G7 x Mark III”, and indicates the last launch of PowerShot V1, which is directed towards the same creator sector. It seems that Canon, thus retailers who have very few G7 x III cameras for sale, are eager to transfer customers to the new device instead of a five -year -old model. Only V1 was sold in the United States two weeks ago, so it is difficult to say so far whether this reduces the way the G7 X did, but it is He is In stock in retailers major cameras.

Nothing completely answers the main question: Why This camera? Why is the Sony RX100 type, which uses the same size as a 1 -inch sensor? Why not Nikon Coolpix? The bachelor’s madness is well around the Fujifilm X100 series logic, at least. It drips with ancient magic and film simulation methods worth the noise. But I do not see any of this kind of magic when I look at the G7 X. What do influencers and creators see that I do not do?

I asked Angoy Tachu, the influencer of the lifestyle that published A video clip that includes its advice and tricks to use Canon G7 x Mark IIWhat led her to that camera in particular. By email, she told me that she is looking for something lighter to use in travel blogs instead of the large DSLR that you use at home. It was about the G7 X or Sony, but he chose the law. “In the end, I loved the price and jobs,” she says. “It was very easy to use.” As a person who owns a Sony camera and constantly fights with the menu system, I can say: these tracks.

In addition to VLOG shots, Tacho G7 X is used for shots – often instead of the phone camera. It calls the image of the “unparalleled” image, noting that its width is more tempting to skin colors. It seems that the thing that helps to achieve sick skin tones the The main feature of Canon G7 x: popup flash.

Many videos you have seen, including Tacho, indicate the flash. in A video clip posted on Tiktok last AugustBEAUTY VLOGGOR IYA OMAñA says she originally bought the camera in 2019 to create a video. “I have now become a virus for flash photography,” she says. Basically, I recommend all the videos that I watched as it provides guidance about the best settings for the G7 X to keep the flash, night or day. They have a point: smart phone cameras have faced a difficult time in providing skin tones that were the Apple response similar to “EH, you can find out.” The larger flash can light up a camera like the G7 X a topic away from a more widespread light that gives the skin a nice glow. A smaller flash on the smartphone camera cannot be reached to the maximum extent, and because it is a smaller lighting source, the effect can be harsh.

I don’t think the decent flash is the only thing that sent the G7 X VIRAL, though. Kaplan suspected that something else in this mix is ​​also. “Sometimes I think the scarcity pays the demand,” she says, noting the high demand and a decrease in the offer from Leica cameras when they are released. Cameras like LEICA Q are handcrafted, and the low numbers that are produced that help raise the range of supply/demand in favor of demand. “This is like a collective market version of that, in my mind.”

Tiktok video that launched this investigation supports scarcity theory. Destiny Deeniz remembers that she got G7 x III only because a friend managed to find a couple in the inventory. She says in the clip: “I didn’t necessarily want one of these bad things as I did, but the opportunity came and I was like,” Oh, it’s difficult to get your hands, “I prefer to pay $ 799 for $ 1900 on the Amazon.”

Moreover, the threat of customs duties is waving on the horizon. Canon is likely to assemble the G7 x III in one of its Japanese factories, but as Kaplan says, “They have parts coming from all over Asia, if not the world. So it is complicated to make this.” If the supply is much lower than the pre -order of the order, this certainly does not preach good for someone trying to buy the G7 x III. For me, I surrendered.

The pre -order with Adorama is still suspended, and regardless of how quickly jumping to the target app when I get the Trackalacker update, I never saw the G7 x III available. I started taking it personally every time I received a notice and could not find a camera for sale, and I took it as a sign that the time has come out of the game. If my local goal has been able to store the G7 X, then a more dedicated person – perhaps with the stars compatible with their interests – will find it before I do.