Canon Camera

In the race to make a digicam worthy of use by a business or serious amateur, Canon has jammed slightly over two more megapixels into its PowerShot G-series body.

Along with a few other improvements the result is the G6, an $899 (street) 7.1 MP camera which makes images many companies will be happy with for business use.

It was just over a year ago that I tested the G5, and found its output excellent when limited to ISO 200 or less.

It takes two

I had two major reservations: the viewfinder was partially obstructed by the lens, and the switch for toggling between shooting and playback modes seemed flimsy. Canon addressed the first and ignored the other.

By moving the optical viewfinder window there no longer is anything in the way of viewing the entire frame, a great benefit for the user.

The thumb toggle switch, which surrounds the off button, still remains. However, I found it less objectionable this time around.

The camera's body shape is basically the same as the G5, but is slightly smaller. The four-times f2.0-3.0 lens (equivalent to a 35-140 mm lens) is the same.

Changes include a bigger LCD screen (from 1.8 to two inches), and what Canon says is faster startup, faster zoom and faster autofocus than the G5.

The G6's shutter button is more comfortably placed, having been moved forward onto the big hand grip. The main dial is right behind it, the reverse of the G5. Another improvement is the shifting of the exposure mode dial from the top deck to the back beside the viewfinder, where it can easily be flicked by your right thumb.

Presumably to give your right thumb a more comfortable place to rest, the rocker-controlled Omni Wheel has been moved down on the back.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The main buttons on the back have been reduced from five to four with the function button doing double-duty as the trash.

For this review, I shot a number of images handheld at ISO 200 and 400 at the Superfine setting, which gives about a 3.2 MB JPG. That will translate into a 20MB TIFF. Tests were done using a 256 MB high-speed CompactFlash card, not the 32 MB card the camera comes with.

The controls are intuitive as well as the menus. And if you need, the instruction manual is thorough yet well-written.

The results were terrifically sharp images with accurate colour. Digital noise at ISO 400 is visible, however, so for best use sensitivity should still be set at no higher than ISO 200.

Fortunately, a wireless controller comes with the G6, good for tripod shots. Match this camera up with flood-lights or one of Canon's flashes and an umbrella, and a company will have a good setup for all but the most critical kind of photography.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Transcontinental Media IT Business Group
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