Canon PowerShot G12 10.0 MP Digital Camera - Black

Images of excellent quality, variety of settings is great for experimenting with, handy size for fitting in a pocket, quiet and unobtrusive, good value for money.

This is true: an excellent package is what it is. No no, this isn't me boasting but merely, you understand, my thoughts on the Canon Powershot G12. Why so, I hear you ask. Well, you settle back with a hot chocolate and read on and I shall illuminate your darkness.....

First impressions:

They say first impressions count. Unless they have dyscalculia, in which case they probably don't. It's true though and the first impressions of the G12 are very much on the positive side. The camera is so solidly built, it could very well double up as a weapon should you find yourself cornered by ne'er-do-wells on a deserted towpath in Leeds. Everything about it feels so sturdy. It's not a compact camera so if you're looking for something to slip in your pocket, look elsewhere, unless your pockets are the size of the average wheelie bin. It is a good size and feels great in the hands.

Control layout:

I love the top-plate of this camera. You have disc controls for the Mode Selection sat atop a larger disc control for the ISO selection. Very nice. Very nice indeed. On the other side of the hotshoe (yes, a hotshoe!) there's a disc for the exposure compensation, which is equally very nice. These discs are well designed and have a grand reassuring click and sturdy feel to them. The shutter button is sat on top of the control for the zoom. Slightly less sturdy but still very fit for purpose. On the front of the camera there's a wheel for, amongst other things, changing the aperture and shutter speed. A nice addition.

On the back of the camera, There's the usual array of buttons: playback, file deletion, menu and display. There's a scroll wheel sat around the set button and four-way pad, which includes the manual focus, (actually very good)macro, flash and self timer (absolutely great) controls. There's also an exposure lock button and, hurrah, a metering button, with Evaluative, Centre-Weighted and Spot to choose from.

The buttons on the back, I find, are a little easy to press by accident, especially whilst trying to use the scroll wheel on the front of the camera, but you do get used to them. In the top left of the back, there's also Shortcut button, to which you can assign a setting. I have chosen the in-built ND filter, which leads us on nicely to the features....

Features:

I already said that. Anyway, the aforementioned ND filter. How cool. It reduces light by three stops, I believe and is actually a nifty and handy addition. I've used it a few times already and I'm impressed. The whole camera's packed with usefulness. Those used to Canon DSLRs -of which this is essentially a mini one- should soon feel at home with the G12.

The optical viewfinder is atrocious; I've no idea why they bothered. Also, the minimum aperture is f8. No wonder they included an ND filter! So, you have f2.8-f8 to work with. A little limiting at first but you do learn to live with it.

All in all this is a brilliant camera. I bought it to accompany my EOS 600D to Ethiopia later this year. I took it out round my local city centre today to take candids and it performed very well. Metering can be awkward when shooting from the hip but all in all very good. ISO performance is as would be expected from a 10MP camera with a CCD sensor but it's not too bad at all. I have only had this camera a week though so these really are first impressions.

It's a great camera. A large compact. A mini SLR. Get it at a decent price and you'll not go wrong.

Oh: IT SHOOTS IN RAW! :o)

As a previous owner of a Canon G7, I already knew about the great image quality and manual controls of the G series compacts, so when Canon announced the G12 with HD video mode I was genuinely excited and bought a very reasonably priced item on ebay.

After using it for a couple of weeks I can offer the following real world thoughts:

1. Image quality is right up there with the micro 4/3 format, so whilst still short of an entry level DSLR, it's simply stunning for a compact. Low light performance is also excellent for this size camera and I find ISO1600 shots usable when necessary, now you're just not gonna find that on other (cheaper) point & shoot compacts. The RAW + JPEG feature is a particularly useful weapon. If you want to buy a somewhat porky compact that delivers excellent image quality, then I can highly recommend a G12, it makes a great backup for amateur DSLR shooters like myself.

2. Video mode, well......What a let down. Whilst the 720p video is of acceptable quality (barely) it's not a patch on other much cheaper point & shoots such as the Panasonic TZ10 or TZ7 for that matter. Canon have implemented the video mode in the same vein as their DSLR's, so, there is no continuous focus and no zooming (except a totally pointless 4x digital zoom)during video capture, now I don't care what the motivation is, that's just not right on a 400 quid compact camera, c'mon Canon, do the right thing and at least implement continuous autofocus in a firmware update!

To sum up, if your looking for a pocketable all rounder point & shoot with good image quality and video quality which negates the necessity of also carrying a dedicated video camera then the G12 isn't it, that honour goes to the Panasonic TZ10 (or TZ7 if you don't need the GPS and manual features of the TZ10). If you're looking for a DSLR backup with superior still image quality but also with a video mode that'll just do to capture the odd moment then the G12 is a serious contender, though at twice the price of a TZ10, well, at this time I'd have to say no, it's not worth it, but perhaps with a firmware correction of the "hobbled" video mode???

Great camera takes fantastic photos, not the simplist of cameras to use, also doesn't seem as well bild as the G9 and G10 that I have upgraded from, canon should have kept the build quality and left a 3 inch fixed screen on the back ionstead of the swivel and pull out one, apart from that this just has to be one of the best if not the best compact on the market for less the £500 I would say it's the bench mark of compacts.

Oh am am also going to point out that if you are upgrading from a G9 or G10 then don't think about keeping the leather case when selling you other canera as it's a tiny bit to small and won't just fit, takes the same battery as the G10 but not the G9 SO IF YOU ARE SELLING A G10 to upgrade then keep all your spare battries, also if you have bought an hotshoe cover, keep that as well as it works, this may just look like a bit of plastic but if you just put any old cover on thinking that will do, Oh know it won't as it will stop the built in flash from fireing.

i bought one of these on recommendation.. i love it. offering swift changes to all of the values with no effort. 80-3200 ASA. flash power output, lots of buttons, five manual dials and very user friendly. TTL dedicated flash (with Canon Speedlite). a pleasure to use with tons of features/options, JPEG, RAW and with HD video. extremely controllable and overall a brilliant package.