Canon Announce the PowerShot G11

[robbieduncan]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp

Biggest news for me is that it offers a lower resolution (10Mp instead of 14.7Mp) sensor than the G10. Are we finally seeing a move towards higher image quality instead of a pointless race to more and more pixels with more and more noise?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Didn't they just release the G10? I'd be pissed if I were the G10 owner.
I have the G9 and I love it.

Edit: the flip out screen is definitely something I'd love.

 

[Ambrose Chapel]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp

Biggest news for me is that it offers a lower resolution (10Mp instead of 14.7Mp) sensor than the G10. Are we finally seeing a move towards higher image quality instead of a pointless race to more and more pixels with more and more noise?

I really hope so. i chose previous generation models with lower megapixels for the last 2 cameras i bought (40D, SD1100).

Hopefully this trend will continue if/when they announce a new 60D/7D...

 

[robbieduncan]

Didn't they just release the G10? I'd be pissed if I were the G10 owner.
I have the G9 and I love it.

Edit: the flip out screen is definitely something I'd love.

The G10 was announced 17th September 2008. So 23 months ago. You must be having loads of fun as time appears to be flying!

 

[Grimace]

Excellent -- finally the Megapixel race is taking a breather!

With the G11, that camera appeals to a consumer who might actually ask about image quality over overblown "features" so it's a good place to start.

 

[GoCubsGo]

The G10 was announced 17th September 2008. So 23 months ago. You must be having loads of fun as time appears to be flying!

It does feel like it was just announced but I am not counting 23 months from Sept 2008 to August 2009. I count somewhere around 11. Or am I missing something?

 

[robbieduncan]

It does feel like it was just announced but I am not counting 23 months from Sept 2008 to August 2009. I count somewhere around 11. Or am I missing something?

Erm, yes you are right! For some reason I decided it was a little less that 2 years instead of 1!

 

[GoCubsGo]

I think new stuffs confuses us both.
I'm tempted to sell mine and upgrade. I am using it more than I ever thought I would.

 

[soLoredd]

Sorry to jump the thread but I'm also really liking the S90 they just announced as well. Looks like the perfect vacation pocket camera. When these new cameras come out, are they difficult to find in stock? I've never bought a camera right at release.

 

[robbieduncan]

Sorry to jump the thread but I'm also really liking the S90 they just announced as well. Looks like the perfect vacation pocket camera. When these new cameras come out, are they difficult to find in stock? I've never bought a camera right at release.

I think that they are announced, but not yet actually available in store yet. I could be wrong though...

 

[duncanapple]

I think this is great news - Im happy to see they aren't going to keep bowing to the marketing pressure and get back to optimizing picture quality. I would really like to see this in the DSLRs, even with their larger sensors. A full frame canon with a 10-12 mp size (yes I know I am describing the original 5D, hear me out ) along with the newer electronics, updated autofocus, metering, video mode, etc would be really fantastic. 12 mega pixels would easily handle anything I would print out for my house to frame, and with a better IQ to boot.

Not to mention the file sizes of a raw 21 mp image is gigantic. Even if HD storage is getting cheaper everyday, online storage and email capacities (if you want to send them to family and friends) is not growing as fast. Your options to distribute your pics become limited at that size.

Long story short, you can also place me in the camp that thinks this is a good thing. Now that we know we can make huge MP sensors, lets pat ourselves on the back, and move on to more important things like IQ!

 

[gnd]

No one said anything about prices yet, so here they are, from dpreview site, currency conversion thanks to google.com:

Recommended price
• $499 (499 U.S. dollars = 46 779.7881 Japanese yen)
• €589 (589 Euros = 78 502.0437 Japanese yen)
• £569 (569 British pounds = 87 993.1002 Japanese yen)

I'm not going to even attempt commenting these ...

 

[MBX]

Well I bought the G10 like 6 months ago and now this.

I can't blame them though, technology evolves fast nowadays. I just wish they had their mind together already on the G10 and instead offering higher MP-count to focus on image quality.

I wish they could offer a firmware update to the G10 to calibrate the sensor to the G11 quality but it's a hardware thing unfortunately.

 

[Kebabselector]

Well I bought the G10 like 6 months ago and now this..

They do tend to refresh this range once a year, bit like Apple and the September iPod updates.

 

[Cliff3]

Not to mention the file sizes of a raw 21 mp image is gigantic. Even if HD storage is getting cheaper everyday, online storage and email capacities (if you want to send them to family and friends) is not growing as fast. Your options to distribute your pics become limited at that size.

I uploaded a 600MB zip archive of photos to my website for a magazine editor yesterday. It took a fair while, and I have a fast internet connection. If I was shooting 24mpx images, I would be shopping for a faster connection (since clients aren't likely to change their ways much).

Back on topic, it looks like Canon updates this camera every year at around this time going back to at least 2006, so this update shouldn't come as any surprise. The sensor size stays the same and resolution decreases, while top ISO gets bumped by a stop (3200 instead of 1600). Base ISO stays the same. All the other significant features seem to be the same too - lens, size, frame rate, AF, etc. It will be interesting to see the noise tests as that seems to be the area of improvement. It's too bad Canon didn't get radical and throw an APS-C sensor in it.

 

[GoCubsGo]

No one said anything about prices yet, so here they are, from dpreview site, currency conversion thanks to google.com:

Recommended price
• $499 (499 U.S. dollars = 46 779.7881 Japanese yen)
• €589 (589 Euros = 78 502.0437 Japanese yen)
• £569 (569 British pounds = 87 993.1002 Japanese yen)

I'm not going to even attempt commenting these ...

Prices are what the G series cameras have been pretty much. I am not shocked at the sticker price at all.

 

[mdwsta4]

after waiting and waiting for canon to release a larger sensor G-series camera, i broke down and picked up a G10 in July. great camera and i'm pleased with it below ISO400. the G11 is a huge step forward in terms of MP as i felt the G9's 12mp was overkill. shame it doesn't shoot HD video which is odd given the fact that most other cameras do (and the G being a flagship camera at that). i love the 3" screen so it's a bit sad to see it shrink down a tad to 2.8" and while the articulating screen is nice for some, i really just like it because you can hide the screen away from scratches while throwing it in your bag.
shame they don't appear to have improved the viewfinder. that's my biggest complaint with the G10 (aside from noise) because it's utterly useless. i would much prefer using it over the lcd. ah well.

 

[robbieduncan]

Pre-orders are coming up now.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Of corse the Photo Newbie will buy the G10 because 15ish MP is "Better"

The sensor SIZE and lens is better than more resolution.

I am glad they did not try 20 MP in this one

 

[gkarris]

All Olympus or Panasonic needs is a 4/3 sensor fixed-lens P&S for the same price and it'll blow this camera away IQ-wise...

 

[toxic]

shame they don't appear to have improved the viewfinder. that's my biggest complaint with the G10 (aside from noise) because it's utterly useless. i would much prefer using it over the lcd. ah well.

has there been any digital point-&-shoot with a useful viewfinder..?

 

[miloblithe]

All Olympus or Panasonic needs is a 4/3 sensor fixed-lens P&S for the same price and it'll blow this camera away IQ-wise...

They pretty much have that with the EP-1. It's not much bigger than the G11 if you put on the tiny pancake lens. Of course, more comparable is the EP-1 with the zoom lens, which is much bigger. Also, adding the flash which is not included on the body makes the EP-1 much much bigger, not to mention much more expensive.

 

[Compile 'em all]

I see that it is almost as expensive as a DSLR. What does it offer that is better than a normal P&S?

note: n00b here.

 

[robbieduncan]

I see that it is almost as expensive as a DSLR. What does it offer that is better than a normal P&S?

note: n00b here.

RAW output, full manual controls, slightly larger sensor than most of the cheaper P&S (1/1.7" instead of 1/2.3" or smaller)...