Canon PowerShot V1 Review: A 1.4-Inch Sensor Vlogging Compact With a Fan and Built-In ND
The Canon PowerShot V1 is a pocketable vlogging camera with a much bigger sensor than its rivals. Canon launched it in March 2025 at $899, alongside the EOS R50 V. Its 22MP 1.4-inch sensor has about twice the area of the 1-inch chips in Sony’s ZV-1 II and Canon’s own G7 X III.
It’s built for people who film their day as they live it: a walk on the promenade, a café, a city break. A small camera you can carry everywhere, with better quality than a phone.
Photo: Media Instances
The fixed zoom covers 16-50mm equivalent at f/2.8-4.5. That 16mm wide end is wide enough to hold at arm’s length and still show the scene behind you.
Video review: Gordon Laing
Built for video
The V1 has a built-in cooling fan, which is rare in a compact, so it doesn’t stop recording in hot weather. A built-in 3-stop ND filter lets you keep a wide aperture outdoors. There’s Canon Log 3, a headphone jack, a mic input and a fully articulating screen.
4K at 30p uses the full sensor width, oversampled from 5.7K. 4K60 crops the frame. The camera works as a 1080p webcam over USB.
Dual Pixel AF II with face and eye detection is reliable, according to T3 and Cameralabs. Stabilization combines optical and digital modes, and DPReview rated it above Sony’s ZV-1 II.
Where it falls short
Rolling shutter is high, so fast pans can wobble. There’s no viewfinder and no flash, which limits it as a stills camera. Battery life is average, at about 340 shots or roughly 78 minutes of 4K video in Cameralabs’ test.
The lens is a stop slower than the G7 X III’s, and there’s no weather sealing. The grip and controls are designed around video, which makes it less comfortable for photography. And at $899, it costs about as much as some interchangeable-lens kits.
Who should buy it
Vloggers and travelers who want one small camera that films better than a phone, without changing lenses. If you’d rather have interchangeable lenses and a bigger sensor, the Canon EOS R50 V costs less as a body and sits in the same part of the lineup. Sony’s ZV-E10 II is the other obvious alternative.
Our guide to vlogging camera and lens combos compares the options.