The Canon PowerShot G12 pushes the limits of what you can feasibly call a “compact” camera, but nobody was complaining at launch in September – after all, its predecessor, the Canon PowerShot G11 takes the best images this side of a DSLR. But with a price matching an entry level interchangeable lens camera, and only minor hardware upgrades on paper, is the Canon PowerShot G12 worth your cash? Let’s take a look at what the experts made of it here in our Canon PowerShot G12 review roundup.
On paper, the Canon PowerShot G12 is nothing to be smirked at. While it may be bulky, it stuffs in a 10-megapixel CCD sensor, a Digic 4 processor, 5x optical zoom and support for 720p HD video recording. The trouble is, the only real change from the excellent G11 on the inside is the advent of high def video recording, the G11′s great weakness. Are external flourishes ad software tweaks enough?
While at 112 x 76 x 48mm, the Canon PowerShot G12 has shown no sign of slimming down, all of the photography sites who tested it had little but praise for the rearrangement of dials, letting you flick around with the manual settings really quickly and saving a trip to the menu screen. As PhotoRadar says, the new design “will be hugely appreciated by anyone who’s grown frustrated by the mistakes their compact makes in manual mode.” WhatDigitalCamera meanwhile described the “trio of control wheels” as having a “pleasingly retro and manual feel to them.”
Photography Blog highlighted the “very useful front control dial..It makes changing the aperture and consequently the full Manual shooting mode much easier than before.” The only issue? “The rear control wheel sits a touch too close to the camera’s vari-angle LCD screen”, but this ceases to be an issue when the LCD screen is flipped out from the camera body. Otherwise, there was nothing but praise. Just be aware that it may cause an unsightly bulge in trousers.
Compared with other point and shoot cameras, the Canon PowerShot G12 held up extremely favourably with reviewers, especially since RAW support is included alongside JPEG image capture. “The first thing that strikes with images from the G12 is the wonderful tone and dynamic range they possess. Highlights and shadows are equally covered, with no bias towards either, while exposure is reliable, ” said WhatDigitalCamera, and you can see a sample shot they took below illustrating this – click it to go through to the whole gallery.
Photography Blog meanwhile noted that it “handled chromatic aberrations well, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations”. The site also tested the Canon PowerShot G12′s anti-shake mode to see if it really did sharpen up shots, and cam away impressed. “This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.”
PhotoRadar even thought that the Canon PowerShot G12 held up against pricier shooters with interchangeable lenses, calling it “roughly on-par with more expensive cameras, such as the micro Four-Thirds Olympus E-PL1″, and a “superb low-light camera”.
Here’s where the Canon PowerShot G12 didn’t hold up quite so well. The G11 was something of a dark horse in Canon’s stable, as it’s traditionally been a market leader when it comes to putting HD video recording into its cameras – but it only shot VGA video.
While the Canon PowerShot G12 boosts that up to 720p HD video recording at 24 frames per second, reviewers felt it was more a case of Canon simply catching up for lost time – especially since the optical zoom is locked while shooting video. “It’s not a deal breaker, but it does feel like a missed opportunity when most other compacts offer this functionality,” said Photography Blog. “There’s also no external mic port as on the Nikon P7000, so you should also consider that camera if video shooting is a priority.”
PhotoRadar meanwhile described the Canon PowerShot G12′s H.264 recording as “good, but video enthusiasts will prefer AVCHD, as offered by Panasonic’s high-end compacts.”
As point and shoots go, reviewers praised the feature set, build and image quality. If this is the type of camera you’re after, this is the one to get. But for the price, only Photography Blog said that the Canon PowerShot G12 was worth the upgrade for existing PowerShot G series owners.
And even then, Photography Blog’s Mark Goldstein had some reservations simply due to the high price (Between £420 and £450 online) – the small size of its sensor means its just can’t compare to a DSLR, yet it’s priced only slightly under. “The high price-tag does put it directly in the firing line of several entry level DSLRs and and the new wave of Compact System Cameras, which ultimately offer better image quality particularly at higher ISO speeds,” he said.
So, there you have it. If you’re a serious snapper after something that doesn’t require lenses, bulk and all the baggage of your DSLR, the Canon PowerShot G12 or the Nikon CoolPix P7000 are the way to go, depending on how much of an issue HD video recording is for you. But if you just want the best image quality for your money, you’d do well to look to an entry or mid range DSLR instead.
WhatDigitalCamera Canon PowerShot G12 review score N/A
Photography Blog Canon PowerShot G12 review score 4.5/5
PhotoRadar Canon PowerShot G12 review score 4/5
