It's every keen photographer's dream ? a camera with a decent sized sensor that's still small enough to carry around everywhere. The G9 X has a 1-inch sensor, a comparatively new type that's four times larger than the 1/2.3-inch sensors in point-and-shoot cameras and more twice the size of the 1/1.7-inch sensors in older high-end compacts ? including Canon's own highly regarded PowerShot S120. Remarkably, the G9 X is barely larger than the S120, itself considered in its time to be a brilliant bit of miniaturization.