Santa’s Stocking Suprise | Canon PowerShot G11

Jenna and I really only planned on exchanging stocking stuffers for Christmas this year but Santa had other plans. Jenna’s 5 year old point-and-shoot had been very good to her, but its glory days are long gone. So what was Santa’s replacement you ask…  The Canon PowerShot G11

OK, so truth be told I helped Santa a bit with the research and spent several hours testing the G11 against the new S90, the SX200 IS and others. The G11 is obviously no replacement for a SLR, but for a reasonably sized point-and-shoot that can go in your purse or in a jacket pocket, it packs quite a wallop. A couple of the things I found useful;

• A high ISO of 3200. With enough light, distortion is not bad… much better than any others I tested.
• A 28mm wide angle zoom lens (the 35mm equivalent is actually 28mm-140mm) with a maximum aperture of 2.8
• Great controls with easy to access and use dials to set mode / ISO / exposure compensation
• Ability to zoom while shooting video
• 2.8″ LCD monitor that swivels out and around. Great for taking the perfect self portrait or shooting from weird angles.
• It’s pretty quick to focus (especially with the AF beam assist turned on) even in marginal light.
• Ability to adjust exposure and flash compensation seperatly (and a shoe for our big flashes)