The Canon G11 is one of the most expensive compact cameras money can buy. Its price puts it in a similar bracket to many of the newly released Micro Four Thirds offerings from Olympus and Panasonic. Fundamentally a compact camera, the G11 is designed to gradually introduce photographers to the complexities of a DSLR without restricting their photography once it improves.
On paper the camera boasts some pretty impressive specifications; a formidable zoom range of 28-140mm in equivalency and high quality 10 megapixel CCD sensor. Interestingly, Canon made the decision to lower the number of megapixels in the G11 from the G10. The reason Canon have made the drop is to try to control the pixel density of the sensor. Too many megapixels on a small sensor means problems with low light photography and noise.
The 'G' range of cameras has long been a successful market champion with few companies approaching the status of Canon as king of compacts. That said both Nikon and Panasonic now both produce serious contenders, particularly in the form of Panasonic's LX5 which is equally good a camera as the G11, if not better.
The G11 performs fairly well in both stills and video, producing sharp images that while not quite DSLR quality come pretty close. Low light photography is much improved over the G10 thanks to Canon correctly lowering the megapixel count. I did find operation of the camera to be slightly cumbersome, the body feels good in the hand but its menu system leaves something to be desired. Given the camera handles shutter lag so well I was surprised to find that menus were slow to load with image review taking a fair amount of time. However, for a compact camera the amount of true manual options was refreshing. Controlling exposure was easy with well positioned shutter speed and aperture settings.
Irritatingly, Canon decided not to make the high definition jump with the camera's movie mode which, despite having formidable control options can only shoot 30fps VGA resolution. Video quality was good but not outstanding despite Canon's DSLR pedigree for video. Viewed on a small screen or the back of the camera the G11 seems totally capable of producing high quality movies with good audio but when shown on a computer screen or TV it does slightly disappoint.
As a camera for those considering making the DSRL jump the G11 may provide some excellent training ground. Those not familiar with the technical terms of photography will find it easy to use and helpful in making their image taking improve. The size of the camera also makes the G11 perfect for those keen to travel and take pictures but not wanting to be burned with a heavier DSLR. For those already acclimitized to digital photography then perhaps the G11 is best considered a back up camera with their DSLR or Micro Four Thirds producing the majority of their images.
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