| Canon PowerShot G11 |
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Last Updated
January 7, 2010 Editor's Rating 
 
Canon is a pretty popular name when it comes to digital cameras and they are usually on the frontline when it comes to innovation and development in the field. One of their latest cameras, the Canon PowerShot G11, is a 10-megapixel CCD camera that takes things a little retro. From the design to the lower megapixel image sensor, Canon took a step backwards from its G10 model and made some improvements. The earlier model, the PowerShot G10, featured an image sensor with 14.7-megapixels, but it wasn't welcomed by many photo enthusiasts because of the lousy image quality and a few other design quirks. Canon listened and with their new model, the G11, brought things back into perspective and made a lot of improvements. This model features as we said looks a bit retro, with its metal body and solid design. In total, it measures 4.41 x 1.9 x 3-inches (wdh) and weighs in at 0.78 pounds, which is slightly larger and heavier than similar models. The body has a flat-black pain that makes it look really professional and robust. The edges of the camera are rounded with a rubber grip on the side that allows for comfortable one-handed shooting. The flash is built-in on the top left side, which does allow for fingers to get in the way at times.
On the backside and top are all the controls, including a 2.8-inch LCD display on the back as well as an optical viewfinder. The shooting and zoom controls along with the on/off switch are naturally on the top-right side and on the same side on the back are where the rest of the buttons are located. These controls include the menu button, metering, control dial, delete button, etc. The controls are well-placed and designed as to not allow accidental button pressing during shooting. We liked the Canon PowerShot G11 because the external dial on the top allows for quick ISO changes, metering, and exposure control, which are again a throwback to old-style cameras and are also convenient for avid photographers. The 2.8-inch LCD display on the back can be swung out and rotate along its axis for more comfortable viewing and sideways shooting from a tripod. The screen offers 461,000 pixels and full control of brightness and contrast. The screen is very decent and allows for good usage in almost all conditions, except direct sunlight when the screen becomes washed out. Some of the specs of the Canon PowerShot G11 include a 5x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom, a focus range of 19.2inch to infinity, with a focal length of 6.1-30.5mm. The 10.4 megapixel CCD image sensor can shoot images with as low resolution as 640x480 and as high as 3648x2048 and video from 320x240 to 640x480 at 30 frames per second. The shutter speed of the camera is 15 - 1/4000 sec and can shoot 1.1 frames per second. This model does not allow for interchangeable lenses, which may be a downside for some professionals. However, we did like that the G11 can shoot in JPEG and the more advanced RAW image format. The G11 also takes an SD memory card and is compatible with SDHC and MMC Plus cards as well. Performance of the Canon PowerShot G11 is pretty good, with both manual and automatic shooting modes. From power on to first shot took around 2 seconds, which is very fast, making it a potential point-and-shoot camera. More advanced users will definitely appreciate the wide-range of manual controls for all aspects of the camera while less-professionals will enjoy using the automatic shooting modes. For dark shooting conditions, the G11's built-in "i-contrast" mode will alter the contrast on its own and help brighten up dark photos on-the-fly. Image quality is very good, at both far distances and up-close shots. There is very little lens distortion to be found and colors were very accurate and crisp when using only higher-resolution settings, but were extremely poor when using lower-resolution settings. It was also noticed that higher ISO settings produced noticeable amounts of image noise, with ISO 100/200 being the best settings. Video shot with the G11 is not in HD quality, not even 720p, but rather 480. This is rather disappointing as some other similar models do offer at least 720p HD shooting. Video files shot with this camera are captured and saved in QuickTime movie format and there is no limit on video length besides memory card allowance. While the Canon PowerShot G11 is a little bit of a step backward in terms of specifications from the previous G10 model, it definitely gained a lot despite the reduction. Image quality was exceptionally good in both automatic and manual shooting modes. More advanced photographers will appreciate the vast amount of customization offered on the G11 and the external controls to quickly do so. More armature photographers will enjoy the quick-shooting speeds and automatic adjustment for best image quality.
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