Canon G11 takes on Micro Four Thirds cameras

Comments

• The lack of HD Video is very very disappointing for a 'current' model camera.
  It basically eliminates this from consideration by me and many others.
  From features, Looks like LX3 is still the best compact. Posted by KL, usa
• This looks amazing! I've had the original Powershot G1 for years. I wanted to upgrade, but they dropped the flip-out display (which I use all the time) on the G7 and then started down the megapixel race.
  
  It was very brave of Canon to actually reduce the pixel count and rely on their prospective customers being intelligent. The G11 looks perfect for me! I don't care about HD video. Posted by David, USA
• You want a video camera buy a video camera. Jack of all trades master of none still applies today.
  People always want more, whatever you give them in a camera or whatever, there will always be something else they want on it. If the this camera had HD video someone would want one of those things to get stones out of horse hooves on it.
  I started in photography in the late sixties when a colour print took more than an hour to process end to end. The amount of control was a fraction of what we have now which is virtually instant.
  Look at what this camera offers not what it doesn't.
  I bought the G10 and compared to carrying a medium format camera around and the darkroom full of equuipment one needed to process the film and prints it's a dream come true.
  Noise was the gripe with the G10. Are we shooting weddings with this camera? Doesn't anyone remember how negs looked when we pushed them? If you don't understand the term 'pushed' look it up on Wikipaedia. Noise is like grain it adds character to your creation. I love this digital stuff it lets me do things I only dreamt of twenty years ago without needing gloves and a whole room of equipment to achieve it.
  No HD video on the G11? Dry your eyes KL and your ilk and take mommies hand and go buy the Panasonic do it all. Personally I don't think the Panasonic software is as good as Canon's over all but then years ago (yeah here I go again) you bought the camera and then had the choice of which film you used, which is equivilant to which sensor and software: which you can't choose. Progress?
  With a few reservations I love the G10 and it looks like they at Canon have addressed the gripes that were aimat the G10 when they built the G11, like an articulate screen, and the noise by including a lower mega pixel sensor. Which is the best camera? Do you judge on paper items such as features or do you look at the images it makes, the ease of use, the file types it can produce and what you can do with them: you know important stuff.
  So KL of the good old US of A, (upper case you notice, have some respect) keep watching maybe next year you can have a G12 with HD video and a thing for getting stones out of horses hooves.
  
  Posted by Hugh LLoyd, UK
• Well I'm not convinced... compared to the competition the specs of this device aren't that impressive. Obviously we'll have to wait for some product reviews to hit sites like dpreview to see if it really is a quality picture taker. For me the Panasonic is still better - not because it has HD video (which is still a nice to have) but rather because its not micro 4/3... :( Posted by Mike Evans, UK
• I've been taking photos since I was about 7 years old, have had all sorts of cameras, and love the G10. It is the only camera I own and, along with a small measure of artistic good taste, produces terrific images. But it's a dead loss trying to take action pictures. My attempts at photographing Arctic Terns in attack mode were rubbish due to the high speed of the birds and the low speed of firing the shutter. I'm therefore delighted to see Canon has addressed this frequent complaint. HOWEVER, they still don't seem to have addressed my main gripe, i.e. that this lovely, accomplished, chunky camera ceases to be classy when the grotty plastic lens pops out on power up. If the G11 had more metal I'd be drooling. As it is, I await the G12 and hope! Posted by Brian Lockey, UK
• Just a reminder… it's a camera that's supposed to fit in a pocket… not a Swiss Army Knife of media. It's not a 1D Mk III for shooting swooping eagles or sports action. It's not a 3-chip HD camera. It's not for making mural-sized prints. [though I do wish it had one of those thingies for taking rocks out of horse's hooves…]. Let's see what it really turns out to be. It's got VERY stiff competition, and that's a good thing for us who like shooting more than we like cameras. The market for these photographic tools has never been better, and it seems that with at least Canon realizing we don't need 29 MP point and shoots, we may be getting image quality over pixel quantity. Let's hope. And then let's shoot. Posted by Erik Stenbakken, USA
• No HD, COME ONE CANON get it together. Who's running the company...a bunch of fuddy duddies? hmmm? Posted by Mr. Alexus, USA
• Get the HD video going and make it 24P not some non-standard 30FPS. Posted by Mr. Nexus, USA
• Thank you Hugh Lloyd, I too have been involved in photography since the 60's and spent 30 years in the TV Industry as a cameraman working on film and analogue and digital recording systems. the truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. You get nothing for nothing! As HL points out using film , if you increase the speed you get grain and it used to be as big as buckets. As for features on cameras, most professional cameras are about image quality and reliability. If you are working you usually don't have time to fiddle about with features that you can't remember how to use because you don't use them often enough.
  Digital cameras give so much facility in one package that it is almost unbelievable to an old fogey like myself. Having handled one and looked at the quality of image as demonstrated by Canon on their web site I'm going out to buy a G11 to add to my 5D Mk2, It just seems the best package around at the moment. (And that is after a 30 years of Nikon ownership) Posted by Roger Bunting, UK
• Just made the carefully thought out decision to buy the G11, replacing my weary but still amazing Leica Digilux 1 (yep, only 4mpx, but many a book cover shot with it). As a traditional photographer going back 4 decades now, this is the first digital rangefinder style camera that I feel almost measures up in all regards. It's with me at times when the SLR isn't, for obvious reasons. That means more shots that I might be able to use in my work. The controls are the real clincher--on top right where they belong. Viewfinder is adequate (old eyes have trouble with an LCD back). Handles Canon's mainstream accessories. Shoots RAW. Much better low light performance than expected. Very, very solidly made. Canon SLRs made up my stable for many years (as well as a dozen others) and I'm comfortable with the way this one handles. It's a lot of money, but I'm hard pressed to find anything better today. Posted by S van Scoyoc, UK