Canon PowerShot G10

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By Leonard Goh
Nov 11, 2008

One of the highlights of Canon's offerings at Photokina in Germany was the update to its pro-level compact shooter, the PowerShot G9. When its successor, the PowerShot G10, was announced, it looked set to take on challenger Panasonic's Lumix DMC-LX3. However, through our few days of testing, we found that Canon behaved very differently (in a good way) from its rival and has a good suite of features to satisfy professionals for their everyday snaps.

A noteworthy mention would be the 28mm wide-angle optics which is coupled in the 5x optical lens. This is a first for a Canon G-series camera and shows that the company is taking this wide-angle rivalry (started by Panasonic) very seriously.

Other than that, the G10 has just minor upgrades to the sensor's resolution and a new image processor. That said, we expect this shooter to top the charts soon and give its rivals some tough competition.

Design

The PowerShot G10 could possibly be one of the heftiest pro-level point-and-shoots on the market right now. Putting it beside its predecessor and the Lumix revealed that the Canon has expanded its waistline and put on some weight. But all these are justifiable if we consider that the shooter houses a 5x optical zoom lens, whose massive glass protrudes out when the camera is powered up.

From left to right: PowerShot G10, PowerShot G9 and the Lumix DMC-LX3.
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Taking cues from the G9, the G10 is styled in similar fashion. Clad in a matt-black chassis, the shooter spells serious business and does appears intimidating when put beside the Lumix which looks more docile and free-spirited.

The handgrip is furnished with textured rubber for a more reassuring grip and, while this is an improvement over the G9, we would have liked the G10 better if it had come with a thumbrest.

The most significant changes made to the new shooter would be found on the top deck. The previous iteration had two dials--one for ISO and the other to switch between different shooting modes. The G10 features an extra dial for changing exposure compensation quickly. The mode dial is stacked on top of the ISO plate and the ridged sides allow us to quickly manipulate the settings without fumbling.

The G10 has a very comfortable grip which we prefer over the Lumix's.
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What hasn't changed is the back panel. The rear control layout on the G10 is similar to the G9's and photographers used to Canon's icons and symbols will find this familiar.

Since handling both the G10 and its predecessor would be almost similar, we decided to compare the G10 with the LX3 instead. For the Lumix, the mode dial was smooth to turn but had ample resistance so we would not switch to the wrong mode if turning it too fast. The dial was easily accessible by the thumb, too. The other controls were spread out beside the LCD and could be easily manipulated. For the G10, we liked the scroll wheel which was used to adjust the various settings and we preferred this over the four-way joystick found on the LX3. However, we found the mode dials to be slightly stiff and it hurt our thumb when we tried to operate it with one hand. We also found the grip of the G10 to be more comfortable than the Lumix. But these are personal preferences, so your best bet would be to try out the cameras in stores.

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