Pierre Contant took the G11 for a challenge, and here is the highlights of his thoughts:
My recent purchase of a Canon G11 P&S camera has raised a few eyebrows. Why would I go from a Nikon D300 to a Canon G11? Why not a D700 or even jump ship to a 5D? First thing is I didn’t replace my D300 for a G11. I got the G11 to compliment my existing equipment and more importantly I purchased it to bring as my main camera on my trip to Cuba, instead of lugging around my 30lbs camera bag.

The Verdict
After one week in Cuba shooting the G11 and a borrowed D10 and processing the images, here are my thoughts.

From a stress point a view, it was a pleasure to be on a trip and not have to worry about $7k of equipment which I carry most of it when I travel. All I had was a small belt bag with the camera, spare battery and memory cards. On the beach or near the pool I didn’t care about the sand or the saltwater, the D10 could take it all.

The G11 clearly exceeded my expectations. In fact, the only time I wish I had my DSLR was when I was in Havana where my Tokina 11-16 would have come in handy. Although P&S are slow, I managed to capture all but one key shot during the dolphin show. The G11 has a handy Quick Shot setting for action.

The Canon G11 is truly an amazing camera. Interestingly Canon has gone from 12 MP (G9), 14 MP (G10) down to 10 MP on the G11. They have improved image quality and noise reduction to produce superlative quality images on 10 MP, busting the myth that more Megapixels is better.

Camera, Canon, CanonG11, Cuba, Digital single-lens reflex camera, Havana, Nikon D300, Tokina