I was in the market for a new point & shoot. I have had many over the years but never did much research before making the purchase. I almost always came away disappointed in the image quality of whatever I got.
This time I decided to do a little more research. I am very familiar with the product lines in the DSLR market but never paid much attention to the point and shoot world.
For the record I am a Nikon guy. Nothing against Canon or any other manufacturer but Nikon just feels right to me. I suspect if I grew up on Canon or had a significant investment in their glass I would then be a Canon shooter today.
My check list
Stuff I had to have
- RAW support
- Built in View Finder
- Mechanical dials on the body
- Good high ISO performance
- Not too expensive
Stuff I didn't want
- Touch Screen
- Interchangeable lenses
Stuff that didn't matter either way
- Super Compact
- Video
I decided on the Canon PowerShot G11. It feels like a small DSLR to me. Very familiar dials with the functionality of my “serious” camera. It is advertised as the photographer’s point & shoot and I totally agree with that slogan. You can easily put it in "dummy mode" and get good results or use manual controls to finesse the picture, as you would with your DSLR.
photo by Tom Rothenberg - G11
I won’t bore you with the technical specs as you can find out so much more on sites such as DPreview and BHphoto.
It is also not quite as small as some of the other cameras in this space, but small enough to eliminate any excuses not to always have it with me.
photo by Tom Rothenberg - G11
So if your tired getting poor results with your point & shoot camera and looking for a replacement, I can totally endorse the Canon G11 - and this is coming from a Nikonian.