Canon PowerShot G9 review

The PowerShot G9 is an update to Canon's 10-megapixel G7, a high-end digital compact popular with imaging creatives, thanks to its digital SLR-like capabilities.

While retaining the handy 6x optical zoom lens and raft of manual overrides of its predecessor, the G9 can shoot Raw images, adds another 2 million pixels or so to the imaging sensor and gains an enormous 3in LCD.

As soon as you pick it up, you're struck by the G9's tank-like build. Weighing 320g and having a magnesium-alloy outer shell measuring 106 x 72 x 43mm, it's not something you could easily carry in a shirt pocket, but you could easily stash it in a coat or bag. Unlike its predecessor, the G9 has a thin, rubber-like grip on the front that makes it more comfortable and secure to hold, as the black anodised finish can be slippery. The fully retractable 35-210mm zoom has a handy built-in lens cover but, like most others, it's fairly delicate.

Anyone accustomed to a digital SLR will find the layout of this camera familiar, but it should also be pretty instinctive to novices trading up from a point-and-shoot model. Like the G7, there's a knurled dial to the left of the hotshoe for selecting sensor sensitivity. Manual selections range from a handy ISO 80 up to a DSLR-like ISO 1600. If you want higher sensitivity, a fixed ISO 3200 option is available as one of the G9's raft of scene-based preset shooting modes.

There is user-configurable high ISO noise reduction option. However, Auto ISO selection is handy for snapshots or during rapidly changing light levels. It covers up to ISO400 automatically, while an Hi-Auto ISO option operates over ISO400-1600. Some blotches are noticeable in areas of single colours, even at quite low ISOs, but at ISO400 and above, the G9's Digic III image processor keeps files looking fairly clean, although they do look a little gritty at ISO800 and above. The results are pretty good considering the number of pixels that have been squeezed onto the G9's sensor.

To the right of the hotshoe is an equally well-machined shooting mode dial, although, as with just about every other digital camera, shutter speeds and aperture values are selected on screen. In the case of the G9, a well-shaped and conveniently placed selector dial to the rear enables you to make quick adjustments of exposure settings in aperture- or shutter-priority modes. Although metering accuracy is pretty good, we found the G9 occasionally overexposed in tricky, usually backlit situations.

Advanced users will relish the G9's operation in the manual exposure mode, as it's superior to most DSLRs. Although we found the camera's Face Detection autofocus and auto-exposure worked well for auto-exposure brightening backlit faces, metered manual is the preferred choice for challenging lighting.

It's also handy for balancing ambient light with flash. There's a small but sometimes slightly overpowering built-in flash, but the addition of a hotshoe for remote-triggering devices is useful for off-camera flash. As there's no focal plane shutter, the G9 can sync up to 1/2500 of a second - far higher than any digital SLR - allowing wider apertures to be used and permitting faster recycling of portable flash units.

Although the 3in screen can be seen in bright light and has generous viewing angles, the viewfinder image isn't quite as clear as we'd like. Luckily, then, there's also an optical viewfinder, which also means fewer wobbles, as you don't always have to hold the camera at arm's length. Furthermore, lens-based image stabilisation works well to combat the shakes with longer shutter speeds. We were able to get acceptably sharp shots at about 1/10 of a second at the widest zoom setting.