The new Canon PowerShot G10 is a new and very customizable 14.7 Megapixel CCD flagship digital camera.
Introduction:
Canon PowerShot G10 has built-in image stabilization system, 3” LCD display with good direct sunlight legibility, 5x wide angle zoom lens which with digital zoom can reach 14x zoom without any image quality deterioration. Moreover, the new Canon PowerShot G10 has good battery life, plenty of customizable buttons, good ergonomics and nice image quality and attractive looks.
Canon PowerShot G10 pros:
+ Very good photo quality
+ Nice 5X zoom lens
+ Optical image stabilization
+ Solid, well built body,
+ Generally snappy performance
+ High resolution 3-inch LCD display with good low light visibility
+ Full manual controls, with plenty of scene modes
+ RAW image format support
+ Customizable menus and buttons
Canon PowerShot G10 cons:
- Lots of noise reduction in low light
- No white balance bracketing
- Continuous shooting mode is a bit too slow
- Small shutter release/zoom controller
- Can’t swap memory cards while using a tripod
The design:
Canon PowerShot G10 measures 109.2 x 78.7 x 45.7 mm / 4.3 x 3.1 x 1.8 in and weighs 350 g / 12.3 oz. It is made of very high quality, durable materials: plastic combined with metal and handles really well. Although at the first glance it might seem that the camera has too many manual controls it is easy to learn to use them to make the best of the Canon PowerShot G10. However, people with bigger hands and fingers might find it rather annoying as they may accidentally change some settings so it is best to try the Canon PowerShot G10 out before deciding to buy it. Especially the zoom control and shutter release button may seem too little for some photographers. The camera has a 3-inch display with quite high resolution – 461,000 pixels, good sun legibility and bright colors. Additionally, it has an optical viewfinder covering about 77& of the frame. The Canon PowerShot G10 has also a hot shoe should you want to use an external flash. The memory card slot is at the bottom, you you will not be able to switch cards when using a tripod. And as the camera has no memory card included in the box you will need to purchase one and I would recommend a high-capacity one due to large file sizes and at the same time a fast memory card so that you don’t have to wait for the camera to record your photos.
Performance:
Canon PowerShot G10 is very fast. Not only it starts up in less than one second, but it also focuses faster than comparable digital cameras made by competition. The battery performance is also above average when compared to other similar digital cameras. Both the face detection and shake reduction systems work fine in Canon PowerShot G10. The face detection works with up to 9 faces and can ‘track’ a face. I also liked the self-timer which has a few different settings and the one that I liked the most is the ‘new face’ which means that it releases the shutter when it finds a new face in the frame.
The image quality of Canon PowerShot G10 is very good, however under certain conditions. The images look sharp, saturated, with good colors and plenty of detain in good and normal lighting conditions. Yet, in low light the situation changes. The images tend to get too much noise reduction which affects the amount of details and in higher ISO the photos do not look so good. They are still usable for smaller prints, but if you intend to watch them on your 52-inch HDTV you may get a bit disappointed.
The video mode is also very good for a still digital camera. The Canon PowerShot G10 can record movies at 640 x 480 resolution and @ 30fps until the file is 4GB which is about 50 minutes. Although you cannot use zoom while filming you can still make use of image stabilizer, and features such as Color Swap and Color Accent.
Interface / ease of use:
The menu structure in Canon PowerShot G10 is a standard Canon so anyone who had anything to do with them in the past should not have any difficulties. In fact, thanks to plenty of scene modes, auto mode and manual controls it is easy to customize the Canon PowerShot G10 to suit own needs and thus make it even easier and faster to use.
Selected Canon PowerShot G10 features and specifications:
Price:
$499.99
Zoom
5x X
Pixels
15.00 Megapixels
Effective Pixels
14.70
Sensor Type
1/1.7-inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
Image Size
4,416 x 3,312 (Large), 3,456 x 2,592 (Medium 1), 2,592 x 1,944 (Medium 2), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3), 640 x 480 (Small), 4,416 x 2,480 (Widescreen)
Aspect Ratio
4:3, 16:9
Media
SD/SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card
Image Format
Still Image:RAW, Exif 2.2 (JPEG) Movie: MOV (Image: H.264; Audio: Linear PCM
File Size
22MB (RAW)-84KB(small)
Compression
Normal, Fine, SuperFine
Viewfinder
Real image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD
3.0-inch TFT color LCD with wide viewing angle, 461,000 pixels
Auto Focus Type
TTL Autofocus
Metering Modes
Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot Control to incorporate facial brightness in Face Detection AF Metering frame is fixed to the cente
Shutter Speed
15-1/4000 sec. (settable in Tv and M)
Self Timer
2-sec./10-sec. delay, Face Self-Timer, Custom
Modes
Program AE, Shutter Speed-Priority AE, Aperture-Priority AE, i-Contrast, Manual;
Automatic Modes
Special Scene (Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, Indoor, ISO 3200, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap), Stitch Assist, Movie
Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Built in Flash
Auto, Auto w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash Off; FE lock, Safety FE, Slow Synchro, Second-curtain synchro
Flash Range
12 in.-15 ft./30cm-4.6m (W), 1.6-9.2 ft./50cm-2.8m (T) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
Flash Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Resolution
4,416 x 3,312
RAW
ISO Sensitivity
Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600 equivalent
White Balance
Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Underwater), Custom (x2)
Playback Options
Still Image: Single, Magnification (approx. 2x-10x), Jump, Auto Rotate, Rotate, Resume, My Colors, My Category, Transition Effects, Histogram, Overexposure Warning, Index (9 thumbnails), Sound Memos, Slide Show, Red-eye Correction, RAW playback,
Direct Printing
Yes
Video Output
Yes
Battery Power Source
Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery NB-7L
Zoom Tele
6
Top Image Link
30.5
fstop Max
2.80
fstop Min
4.50
Movie Mode
Movie: MOV (Image: H.264; Audio: Linear PCM (Monaural))
Resolution Maximum
4,416 x 3,312
Other recently reviewed digital cameras:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77, Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, Nikon D90, Pentax K20D, Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, Nikon Coolpix S610c, Olympus 570UZ.