Pros
-Full manual control
-Raw format shooting
-Built-in Wi-Fi
Cons
-No touchscreen
-Limited flexibility with digital filters
-Can't use Wi-Fi for remote shooting
1. Overview
The Canon GXX series has long been considered the natural
back-up camera for DSLR users, especially those already familiar with the Canon
brand.
As such, the outward design of this range has changed little
from its first incarnation. The Canon PowerShot G16 is no different, looking
outwardly almost identical to the year-old Canon PowerShot G15 it replaces. But
of course, inside there have been a few notable changes.
First up is the sensor. While it remains the same pixel
count, at 12.1MP, and physical size, at 1/1.7-inch, Canon says that the CMOS
sensor is a completely new design, featuring back illumination.
The Canon G16 now includes inbuilt Wi-Fi, something which
Canon's David Parry says is "pretty much essential" for new compacts.
What Canon is most keen to shout about, and perhaps the most
exciting new feature, however, is the Digic 6 processor. This is Canon's latest
generation of processor which enables some pretty special things, most notably
an impressively fast 9.3fps (JPEG, without continuous autofocus), which doesn't
have a buffer - in real terms that means you can, in theory, keep on shooting
until your card runs out. It also means you can shoot a sequence, stop shooting
and be ready to shoot again.
It should also mean that low light performance is once again
improved. The Canon G16 is capable of shooting at up to ISO 12800. Canon also
claims that AF speed has been significantly improved - apparently it is 41%
quicker than its predecessor, the Canon G15.
Two new creative modes have been created for this camera.
Background Defocus shoots two photos, one completely in focus, one out of
focus, then combines the two images to produce DSLR-style background defocus
effects. This is done in-camera automatically.
The second is Star Mode, which has been designed with night
time photographers in mind. Canon says that it is so confident of the camera's
low light capabilities that it actively wants to encourage photographers to use
it in pitch black conditions.
Star Mode is a fully automatic mode that triggers the best
settings for capturing night time skies. It's also capable of recording star
trials and creating time-lapse movies - again, all captured and created within
the camera without the need for post-processing. HDR mode
has also been
improved to include new digital filters. 
Manual Focus Peaking has been introduced for the first time
in a Canon compact camera. It's a technology that has existed in Canon's range
of video cameras before, and we have seen it from other manufacturers fairly
recently. The sensitivity of focus peaking can also be set depending on how
strong you want it to be. Different colours can also be set, which can be
useful depending on the subject you're shooting.
As found on the Canon G15, the Canon G16 features an
f/1.8-f/2.8 5x optical zoom lens, with a maximum wide-angle of 28mm. At its
full telephoto zoom it offers a 35mm equivalent of 140mm and a maximum f/2.8
aperture.
The exterior of the camera is pretty much identical to its
predecessor, the Canon G15. Canon says that this is because it has been honed
throughout the years and is one that consumers feel comfortable with.
Canon has also announced a replacement for the Canon S110 in
the shape of the Canon S120. That takes a lot of the features of the Canon G16
but places them in a slimmer body, and is worth investigating if you're looking
for something a little more pocket-friendly.
When the original Canon G series camera launched it had far
less competition that it does in the current market. Probably the biggest
competitor for this camera is the Sony RX100 II, as well as the Nikon P7700.
The Canon PowerShot G16 will have a full price of £529.99
(around US$830/AU$920), making it slightly more expensive than the Nikon but a
fair bit cheaper than the Sony.
2. Build quality and Handling
Much of what can be said about the G16's build quality and
handling is true of its predecessor, the G15.
The G15 slimmed down considerably from the G12 by removing
the articulating screen, and Canon has evidently received sufficient feedback
that this welcome to keep the same design for the latest iteration of the
camera.
Canon isn't shy about targeting cameras at the advanced
photographer – it often refers to DSLR owners in marketing materials. This is
reflected in the number of dials and direct access buttons found on the camera.
On the top are two overlapping dials, a mode dial for switching between the
various exposure options on the camera, including fully automatic and
semi-automatic modes (aperture priority and shutter priority). There's also
space for a couple of custom groups of settings, which is pretty useful if you
often find yourself shooting one particular type of scene, such as monochrome
or low light.
Slightly underneath this dial is the exposure compensation
dial, which is handily reached by the thumb and is something that was a welcome
addition to last year's G15.
In order to change the aperture or shutter speed (depending
on the mode you're shooting in), a small dial on the grip at the front of the
camera is used. This is easy to reach with your finger when holding the camera
one-handed. If you're shooting in fully manual mode, the dial at the front of
the camera is used for aperture, and the scrolling dial on the back of the
camera is used for shutter speed.
This scrolling dial on the back of the camera doubles up as
a four way directional pad, which is used with other buttons to make changes to
settings. There's been a slight rejig when compared with the G15, with some
buttons being moved around. For instance, there is now a dedicated ISO
(sensitivity) button instead of it being found as one of the options around the
navigational dial. This seems to come at the expense of a dedicated metering
button which is now missing.
Around the navigation dial, you'll now find access to
focusing types, flash types and a way to quickly switch to manual focusing.
There's also a Display option for changing the settings displayed on the
screen.
There's a fairly wide array of other buttons on the back of
the camera, including a dedicated one for changing the autofocus point. This is
styled in the same way as the button on Canon's range of DSLRs, so if you're
coming from owning one of those, you'll be at home here. This AF position
button also doubles up as the button to activate Wi-Fi when you're in playback
mode.
To change the AF point you simply need to press the AF point
button then use the directional keys or scrolling dial to reach the point you
need. Although this is easy, it's not the quickest of operations so you may
find leaving the AF point in the centre of the screen and focusing and
recomposing is speedier for fast unfolding action.
All of the camera's operation is carried out via these
physical buttons as there's still no touchscreen for the G series. This seems
like a bit of a shame when you consider that the S range has an excellent one,
but perhaps this is to keep costs down or maybe it's because the camera is
aimed at traditionalists.
Zooming in and out of the G16's 5x optical zoom range is
smooth and fluid and is achieved via a switch around the shutter button. You
can switch on digital zooming in the menu, but only when you're not shooting in
raw format, which is a bit of an annoyance. When you have digital zoom
activated, the zoom will pause slightly before straying into digital territory
to allow you to keep an eye on using only the optical zoom.
Canon hasn't changed its standard compact camera menu for
some time, so if you're an existing owner, you shouldn't have any trouble here.
It's pretty sensibly arranged but you may find you don't use it all that often
anyway as a sort of quick menu, accessed by hitting the function button in the
centre of the scrolling dial, has all of the settings changes you're likely to
want with any sense of immediacy.
To access the Wi-Fi element of the camera, first of all you
need to be in playback mode since all you can do is share / upload existing
images. If you register with Canon Image Gateway you can share directly from
the camera to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.
It's a little annoying having to do this separately from the camera using a
computer, but once it's done it's pretty easy to use.
You can also set up your smartphone or tablet to send the
image to for uploading and sharing if you don't have access to a Wi-Fi network
at the time. Again, once the initial set-up has taken place it's very quick to
share between devices.
Anyone that is stepping up from another Canon compact
camera, or perhaps an older G series model, should be very much at home with
the G16.
3. Performance
The Canon G series has always put in a fantastically solid
performance, and happily the G16 is no different.
Once again Canon has manufactured something which is capable
of producing excellent images, while also managing to improve on its
predecessor.
Colours are very well saturated, displaying the pleasing
tones that we've come to expect from Canon cameras. If you want to add extra
punch to your images, you can shoot with "My Colors", which
reproduces certain types of film stock, such as Positive. It's worth noting
that you can't use these while shooting in raw format though.
If you want to experiment with different filters and so on,
there is also a dedicated mode for such things, where filters such as fish-eye
and toy effect are included. Some of these are great fun to experiment with,
and we'd recommend having a go with all of them to see if they appeal. Again,
you can't shoot with them in raw format, and as it's a separate mode you also
lose control over settings such as aperture, which is a shame.
Leaving the camera to do a lot of work for you is no problem
with the G16. Automatic white balance does an excellent job of producing
accurate colours, though it does tend to err slightly towards the warm side of
things when shooting under artificial lights. Similarly, all-purpose metering
does a pretty good job in the majority of conditions, only suffering slightly
under high contrast situations, in which case switching to spot metering is
beneficial.
Focus speed
Focusing speeds are generally pretty quick and accurate,
although they're not as instant as the speeds displayed by some of the better
compact system cameras on the market. Focusing is a little slower in low light,
but again it's generally accurate when it does get there. Macro focusing can be
activated for shooting frame filling close-up shots, with the G16 capable of
producing some finely detailed macro shots, especially good for nature and
flower photography.
Low light performance really needs to impress with cameras
like this, especially when it's in direct competition with the high performing
Sony RX100 II. Shooting at mid-range sensitivities such as ISO 800 does show
some evidence of image smoothing if you examine images at 100%, but the amount
of detail kept is generally pretty impressive, while noise is relatively low.
Images look great at normal viewing and printing sizes, such as A4.
If you increase that sensitivity to the higher reaches of
around ISO 3200 for example, then more image smoothing does start to appear
along with more evidence of noise. Again though, if you're sharing or printing
at normal or small sizes then the pictures are more than adequate. The good
news is that as the lens is capable of stopping down to f/1.8, you may find you
don't need to use higher sensitivities all that often anyway.
Intelligent IS helps when shooting handheld in low light or
at the far end of the telephoto lens, keeping images sharp and blur free even
at relatively long shutter speeds. The G16 is also fitted with a Digic 6
processor, which helps with the fast frame rate of up to 9.3fps. The processor
also means that you can be shooting continuously until you got the shot you
need without having to wait for very long buffer times.
Images taken at the far end of the telephoto zoom lens
display a good level of detail. There is a significant loss of detail when
using the digital zoom, as is to be expected, but it's useful to have if you
really need the extra reach. You could also shoot in raw format and crop into
an image in post production if you need to keep a raw version of the file.
4. Verdict
Canon always produces solid performers in its G series
cameras. While that's appealing to the traditionalist crowd, it is now fighting
a harder battle than ever before to keep market share in the crowded premium
compact market.
While it's true that the G16 is capable of producing
excellent images, it doesn't quite compete with the excellent Sony RX100 II
which is sitting comfortably at the top of the bestseller lists.
Canon seems to be committed to keeping the same (relatively)
small sensor, but this does have its advantages, namely in price. For the
moment at least, it's significantly cheaper than its Sony rival.
This will be a camera appreciated by advanced photographers,
with full manual control and raw format shooting joined by a satisfying number
of direct access dials and buttons. It's a bit of a shame there's not more
flexibility with the more 'creative' aspects of the camera, such as digital
filters and film simulation modes only being available in raw format, and the
former meaning you lose control over manual settings such as aperture.
The addition of a Digic 6 processor is excellent news for
both low light image quality and for boosting the very fast continuous shooting
mode, making this a good candidate if you need to photograph fast moving
action, perhaps for things such as street photography.
On that note, it's great to see Canon including inbuilt
Wi-Fi on the G series. It's a welcome addition that is fairly easy to use
making sharing images much quicker. It's a shame that you can't remote control
the camera though.
liked
The G16 is a no-nonsense premium compact that builds on the
already excellent reputation of the G series. You get great image quality in a
reasonably small body that still manages to cram in lots of direct access
buttons and dials to make the advanced photographer feel plenty at home.
disliked
We're not sure if it's a price thing, but it seems like a
strange omission to leave out a touchscreen on a camera like this, especially
when its sibling camera (the S120) has such an excellent device. It makes things
like selecting the AF point so much quicker, so we'll be surprised if Canon
continues to leave one out of the next generation of G series cameras. If
you're a traditionalist though, there's not too much to dislike about the
camera.
Final verdict
The G16 marks another incremental upgrade for the G series
of compacts, which remains a solid and reliable camera in the now fairly
crowded premium compact market. Canon has carved out a good reputation with
this series, but it's already facing fierce competition from the Sony RX100 II
which sits at the top of the current best-seller lists.
It's good to see the addition of Wi-Fi, and the Digic 6
processor does make a noticeable difference, but it's ultimately not a camera
to get overly excited about.
Excellent image quality is assured though, and if you're
looking for a good workhouse camera to carry around with you a lot, then it's a
good bet. Take a look at the Canon S120 though if you need something a touch
more pocket friendly – it features the same sensor.
No comments:
Post a Comment