Aug 19 Canon introduces new fall 09 line up
Evopsych
Well. The Canon G11 is finally here. Some good news. Some Bad.
First the good news. Canon actually stepped back from the sales gimmickry of the megapixel war. Finally realizing that a 10MP CCD sensor with larger pixels, that'll shoot decent noise levels at ISO 600 beats a 14MP sensor that noise gains out at ISO 200. Yes boys and girls. In the Superzoom/Bridge camera/Point-n-shoot world Sensor Real Estate is even more important than in the DSLR world. You try to pack more than 10MP on a small sensor, be it CCD or CMOS and you hit a point of diminishing returns petty quick.
I've seen a couple of spy shots of comparative pics supposedly taken by the G11 at ISO 800 that look pretty much like the G10's stuff at ISO 400. Whether this is the real deal or not is anybodies guess, as
Canon on their website for some strange reason hasn't posted sample pics at anything other than ISO 80. Which makes one wonder why Canon would only shoot sample pics at ISO levels a $24.00 General Electric G1 could shoot noiselessly at.
Canon also introduced this low noise 10MP sensor in the new S90, But in this forum, If it doesn't have a flash hot shoe...Who Cares?
The new G11 now has a swiveling LCD much like the swiveling LCD found on the SX10 IS. In fact I think its the same 2.5 230k pixel count LCD. Slightly smaller than the G10's 3" fixed LCD but well worth the trade off in my opinion. I use the swivel LCD on my Canon S5 IS EVERY SHOOT. It's the handiest feature I've ever run across. Good for shooting High, Low and at unusual angles (Like Shooting over your shoulder in a car.) Swivel LCD's also protect the LCD screen quite well in the closed position.
The Lens Accessory ring appears unchanged from the G10 and will probably take the same Canon and
Lensmate extensions for 52mm, 58mm and 72mm Filters, Teleconverters, Macro and Wideconverters.
The G11 is supposed to have a new contrast algorithm that better controls light bloom and dark area's better than the G10.
The biggest disappointment with the new G11 has to be the lack of HD video of any kind. It still shoots 640 VGA 30FPS. I realize the limitations of the CCD sensor in relation to 1080P video, but everybody else in the industry is managing 720P on shirt pocket CCD camera's for gods sakes. On a camera that many news photoghraghers rely on for a unobtrusive back up camera. For places where a D-50 with half a mile of lens can draw the wrong kind of attention. The lack of at least 720P video is an idiotic and intentional omission, meant to keep from stealing market share from Canon's bread and butter entry DSLR the T1i. (Oh well, maybe the
CHDK Canon Hacker development Kit guys will figure out a Digic IV script that will turn 720P on from a partition on the SDHC card. Like they did with DNG RAW.) If the T1i will shoot HD off the Digic IV I see no reason why the G11 couldn't shoot 720P off the Digic IV.
How to CHDK. The CHDK Wiki with everything you need.The other PowerShot camera of note to come out this week is the Canon SX20 IS. This Camera falls squarely between the SX10 IS and the SX1 IS from the Spring line up. It's basically the SX10 with 720P video on a 12MP CCD instead of a 10MPCCD. Still with no RAW. This model will probably replace the SX10 IS. (and Maybe the SX1 IS as well. I think Canon wants to move away from the high capability PowerShots because they are stealing market share from DSLR's, which canon makes a higher profit on in accessories and lenses.)
If I had to guess. I'd say the lack of features in Canon's Fall PowerShot line can only mean one thing. I'm predicting that canon will come out with at least one interchangable lens, micro 4/3'ds format camera next year. To compete with the Panasonic G-1 and GH-1. I figure Canon will bring the bodies in around the $500 to $600 price range so as to be just below they'r mid level DSLR's
This post has been edited by EvoPsych: August 21st 2009 6:00 PM
August 21st 2009 5:32 PM
