Digital Trends

Canon Powershot G10 November 26th, 2008 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The G10 looks very similar to the still available PowerShot G9—which means the all-black digicam has a very retro rangefinder vibe and seems more at home in ancient film days than 2008. Nonetheless, savvy shutterbugs will know you’re holding one of the most advanced P&S cameras in your hand. The only models that would generate similar gadget lust are the Leica D-Lux 4, the very similar to the Leica Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 or 13.5MP Nikon Coolpix P6000; they all cost around $500, apart from the Leica, which makes you pay an extra $350(!) to flash the logo.

The make of the camera is mostly smooth other than a textured surface by the right grip. The G10 just feels good and solid in your hands. It measures 4.3 x 3.06 x 1.81 (WHD, in inches) and tips the scales at 12.3 ounces for the body only, about twice the weight of a typical P&S digicam. It’s even slight larger and heavier than the 12.1MP G9.

Speaking of that still-available camera, beyond higher resolution, the G10 has a completely different—and in our opinion—much better lens. The G10 has a 5x zoom with a range of 28-140mm versus the 6x G9 with its 35-210mm focal length. You might think more telephoto power is a plus, but we beg to differ. The wider angle lets you take much more dramatic shots and larger group photos. We’re big fans of 28mm or wider opening focal lengths and this is a real plus for this 2008 edition.

Naturally, the lens is a dominant feature on the front where you’ll also find the flash, a porthole for the viewfinder and the self timer/focus assist lamp. The lens also has an additional option: Press a button on the lower right side and you can take off the ring surrounding the lens so you can add optional conversion lenses. The Canon and G10 logos round up our tour of the faceplate.

The top of the G10 adds something very new when compared to the G9 though, and gives a hint as to who should be purchasing this camera. Rather than just a mode dial, Canon engineers stacked this dial on top of a separate ring for ISO adjustments (Auto, Hi and individual settings for 80-1600; Hi is 3200). To translate: Clearly this camera is for the person who is really into shooting with available light and wants ISO changes at their fingertips. We can’t think of any P&S digicam with a dedicated sensitivity dial—and few D-SLRs have them as well.

Here’s another indicator—there’s a dial for exposure compensation on top as well (+/- 2 EV). Again, few cameras have this so readily available. Basically, what we’re saying is the G10 is really for people who are seriously into photography, say someone with a D-SLR who also needs a relatively compact camera to simply carry around without all the attendant SLR gear.

Here you’ll also find a hot shoe for optional flashes—another rarity for point-and-shoots—an on/off key and a shutter button atop the wide/tele zoom control. Tucked next to the ISO dial is a two pinhole mic that’s barely an excuse for a microphone. That said, it’s the rare digicam offering that actually cares one whit about audio quality. Last we checked, the main reason to buy one was for shooting pictures.

The rear of the G10 is dominated by an extremely high-quality 3-inch LCD screen rated 461K pixels versus the G9’s 230K. It’s not the 921K dots of better D-SLRs, but it offers solid performance nonetheless, handling itself well in almost all situations. If in the rare instance it doesn’t work, there’s a viewfinder with diopter adjustment to deal with these issues. We never really needed it, even while shooting some Manhattan images at night or in dark rooms.

Other buttons on the back are pretty common, including a Direct Print for use with Canon printers. This key can also be designated as a shortcut for a feature of your choice such as white balance or neutral density filter. There’s also a playback key and another for AE/FE lock. To the right of the screen is a large control dial surrounding a smaller ring that gives access to Macro, Manual Focus, Flash and Burst options. A smaller function/set button rests in the middle. Another set of buttons lets you change the AF focus frame, metering, the Display on the LCD and the last opens the Menu. The Menu is easy to understand and navigate.

The right side of this Made in Japan camera has a slot for the USB and A/V outs and a remote input while a small speaker is on the left. On the bottom are the metal tripod mount and the battery/SD card compartment.

What’s In The Box

The Canon PowerShot G10 comes with a solid kit including the camera, battery/charger, strap, USB and A/V cables. There’s a 304 (!) page pocket-sized User Guide along with software and Direct Print user guides. The Canon Digital Camera Solutions Disk (ver. 38.1) has ZoomBrowser EX 6.2, Digital Photo Professional 3.5, PhotoStitch 3.1 and the EOS Utility 1.1a for the PC and similar software for the Mac. These help you manage and edit your images and “develop” RAW files.

After charging the battery and popping in a 2GB SD card, it was time to start shooting.

Image Courtesy of Canon