2009 30 Nov

[Review] Canon PowerShot G11 better than ever

Already impressed by the PowerShot G10, the G11 that now only happen to have a 10Mpx sensor goes beyond our expectations by providing better pictures even in high ISO than the G10 14.7Mpix one.

Canon G10 Specs
- 10 Megapixel, 1/1.7-inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
- Focal Length 6.1-30.5mm f/2.8-4.5 (35mm film equivalent: 28-140mm)
- LCD Monitor 3.0-inch TFT color LCD with wide viewing angle
- Maximum Aperture f/2.8 (W) – f/4.5 (T)
- Shutter Speed 15-1/4000 sec. (settable in Tv and M)
- ISO Sensitivity Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600/3200 equivalent (standard output sensitivity recommended exposure index).

First impression
Let’s put it this way, if you love the G10 look and feel you will love the G11, now if you the G10 did not feel right for you, the G11 will be here as well disappoint you, but this however should not stop you from giving our new PowerShot a try.
No really despite some very minor design change, the G11 is just like the G10, with however a nice a addition or should I rather say a nice improvement, coming from our G11 screen with its handy flip-out swivel LCD…
Maybe this does not look impressive at first, but believe me, having a LCD than you can easily manipulate will help you to better take pictures and to even give a more steady setup for sharper images.
One of the G11 new hardware “improvements” is its back dial that will let you control your camera and play whit its UI… If this dial is quite effective, it is however surrounded by a 4-way d-pad with its menu button in the center, which once you are trying to navigate through your photos or the camera’s menu you will often have to struggle with it and inevitably jump from one setting to another without being really capable to control it… Far from being ideal this new dial need some improvement and we hope that Canon will fix this in the future

Now once the camera powered on, you will also notice some small improvement within our camera GUI and especially with the in the way you can now enjoying the photo you took, a nice “carrousel” of picture will now be available to you and you will also now be capable to quickly jump from one picture to another.

Let’s Shoot Baby
We loved the G10 and had a lot of pleasure shooting with it, however, one of the G10 weakest point was how it handle photo in low light and the level of noise our camera was displaying above ISO 400. And despite having a “less” performance censor, the G11 actually offer even better picture than the G10 in the very same conditions.
One of the most noticeable improvement with the G11 is how it handle Noise, and if the G10 limited us to ISO 400 (Actually we limited ourselves to 400), the G11 new sensor can now be push up to ISO 800 and you will still offers you a descent picture without too much noise, a bit like when shooting at ISO 400 with the G10. As you would have guess being able to shoot at IS0800 gives you more flexibility when shooting in low light.
Want to push things even further and get the best from each picture you are shooting? Just jump from JPEG to RAW and you will now be capable to use your G11’s sensor to its maximum capability.
The G11 also seems to me a bit “faster” than the G10, but don’t focus on this point since it just maybe me, and I could not really compare both the G10 and G11 speed shooting the same setting.

Now the picture below has been taken in with different ISO ranging from 80 to 1600… You will notice that the Café latte and Crepes one is a bit blurry (at 100% zoom) since I was trying to shoot in low light at ISO 100 with no means to stabilize the camera beside my hands.

Hi-resolution untouched Photo sample can be downloaded here on our Flickr account
The G11, like its younger brother the G10 also offers a “Movie” mode capable to record video in 640×480 (H.264), and surprisingly, this “Movie” mode offer pretty descent videos, we would have preferred something a bit more in the range of a GF1 with 720p30, but still, the G11 offers really descent video and large enough to be used on your tube or Vimeo…

Conclusion
Already quite impressive the G10 was highly recommended, but now we would even push things on saying that the G11 is a “Must Have” for any serious photographer who want to carry something “light” along with them… Capable to offer great picture in a compact body the G11 is really impressive, but is the G11 is still too “bulky” for you, you should then consider another camera the S90 from Canon that happen to features the G11 sensor and many of its new and improved features….

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