Canon G11 Review

[Frank66]

I really enjoy this website and have read it for a couple years. I am a little disappointed with the tone of the G11 review. It seemed that you viewed the camera as being mediocre. For what it was designed for, I think it is a very good camera. Of course it is not a DSLR. However as a street camera (meaning outdoor urban setting, not stores and shopping malls) it is very nice and particularly so in black and white where the noise is more acceptible as grain which a lot of great black and white pictures of the past have, including Life magazine photos. I have seen some very nice urban portraits shot with a G10. If Eugene Smith were alive today I bet he would own one and use one. It is also a good travel camera for serious hikers, who obviously don't own a store in downtown Los Gatos that caters to a lot of wealthy people. Carrying even a small crappy DSLR in the outback is often not really a good option. Again, I have seen some very nice photos of vistas and lanscapes shot by the G10. Yes they were not gallery quality, but they were still interesting enough to show the beauty of what the shooter was trying to memorialize. Regarding the mall photograph, I think the color problem could have been handled better by shooting RAW. Regarding the comparison to the EP1, well of course the EP1 will have better noise profiles. It cost $400 bucks more! For the same money as the EP1 cost one could get a Nikon D5000 and Rebel Ti which take less noisy photos than the EP1. Next time it would be more fair to compare the G10 to the Panasonic Lumix L3, which is a more appropriate camera to compare it with.  

[BernardLanguillier]

I really enjoy this website and have read it for a couple years. I am a little disappointed with the tone of the G11 review. It seemed that you viewed the camera as being mediocre. For what it was designed for, I think it is a very good camera. Of course it is not a DSLR. However as a street camera (meaning outdoor urban setting, not stores and shopping malls) it is very nice and particularly so in black and white where the noise is more acceptible as grain which a lot of great black and white pictures of the past have, including Life magazine photos. I have seen some very nice urban portraits shot with a G10.

I guess that the question was whether an upgrade makes or not for existing G10 users.

Cheers,
Bernard

[thierrylegros396]

I guess that the question was whether an upgrade makes or not for existing G10 users.

Cheers,
Bernard

And now I'm not very convinced for RAW files !

An advantage of the G11 is that the High ISO RAW files are not so "color noise" reduced.

So you can process them the way YOU want.

G10 was really usable to ISO200, G11 seems to go to ISO400.

But I think it's better to wait availability of more raw converters.

Have a Nice Day.

Thierry

[Publius]

Having recently upgraded from a Canon G6, I found the review of the G11 accurate. Comparisons can be made based on price or based on category/features. The review was written for the latter. Some folks will gladly pay more for better quality. It is good that some reviews make these sort of comparisons without compromise. The comparisons I would like to see would be to other cameras with an articulated LCD and hot shoe.

I originally owned a Canon G2, and when Canon removed the articulated LCD on the G7, I ran out to find a Canon G6 before they disappeared. I had been disappointed the recent G-series cameras did not have the articulated LCD, so once Canon announced the G11 had one, I stood in line. I've never noticed the "limited" 175 degree landscape tilt-swivel of the Canon G-series. I use the waist-level "viewfinder" in portrait mode where a 90 degree tilt-swivel is all you need. And with a 90 deg twist, it can be used in landscape, albeit smaller LCD display.