The G7 is now equipped with a 10-megapixel
CCD, but loses some of the features that were highlights of
the G6, the 2-year old camera it seems to replace, if its designation
is anything to go by.
Aperture f2.8, shutter speed: 1/2 sec, 80 ISO.
Absent are the hinged monitor,
the comfortable grip with the LCD display on top, and the
RAW mode. Instead, the G7 offers a longer zoom, a 6X that
is equivalent to a 35 to 210 mm, and a larger (2.5-inch) monitor,
and adds the ubiquitous Face Detection feature that
has been widely adopted by a number of manufacturers.
One of these is the ISO dial on
the top left side of the camera. The dial makes it very easy
to get a boost in shutter speed when required, and is much more
efficient to use than a menu entry, and even an entry in the
Function menu.
The same can be said of the Control Dial that
rings the 4-direction control on the back of the camera. While
the control is a touch awkward at first, its design is good
and its use becomes second nature very quickly.
The zoom control of the G7 is traditional, however, positioned
around the shutter release. It transits the lens from wide
angle to telephoto in approximately 3 seconds, and is quite
smooth.
Aperture f4, speed: 1/400 sec, 80 ISO, 35 mm equivalent.
Although only a 6X zoom, the focal
length range equivalent of the G7's zoom gives it a lot of flexibility.
At the widest angle, equivalent to a 35 mm, the zoom is able
to capture a reasonably wide field of view without any distortion,
and with good sharpness throughout the entire field of view.
At its maximum telephoto
the zoom is able to bring relatively distant subjects much
closer and maintains an excellent sharpness.
(See image above and at left. The blue rectangle in the
wide shot above indicates the area captured at the telephoto
end shown at left).
There is no serious chromatic aberration anywhere through
the focal length range, and similarly, distortion is minimal
at either end.
Just like a number of other current 10 megapixel
cameras, the G7 yields better images when its sensitivity
is set low. At 80 and 100 ISO, the images are effectively
noise-free when captured with a reasonable amount of light.
At 200 ISO, noise remains in the acceptable range, once again,
as long as there is good ambient light. At 400 ISO noise becomes
visible in the images, and some of the finer details are affected.
Aperture: f3.3, shutter speed: 1/6 sec, 200 ISO.
Past this point, at 800 and
even more so at 1600 ISO, noise is easily visible in the images,
and its presence limits their use. Still, if viewed at a reduced
size, or printed at no more than 5 x 7 inches, 800 ISO shots
and even some 1600 ISO can be acceptable.
As noted earlier, with the G7
the RAW mode of the G6 has vanished, and all that is left are
three levels of JPEG compression. The least compressed level,
Superfine, applies a compression that is, on average, around
6:1. This level of compression avoids artefacts and images show
no loss of detail. The next compression level, Fine, reduces
the file size further, but does so at the expense of the finer
details in some types of photos.
The G7 also offers a Widescreen
format, 3648 x 2048 pixels, intended for those that prefer
viewing images on an HD television. Set to Widescreen, the
camera displays a back band at the top and bottom of the screen,
making it easy to frame shots in that format.
Similarly, the G7 offers a 3:2 display mode that overlays
semi-transparent grey bars at the top and bottom of the monitor,
showing the areas of the image that will be cropped when it
is printed as a 4x6 or 5x7 print. However, in this case, the
camera still captures the entire CCD frame, using its 4:3
aspect ratio, and the bars are only guides.
The PowerShot G7 has a small built-in flash
that, when left to its defaults, works well to as a fill-in
flash. When more power is needed, or when a low sensitivity
setting limits its reach, flash exposure compensation can
be used to give it a boost. More effective, however, is that
the camera is completely compatible with Canon's flash units
220EX, 430EX, and 580EX, allowing it to capture perfectly
lit images, even using bounce flash. Worth noting, however,
these flash units are bigger than the camera.
Aperture: f4.8, shutter speed: 1/60 sec, 400 ISO.
Whatever changes it brings to the
G-series, the G7 continues offering a built-in Neutral
Density Filter that can reduce the amount of light reaching
the sensor by 3 f-stops. The filter, which drops into place
internally in front of the lens when activated, is a wonderfully
creative tool that allows exploring the type of image that can
be captured with long shutter speeds in daylight; and Canon
should get some recognition for continuing it with this model.
The PowerShot G7 is a departure
from the last G camera in that it no longer follows the
path of its predecessor and is clearly designed as a compact-style
camera. The G7 combines features that are well suited to advanced
users — advanced modes and a fully manual mode —
with some, such as multiple scene modes, face detection and
automatic categorization of images, that are more the domain
of point and shoot cameras. In other words, the G7 is yet another
alternative for those that are looking to maximize the resolution
and yet have the flexibility of a camera that can be both manual
and automatic.
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