The New Canon G11 review by Ira Block

UPDATE the G11 is 50 bucks off at Amazon see it here Canon PowerShot G11  

Photographers take pictures, but if you aren’t carrying your camera, you’re going to miss a lot of great 
shots. That is why I make an effort to always carry a point and shoot with me – a habit that goes back to the days when I shot film. I’ve worked my way up through all the Canon G series  digital cameras starting with the G6, and now the new Canon PowerShot G11 . The big news for me on the G11 is the flip out screen – the last G series that shot raw with a flip out screen was the G6, and I’m glad it’s back. The new G11 screen is a little smaller than the G10 , but it’s hardly noticeable.

The other big change with the G11 is its 10 megapixel sensor compared with the G10’s 14.7. Too many megapixels on a small sensor mean more noise, and the G10 was starting to get noisy at ISO 400. The new camera also has a newer processor to help reduce noise and though Canon claims the G11 has a two stop improvement over its predecessor; I think that may a bit of a stretch.   I did a quick test after I picked up the camera from Fotocare here in New York City on Friday. As  you can see,  the camera still has noise at ISO 400 compared to ISO 100 but it’s tolerable.  These files were processed through Lightroom which doesn’t officially support the camera yet, but will open the raw files. I didn’t make any adjustments to the files except for sizing and cropping.

above iso 100 from Canon G11

above iso 100 from Canon G11 crop

above iso 400 from Canon G11

above iso 400 from Canon G11 crop 

As soon as I borrow a G10 (I sold my G10 as soon as I got news the G11 was coming out) I will do a comparison with the G11.  Hopefully, these test photos will be posted within the next few days. Otherwise, the G11 is almost identical to the G10. The lens is the same and the settings for various exposure modes have not changed, though the G11 has a setting called Quick Mode which I don’t remember the G10 having.  As a result there, is no real learning curve if you previously owned the G10.

Other point and shoots will be hitting the market soon. One that I would like to try is the Lumix DMC-GH1 but for now, the G11 is the small camera that will give me decent files.  More important however is that it’s small enough to always carry, so I will have no excuse not to take that unexpected photo that we all wish hadn’t gotten away. 

-Ira Block

Comments

[r4 dsi]

I recently purchased this camera and wanted to post my impressions of the camera from the perspective of an average camera user. I bought the G11 for my wife, who wanted an easy-to-use camera with an optical viewfinder and a swing-out LCD that was viewable in bright light.

[cartucho r4i]

Overall, I like it; it is much more portable than a DSLR, though for someone who is used to more diminutive point and shoots, it may seem bulky. To me if feels light (almost too light), and it's compactness makes the controls feel a little cramped. But it does look pretty cool, and feels pretty sturdy.

[Carsten Bockermann]

Id be more likely to take the G11 with me than the Panasonic

Same here. I tried the Olympus E-P1 but find the Micro 4/3 format to be neither fish nor flesh. In terms of unobtrusiveness cameras like the G10/11 cant be beat.

[Ira Block]

Re: [Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez] Carsten Bockermann submitted a comment to The New Canon G11 review by Ira Block.

The G10 and G11 are terrific cameras to carry around, but is it up to a DSLR quality? No. You can’t have everything as much as we all want a light carry around camera that will produce incredible quality images. I’ve played around with the Panasonic gf-1, and it does produce incredible files, but it’s a bit larger than the G11, and the lens is really big. It’s a real lens, and the chip in the camera is half the size of a full frame DSLR chip, compared with the tiny chip in the G11. I’d be more likely to take the G11 with me than the Panasonic. Though I haven’t used the G11 or G10 in my professional work, I do know of a couple of photographers who have published images from those cameras , and I know I could use the files from the G11 to get a publishable image. Another friend of mine who had an assignment in a country where he had to look like a tourist also used the G10. It’s always been a compromise in photography when it comes to lenses, cameras and technology.

[Carsten Bockermann]

So how did your comparison turn out?

I find myself schlepping the DSLRs all the time for fear of losing the best possible image quality, but I look back with regret to the times when I traveled with a Leica M6 and two or three lenses. The idea of being able to use a camera as small and lightweight as the G10 or G11 is certainly appealing. Did you ever use one of the two to shoot something on an assignment or do you use them only for personal stuff?

[Stephen Alvarez]

Ira I'll bring my G10 to lunch on Tuesday so we can compare.