Considering the leap that was made between the G10 and the G11, both with regards to specification and design tweaks, it would be easy to be disappointed with a perceived lack of evolution between the G11 and the G12. However, the Canon Powershot G11 was a fantastic camera and the Canon G12 has simply added to it in certain areas, and as such it hasn’t become a bad camera overnight. Expect to see some big changes with the next G series model, however.
Design
Canon PowerShot G12 review – Design
An interesting observation with the design of the G12 is that, despite the few changes made ‘under the hood’ of the compact, the body remains identical in size and weight. This isn’t to say, however, that the body hasn’t been tweaked in some way. The front of the camera now houses a small control wheel akin to a DSLR, offering control over shutter and aperture settings.
Outside of the addition of the front control wheel, much remains as before, and this is definitely a good thing. The G12’s top plate houses a trio of control wheels that have a pleasingly retro and manual feel to them – to the left sits an exposure compensation dial, while to the right is a larger dial to control ISO setting and a smaller mode dial set within the ISO dial.
On the rear of the camera sits the vari-angle LCD screen attached by a hinge on the cameras left. The screen can be pulled away from the camera about 180° on a vertical axis and then rotated around 270° around a horizontal axis.
The G12’s rear also houses the previous configuration of control d-pad, command dial around the d-pads edge and a host of other control buttons. An optical viewfinder also sits on the cameras rear with a useful dioptre adjustment housed to the side of the viewfinder.
The front of the camera houses the adapter ring seen on previous models. This allows for a range of extensions to be fitted, including a 1.4x tele-converter and a filter adapter, which can extend the functionality of the G12 even more so.
Score
Score in detail
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Features 90
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Image Quality 95
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Design 95
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Performance 90
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Value 90