Photodigitary

If you have followed my writings here and in print, you probably know that I like small cameras. I am tired of carrying big cameras with their associated big lenses. And with all of the flurry of new or possible TSA regulations, being able to travel compactly is likely to become increasingly important.

Last fall, I noted Canon’s announcement of the G11. I thought it sounded like it had a lot of potential. After thinking it over, and thinking about the TSA, I decided to buy one. I am very pleased that I did, although I have only just started playing with it. This is no “point-and-shoot” camera. I am not sure why some photographers call all small cameras point-and-shoots. A point-and-shoot is a camera that has very few controls and can literally only be used to point-and-shoot. The G11 is no more of a point-and-shoot than a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III shot all on automatic. The G11 has a full set of controls from manual focus to all standard exposure modes, including manual, RAW, and more. I really like the way many controls are laid out (similar to the G9 and G10) in an “old-fashioned” way that uses dials instead of buttons and LCDs.

I was not real fond of the G9 or the G10 for several reasons. First, I was really disappointed when Canon removed the swivel LCD so that the camera only had a fixed LCD. The swivel LCD is back with the G11 — that is such a great feature for a camera like this. You can put the camera up, down, point it sideways, etc., and still see what the lens is seeing with that tilted LCD. Second, I think Canon bought into the megapixel race to the detriment of image quality. The G10 had this mushy look to its images due to overprocessing of the image files because of the high noise that came from too many megapixels in a small sensor (I have no doubt that we will see quality megapixels in small sensors in the future, but this was not the case for the G10).

I am quite impressed with the image quality of the G11. Canon actually went “backwards” in megapixels to 10 megapixels, but took a jump forward in image quality. At the ISO setting of 100, images are outstanding with little evidence of noise. Colors and tonalities look excellent, and the little lens on this camera continues the image quality that Canon is known for. This is a very capable little camera that is absolutely capable of professional work (and I will use it for that, too). I really like the IS (image stabilization) and f/2.8 lens on the camera which increases its usefulness for high portability.

Here are some sample images from RAW files. They have had minimal processing that does include standard sharpening that I normally do (a reminder — RAW files need sharpening because of the way digital imaging works; otherwise you will not get the sharpness that your lens captured):

Full size image, shot at a local farmer’s market. The subject of cauliflower in early sun is challenging for any sensor and the G11 did a great job with it.

Next is a detail from the center of that shot showing excellent sharpness and tonal rendition as well as little sign of noise. Shot at ISO 100:

Now one thing Canon has done is gotten onto the ISO bandwagon. Everybody’s got to have high ISO settings whether they are practical or not. So I took the G11 to dinner with my wife and daughter. First is an overall shot to give you an idea of what the size of the frame is. Then I will show you details. For a grab shot, the image looks pretty good and handles colors and tonality well in mixed lighting.

First is 400 — all of the photos below are cropped from the size you see above so that you can actually see detail. Noise shows up, but is reasonable. It won’t match a camera with a physically large sensor, but the results are very useable (there is a little camera movement causing some unsharpness).

You can’t see much here. The noise that is there would probably be helped with a little work with Nik Software Dfine (an aside — I really do use and like Dfine. I wrote an article that included it for PCPhoto/Digital Photo and got a comment on the Digital Photo website how I must have been paid a lot by Nik. It is sad when someone cannot genuinely like and use a product without this snarky commentary that one could only write good things about something if you were paid for it. That’s both annoying and rude.)

Here’s 800. The noise starts to look more obvious, but the tonalities and colors are holding pretty well.

At 1600, the noise really becomes strong although I am surprised at how well tonalities and colors are holding up. Even noise reduction software is going to have trouble with this. On the other hand, this does give a faster ISO for faster shutter speeds that may mean the difference between a sharp photo or not.

Next is the 3200. Now unless you were after special effects, I find this pretty unusable. Although, truthfully, it could be an interesting effect with the right image. The noise is extremely strong and colors and tonalities are adversely affected. Look at the black sweatshirt! It is now turning blue! And look under my poor daughter’s chin! I am not sure why Canon includes this ISO setting other than for marketing reasons — “Wow! With the G11, you can even shoot at ISO 3200.” Well, shoot you can, but don’t count on great results.

I look forward to being able to take this little camera with me everywhere and not feel limited by it. I typically take a camera everywhere I go when traveling, even if simply doing a quick workshop. I am really beginning to dislike air travel, and I never did in the past. If I can take a short trip with capable, but small, camera gear like this G11, maybe the air travel won’t be so bad.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Equipment thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.