Everything You Want To Know About G10. News, reviews, photos, samples, movies, hacks, tips and tricks.
Before I begin the review, let me be clear about my purpose in writing this article. Any number of sources will rehash the long list of specs and features for you, provide lab test results, and drill into every menu setting and function. While this is useful information, there is still a lot more to the usefulness of a camera for a given purpose than that. What is often missing, in my opinion, is a subjective evaluation of how well it fits into a real-world context of working in the field. For example, if I need to drill down through multiple menus to set exposure compensation, or if it takes several clicks of various buttons to find the histogram, these features may as well be missing altogether.
The G10 delivers what would have been almost inconceivable just a few years back: a complete camera system, capable of producing high quality large prints, with a level of detail previously reserved to SLRs costing many times more, in a package small enough to carry just about anywhere, and tough enough to withstand even the most demanding field work.
Certainly there’s some room for improvement. A larger sensor would be at the top of my personal wish list; and undoubtedly the G11, when it becomes available, will likely push performance even further. But for anyone looking for a serious compact, as their main camera or to fill in some gaps alongside other systems – the G10 sets the bar very high and produces results well worthy of publication and fine-art work.
Full review: Mountain Trail Photo
Gallery: click here
The most important aspect to consider when looking to purchase a prosumer camera (or any camera for that matter) is image quality, and the G10 delivers. This compact powerhouse produces sharp images that show pleasing exposure, vivid colors, and nice contrast. The camera even did well on a very overcast snowy day, where there wasn’t much outdoor light to be found. The 5x zoom offers a nice wide field of view that is perfect for indoor shooting or when out taking landscape type photos. The telephoto end won’t bring a distant subject up close, but works very well for filling the frame with your subject in a portrait or when using the G10’s macro capabilities for close-up shots. When viewing our M&M man series at 100%, I noticed that 
imager noise is well controlled on the G10. While there are slight amounts visible at ISO 200 and below, these are likely to only be seen by the trained eye on Huge prints or when viewing the images like we have (at 100%). As you increase the sensitivity, the noise does become more noticeable, however the higher ISO 400 and 800 setting still look great in my opinion. At 800, you can see noticeable speckling, but I feel you can still create large 11x14-inch prints without a problem. The highest setting of ISO 1600 shows strong speckling as well as some detail loss and a decrease in saturation from heavy NR (Noise Reduction). I would only use this setting if absolutely necessary, but you can be confident that these images will able to produce usable 4x6-inch prints. As stated with past models, the OIS system on the G10 is very effective and will allow you to keep the sensitivity down (like ISO 400 and below) and still capture blur-free images without the flash. If you are in a bind, there is also a dedicated scene mode called ISO3200, which reduces the image size to M3 (1600x1200 or 2-megapixels).
Bottom line - We always look forward to working with Canon’s “G” series of PowerShot models, as they offer such a degree of versatility in a relatively compact package. This year’s G10 proved to be yet another successful model in this category. While I was a bit disappointed at the loss of a few features from it predecessor, the G10 performed very well and all of the new additions (14.7-megapixel imager, 5x Wide zoom, new battery, etc.) helped me forget about the ones I missed. If you are one who isn’t quite ready to jump into the dSLR world, but wants one of the most powerful and easy to use digicams on the market, look no further. With excellent image quality, speedy performance, loads of exposure options and manual controls, and a street price of around US$450 or less.
Full review: Steves Digicams
Samples: click here
