The Powershot G series has represented a fairly formidable presence at the top of the compact camera tree. From a keen photographer point-of-view, there’s little on the market that can match its mixture of zoom range, lens flexibility, build quality and level of manual control. Somehow Ricoh’s GX and Nikon’s P series have never quite had the same impact but Panasonic’s LX3 has been enough to tempt some potential customers away, with its bright lens and convincing (for a compact) low-light performance.

Headline features

• 10.0 Megapixel CCD sensor
• 5x wide-angle (28-140mm equivalent) zoom lens with optical image stabilizer
• 2.8” tilt/swivel LCD (461k dot resolution)
• RAW image recording
• Claimed 2-stop advantage in low light compared to G10
• Dedicated Exposure Compensation and ISO dials
• DIGIC 4 processor
• i-Contrast boosts brightness and retains detail in dark areas
• 26 shooting modes with manual control and custom settings
• Accessories include tele-converter, Speedlights flashes and waterproof case
• VGA movies, 30fps

Changes compared to G10:

• 10 megapixel ‘high sensitivity’ sensor, down from 14.7 megapixels
• Gains ISO 3200 as full setting (Rather than option-limited scene mode)
• White balance fine tuning
• Tilt and swivel LCD 2.8″ (rather than 3″ fixed screen)
• New Low Light and Quick Shot modes
• HDMI connector
• No Superfine JPEG compression (Fine is least compressed option)
• No voice annotation or sound recording function
• No remote (tethered) image capture

The Final Word

Although the G11 faces competition from more sides than its predecessors did, it’s still a unique offering. There are more readily pocketable cameras out there that offer similar image quality and, once you’re resigned to wearing it around your neck, there are not much larger cameras that will trump it for image quality (though they are more expensive). There are even cameras that offer greater zoom ranges in smaller, less expensive packages. However, there’s nothing to match the G11’s all-round capability – its strengths are its balance between size, flexibility and image quality.

The G11 combines some of the best compact camera image quality with excellent levels of manual control, an optical viewfinder, flip-out screen, raw capability, superb battery life, flexible lens range and the ability to mount dedicated flashguns. It may not be the smallest camera out there (in fact it’s one of the largest to use such a small sensor), but, if you can live with the compromises this all-round ability brings, then there’s little that can touch it.

The lack of HD video looks odd on a contemporary high-end camera and the removal of some of the G10’s minor features might appear a touch petty and see the G11 marked down a little for features. However, the addition of a flip-out screen and its more consistent performance in a wider range of situations means the G11 improves on the G10 enough to just gain our highest rating.

Read the full review on DP Review

Camera, High-definition video, Image stabilization, Nikon, Photography, Point-and-shoot camera, Wide-angle lens, Zoom lens