New star showcase of compact, the Canon PowerShot G10 arrived just in time to queue in our backpack and join us in a quick getaway to Rome. Several hundred shots later, the noise from 400 ISO, the more chromatic aberrations of the expected and some RAW whose potential is difficult to squeeze out the program with Digital Photo Professional slightly tarnished this first field trial compact with one of the most complete in the moment.
Iker Morán .- A sale in Spain since very recently, we could spend a few days with the newcomer Canon PowerShot G10. A quick field test in the unique context of the Italian capital has revealed the field behavior of this promising-and-awaited compact.
Its rugged construction, manual controls, RAW recording and the appearance-per-view of an angle of 28 millimeters have generated so many expectations that, after reviewing the first hundreds of samples collected, it may not all be met.
And it’s not forget that after these 500 euros and its high performance is still hiding a compact archiconocidas with some limitations, especially when talking about the noise.
Seamless management
¿The G10 brings the same problems found in some models of the previous saga PowerShot G regarding the sealing of a barrel of the lens? That is possibly the first question that many users will, but which, unfortunately, it is difficult to give an answer after only three days of cohabitation with the camera.
In addition, the construction of the G10 admits few painless. Robust and forceful, criticizing its volume would be going against one of the hallmarks of this family. It is heavy and large to be a compact, but its grip and its management are comfortable enough to forget this detail after a couple of hours of use.
Very similar to the PowerShot G9 in terms of management and distribution, the wheel of sensitivities now located to the right of direct viewer remains great.
The command dedicated to the exposure compensation Scramble a little at first, but corrected the gesture of going to dip into the main dial to adjust this value, its management with the left hand is very comfortable despite the fact that the wheel is something small and pretty tough.
The menus reflect the usual aesthetics of the latest PowerShot G. Only options to turn the image stabilizer and, above all, recording simultaneously in RAW and JPEG are more hidden from the account on the main menu.
While not especially fast, nor is its mission, nor the start-up or wait time between shots dilate in excess.
Only by working simultaneously in JPEG and RAW can notice a little more work that requires the storage of the two. Attention also to the weight of almost 15 megapixels and their impact on the capacity of the SD Card and SDHC.
Angular bill
Given that increasing the resolution will not be cause for celebration among potential users of this camera, is the new 28-140 millimeter lens that focuses the attention on the new compact.
His performance was excellent in terms of coverage, the TV is a bit short, but worth the sacrifice by the angle, zoom and focus of the tour.
With good light there is no problem, and only in extreme conditions we encountered failed attempts to approach. Interestingly also the macro approach of only 1 centimeter, although the volume of optical hampers this type of composition as close without causing shadows on the scene.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10:
But in view of the images, is not all good news. The goal is behaving correctly to 28 millimeters even with the maximum aperture. The barrel distortion is more evident, if there is a close-up close, of course-but tolerable.
At the same margins quite correct that not-perfect-optics is maintained in regard to significant loss of sharpness at the edges.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10:
Most obvious is the presence of chromatic aberrations in some images. The appearance of halos purple and green stripes occurs too often and easily in the scene recorded any area of contrast is cut or on a background very clear.
While the effort is logical that angular pass some bills, we must not forget that other brands have managed to lower this barrier of 28 mm far, getting even more satisfactory results in this subject.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10:
Can these aberrations compensated for working on RAW? We are convinced that, but unfortunately the version 3.5 of Digital Photo Professional (DPP) that came with the camera-the first PowerShot G compatible with this software professional allegedly kept off these options to import the files.
More resolution, the same noise
Something similar happens to us very closely reviewing the samples collected and processed RAW files.
Surely, these files could give more of themselves in terms of sharpness, noise control or recovery of shadows and lights if they were successfully treated with a program like Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture, because the truth is that the DPP options fall far short.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10. RAW format images taken in and processed with Digital Photo Professional 3.5:
Only in this context may be understood as the curious who this week compared the well-known photographer Michael Reichmann made the PowerShot G10 with a Phase One digital back, and in which the compact is not leaving anything wrong stop.
The truth is that, as shown in the photographs attached, resolution and accuracy of color and exposure, with a tendency to sobreexponer, at least in the tested model, is not lacking in the G10.
The dynamic range is also correct, despite the resolution that accumulates over the sensor and is particularly strong, especially in the ease with which the lights were “burned” if they are not cared for the exhibition.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10. RAW format images taken in and processed with Digital Photo Professional 3.5:
The new system also provides automatic contrast too, or at least does not give more than what has already been seen on other occasions: the texture is recovering somewhat in the shadows, but the lights remain unchanged, unrelated to this office.
The problem is, as always, in the management of high sensitivities. And it is that noise is left in the shadows and see ISO 200, though without becoming annoying. The results at 80 and 100 ISO are really good, no doubt, but from 400 ISO processing attacked with virulence quite the detail and sharpness of the image.
The good news is that the chroma noise is fairly well controlled, giving the go-ahead to a luminance noise that does have a most enjoyable aspect at least in half sensibilities.
The catch has been made with a Canon PowerShot G10:
400 ISO
800 ISO
800 ISO
ISO 1600
ISO 1600
¿We expected more from this G10? Well the fact is that, carried by the initial enthusiasm and for his outstanding ergonomics, we had overlooked that PowerShot has always claimed to be a good reinforcement for an SLR, not a substitute.
The noise and chromatic aberrations make us again put his feet on the ground. Not like to ask if the G10 is an excellent compact, it is, and best, but to ask whether the Lumix DMC-LX3 Panasonic or the Nikon Coolpix P6000 no longer be able to challenge in a field dominated thus far by Canon.
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