Shadowplay Photography

Canon PowerShot G10

A great photographer, Jay Maisel says “Always have a camera with you, it’s easier to take pictures that way”. This is great advise, you never know what you might miss. This is especially true here in New York City, where there’s always something going on.

For my entire photographic career I’ve shot with SLR’s or dSLR’s. I’m used to them, the form factor, the heft, the control placement, etc. The heft part of that statement is usually the problem, it’s just too much to carry around all day. After much debate I told my wife, I want a G10 for Christmas (luckily for me, she obliged). So after a couple of weeks of use, here’s my mini-review…

Build

One of the things I like about the G10 is that even though it’s very compact relative to my 5D, there is a nice heftiness to it. The metal body feels nice and solid in the hand. Before my decision to get the G10, I looked at the Panasonic LX-3, and in comparison, the LX-3 felt like a a small, plastic toy, particularly the controls.

The exposed metal parts have the same textured black paint as the L series lenses, and is quite nice. Canon has also added more metal dials to the top of the camera, harkening back to the old days, that control the camera Mode, ISO, and Exposure Compensation. A dedicated dial for Exposure Comp, on a point-and-shoot, really? For sure, Canon is targeting this camera at serious photographers, not mommies at birthday parties.

On the back of the camera is a nice, big 3″ LCD. The camera has an optical viewfinder, but it’s fairly useless and mostly you’ll be using the LCD for framing. Which, after getting used to shooting that way, there are a number of advantages most prominently is the great feedback and shooting data that can be displayed overlayed on the frame. A real time histogram is an amazing thing.

The one big problem I have though is the placement of the control dial. On Canon’s dSLR’s, the control dial is positioned where the thumb naturally rests on it. On the G10, the dial is where the palm of your hand is. To get at it, you have to pivot out the bottom of your hand, causing a much less secure grip on the camera. The problem is that the LCD takes up so much of the back of the camera, the control wheel has no place to go, and so it’s crammed at the right edge of the body, under your hand.

Shooting Capabilities & Image Quality

The G10 is capable of producing high quality photos. It has a 28-140mm (35mm equiv.) f2.8-4.5 image stabilized lens, and can record 14.7 megapixel RAW files, as well as, capture movies. It has all the same manual and semi-auto (M, TV, AV) shooting modes as a dSLR. Shooting performance is closer to that of a dSLR than a typical point-and-shoot as well, with focus and shutter lag well within reason.

Bryant Park Ice Skating

There has been much debate online since the introduction of the G10 about its image quality. On this front I’m a bit baffled. At lower ISO’s the G10 produces incredible images, rivaling dSLR’s from just a couple of years ago. For anything below ISO200 the G10 can produce beautiful prints up 12″x18″. At ISO’s over 400 the noise really gets bad. Well, duh. As good as this camera is, it’s still based on a small, Point-and-Shoot 1/1.7″  CCD sensor. ISO 800 & 1600 should only be used when you must, to get the shot.

For my use, the convenience of a small, light camera that I can carry with me all the time, this camera means that I’ll won’t miss a shot because I didn’t have my 5D with me.

Other Stuff

With the upgrade from the G9 to the G10, Canon actually took away a couple of features. The camera now only shoots 640×480 movies vs. the 1024×768 of the G9. Is this a deal breaker for me? Obviously not, if I wanted to shoot HD video and video quality was the point, I’d go for a dedicated video camera or the new 5D Mark II. Also in the G9, there was a time-lapse feature that for reasons unknown has been dropped from the G10.

Conclusion

So far, so good. The camera has performed to my expectations, and is a great deal at around $420 online. I can easily recommend it to any serious photographer looking for a good walkin’ around camera.

As I spend more time with the camera, I will update this review.