Canon Has Friends in Low(-Light) Places
Last year, Panasonic did something unusual with the LX3 -- it made advanced photographers happy with a compact camera. Instead of packing on megapixels that tiny lenses couldn't resolve well at the cost of low-light sensitivity, they stuck to 10 megapixels and a wide-aperture lens. The result? Panasonic wasn't ready for the intense market for a camera like this, and still has severe trouble keeping it in stock.
Canon, it seems, was listening. Today they announced two cameras, the PowerShot G11 and the Powershot S90, both using the same 10-megapixel sensor with headlines of increased light sensitivity. Since the G10 had almost 15 megapixels, you can see that Canon has bowed to the simple physics that cramming more diodes onto a small sensor will reduce sensitivity with little gain. For the enthusiast and advanced photographer who want cameras with a smaller profile, these should be very interesting.
The main differences between these cameras are that the S90 has a slimmer profile and a lens that starts at f/2.0 versus the G11's f/2.8 -- for those who don't speak f-stop, that means the cheaper camera is actually twice as light sensitive as the more expensive one. On the other hand, the G11 has a hot shoe for attaching external flashes. Since one of the things these cameras are great for is using the extremely fast flash sync speeds to obliterate ambient light with even a lightly powered external flash, this could be a big deal for users who are members of the Strobist cult.
Low-light quality is more important to the average user than absolute resolution under the best conditions, even if they don't know it. Most of life happens under poor photographic conditions, and pocket cameras are made to capture all aspects. In addition, we must give kudos to Canon for offering RAW capture on both cameras. In the future, this is simply a must for any compact that can be seen as a "companion camera" for dSLR owners who want a smaller camera to carry around.
The proof will be in the real-world testing, but if the LX3 sales show anything, it seems that Canon may find some winners here.
Doug Brenizer on August 19, 2009 at 09:25 PM
The G11 appears to be 1/250 off camera 1/2000 on camera,
not what many strobist thought.
bluetooth kopfhorer on September 14, 2009 at 07:05 AM
It's a good result for sure. There are a number of ways to obtain manual control with 5dmk2. I found for Canon glass, this to be of practical use. To open aperture, bright light outdoors. In live mode, place hand over lens to blank light, lock exposure ( star button) then press star button again to reset ASA, a third time to set shutter. Indoors a reverse for the lens, point at a bright light source, locking in that setting. Practice technique several times
to get the drift. A range of techniques well documented on DV Info & Vimeo for Canon & Nikon glass.
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Canon sd550 on June 02, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Canon makes an execellent product. Their lenses achieve such good focus in even low light.
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