Canon PowerShot G7

Reviewed December 2006

Test Photos

STILL LIFE PHOTO

This subject is photographed in a room that has a mix of fluorescent and incandescent light, but which is not brightly lit. The camera's flash is used to add fill light. The backdrop is 1.95 m (6.5 ft) from the camera.

The G7 tries to balance the ambient light and the light from its flash to capture the mood of a scene when set to Auto, which in this case causes a slight underexposure that is unsuited to our purposes. To counteract this, the flash is forced On, and a Flash Exposure Compensation of +1 EV is used to brighten up the image.

ZOOM PHOTO

Now we zoom in on a specific area. The intent is to test the sharpness of the image at the zoom's maximum setting. The camera remains at the same distance as with the preceding photo.

A Flash Exposure Compensation of +1 EV is used again with the zoom shot.

The colours the G7 captures in this telephoto shot remain consistent with those it recorded at the wide end of the zoom, and there is little noise even in the shadow areas. The resulting image is well-lit, and reveals a lot of detail, as can be seen below.

MACRO PHOTO

Set to the Macro mode, the PowerShot G7 can photograph a subject 1 cm (0.39 inches) from the front element of the lens. At this distance, the camera captures a field of view of approximately 2.8 cm (1.1 inch) when measured in a horizontal frame, resulting in remarkable images.

At this minimum distance, the aperture or manual modes tend to produce the best results as they make it possible to maximize the depth of field, and plenty of light should be available as the flash cannot be used.

BUILDING PHOTO

This image is our outdoor test. The architecture of the building, in particular the angled girders, immediately shows the presence of jaggies. The shadowed entrance can also often reveal the quality of the exposure.

The building image is captured under harsh winter sunlight, with the sun relatively low in the south west, and against a background of thin white clouds. Still, even under such challenging conditions, the Evaluative metering of the G7 yields an image that is well-balanced and which shows no overexposure.

The image reveals no barrel distortion, nor any serious chromatic aberration in the high contrast areas.

ZOOM PHOTO

Zooming in on the entrance of the building, the shadowed entrance takes on a greater importance for the metering and can cause an overexposure of sections that are directly lit.

The stabilized zoom of the G7 allows the camera to be used at full zoom with relatively slow shutter speeds, counteracting the involuntary movements of the photographer.

At the maximum telephoto setting, a very slight pincushion distortion can be detected when vertical image elements are aligned to the edges of the frame.

NIGHT PHOTO

As this camera is capable of long exposures, a photo taken at night is included.

The G7 is a solid performer when it comes to night photography. Set to the Manual mode, the G7 is capable of a maximum long exposure time of 15 seconds, which, at 80 ISO — the lowest sensitivity of the G7 — is sufficient to capture some very dark subjects.

With the subject presented here, an exposure time of 8 seconds is enough to capture a detailed image; and setting the white balance to Tungsten overcomes most of the colour distortions caused by the artificial lighting.

The photo the G7 yields reveals a lot of details, and colours that are not readily perceived with the naked eye, particularly since the source of light in this subject are well above ground.

Noise reduction, applied to all exposures longer than 1.3 seconds, doubles the time required to capture an image. After processing, however, the image retains a high level of detail, as can be seen here.