The Canon Powershot G12, released in September 2010, belongs to the family of the Canon G series digital cameras. It is a high-quality camera of an advanced class with a 10-megapixel sensor featuring a wide dynamic range, a 5X wide zoom lens, optical stabilizer, a swivel 2.8-inch LCD display, ability of manual adjustment and 720p HD video.
Design
The PowerShot G12 is constructed in a classic ergonomic design providing maximum comfort in work. Black color and angular outlines of the body at first glance give the impression of solidity and reliability. Organization of controls of the G12 resembles one of a digital camera. The G12 has a large number of "physical" elements insuring an instant access to all the most necessary settings. For example, the top panel, in addition to the usual release button, houses three control disks for selecting a mode, switching the ISOs, and setting the amount of exposure compensation. Herewith, all the wheels are located at different levels, so you can confidently manage the camera settings even by touch. On the front panel under the shutter release button there is a ribbed wheel for quick setup of functions (for example, the aperture values).
Elements on the rear panel are also organized in such a way as to ensure ease for those users, who prefer manual settings. In particular, the traditional 4-way controller at the G12 is made with an adjustment ring, which allows you to quickly set the exposure parameters and to control other functions. Other elements on the rear panel are more traditional: there are buttons to access the menu, control the display modes, switch on optical stabilization, or select between shooting and playback modes, and others.
The Powershot G12 is equipped with a large 2.8-inch LCD with a magnificent resolution of 461,000 pixels, providing excellent brightness and picture details. The swivel LCD design allows you to comfortably shoot at the most unusual angles. The display covers 100% of the frame, which enables you to accurately align the composition. Besides the camera has a convenient optical real-image viewfinder with zoom feature support. With a special wheel you can perform the viewfinder diopter correction, "adjusting" it to your own eyes. The camera can work as well with an external flash unit.
Lens, matrix
The G12 5X lens covers a range of 28-140 mm in equivalent to a film camera and has an exceptionally high quality optics. The minimum focal length of the lens has a wide angle, which allows you to efficiently use the camera for shooting in tight spaces. There is a two-sided aspheric lens in the design, and despite the diminutive sizes, it ensures high quality and uniform brightness of the image at any focal length. Additional SR-lens’s coating minimizes the possibility of chromatic aberration.
The G12 is equipped with optical stabilizer, which makes it possible, without blurring the image in adverse lighting conditions, to increase the shutter speed by four steps compared with the maximum permissible under the same conditions without stabilization. In addition, the lens supports a new Hybrid IS system, which effectively resists such factors as the linear and angular displacement of the camera, and thus ensures maximum image sharpness in macro and close-up shots.
The G12 is the first camera of the Canon G line, which is equipped with a new HS system, providing a combination of innovative matrix backlight and powerful DIGIC 4 processor. The new HS system creates a perfect quality images even in low light conditions, greatly expands the dynamic range, and ensures maximum performance of the camera. The 10-megapixel G12 allows you to take photos, that can be printed in A3 format, and even more.
Due to high detailed images you are able to "cut" a fragment out of the image and print it as a separate high quality photo. Pictures can be taken with a different aspect ratio (3:2, 4:3, 1:1, 16:9, and 4:5), which allows creating interesting composite effects, and ensures easy viewing on any screen as well as the ability to print without cropping the sides. Maximum ISO sensitivity is 3200, and the new HS System provides quite acceptable quality photos even at this value. With automatic adjustment of the sensitivity you can set the maximum ISO, which limits the sensitivity settings in the automatic mode.
It is possible to record in RAW and simultaneously in RAW and JPEG, which provides a flexible image processing. The included ZoomBrowser software with the RAW Image Task function allows maximum accuracy of settings, including exposure compensation, white balance, tonal curve and color temperature. Besides, the G12 is compatible with a professional program for working with RAW-files - Digital Photo Professional (DPP). The DIGIC 4, a powerful processor of the latest generation with high-speed processing of large image files, contributes as well to the quality of the pictures, as it monitors the color accuracy and fights with color noise.
Functions
The Canon G12 is designed for experienced photographers, but thanks to the broad functionality it will be good for a professional as a "tracking" camera. However, the camera has a very precise automatics and it is user-friendly, so it is able to open the fascinating world of digital photography even to a novice.
The G12 supports Face Priority option, which allows to quickly and correctly set optimal for people images sharpness, exposure, white balance and flash (the latter is very useful when shooting close-ups).The G12 is able to "distinguish" up to 35 people (even in profile), and thanks to the Face Select and Track function, enabling registering faces, you can "indicate" the camera a needed person, and in the future it will track his movement in the field of the frame, preventing his exit from the zone field. In the FaceSelf mode the camera automatically releases the shutter, when a new face appears in the frame.
For shooting landscapes and architecture there is a new mode of the electronic level, allowing you to quickly and accurately align the horizon. The G12 possesses diverse exposure modes. In addition to the automatic mode the user's attention are offered advanced settings of PSAM (Program automatic, aperture and shutter priority, manual mode), as well as a large selection of scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Kids & Pets, Super Vivid, the effect of the poster shooting, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks, underwater, color accent, replacement of colors, dynamic range mode, the effect of "fish-eye", the function of creating thumbnails, nostalgia, Stitch Assist).
The G12 features the Smart Auto mode for analyzing the distance to the object, its type and the dynamics of movement, color, brightness and overall lightness of the plot, which gives the ability to set one of the 28 scene modes independently. You can create and save your own presets as there are two “vacant” places on the mode dial to access them.
When shooting high contrast scenes it will be helpful to use a smart i-Contrast option, which can increase details of the shadow areas on the image. In addition the G12 features the auto HDR-shooting option, when the camera after the shutter release button automatically takes three shots with different exposure parameters and "stitches" them into a single image with extended dynamic range. There is a variety of digital effects for the user to decorate images. Video is possible with a resolution of 640x480 pixels at 30 frames per second.
The G12 is powered with a lithium-ion battery of high capacity, NB-7L.One charge is enough for taking about 370 shots. As the media you can use SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, MMC plus, HCMMC plus memory cards.
The Canon PowerShot G12 offers maximum flexibility in its class of cameras, excellent performance, professional management capabilities, and compatibility with a variety of accessories.
