Canon G15 Review

    

 

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The Canon G15 is the upgrade to the popular two-year-old G12.

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At first glance, the 12.1 million pixel G15 seems very similar to the G12, but there are

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quite a few notable physical differences.

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For starters, the dials on the top of the camera are now stacked and overlapping, and

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both on the right side of the camera. The dedicated ISO dial found on the G12 is also

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now missing.

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The lens has had a bit of a refresh, being the first Canon G-series compact camera to

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feature an f/1.8 optic. This maximum aperture reduces down to a still respectable f/2.8

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at the telephoto end.

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It’s a 5x optical zoom, making it the equivalent of 28-140mm. You zoom in and out via this

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small switch around the shutter release. It’s pretty smooth and quiet to use, and you can

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activate digital zoom when not shooting in raw format.

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Probably the biggest difference between this and the G12 is the screen, which is no longer

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articulating. Instead, there’s a fixed 3-inch 920,000 dot device. It’s a pretty decent

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performer in bright light, avoiding glare and reflections most of the time, however

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it’s a shame that Canon hasn’t chosen to include the same touchscreen which can

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be found on the smaller Powershot S110.

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Not having an articulating screen, and a sleeker body than its predecessor, makes this a much

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more pocketable camera. You’ll also notice that the finger grip is a little less pronounced

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than before, but it’s still pretty easy to hold – while the textured covering gives

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you confidence when holding the camera in one hand.

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Canon’s G series cameras have always been aimed pretty squarely at the enthusiast photographer,

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and as such the G15 has a number of direct access dials and button designed to appeal

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to this kind of user.

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At the top of the camera is a dial for quickly changing between the various modes the camera

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offers. You’ve got fully automatic, fully manual, semi-automatic and scene, digital

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filter and movie modes here. There’s also space for two sets of custom settings – which

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is useful if you often find yourself shooting in any given situation, such as low light.

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Slightly underneath this dial is an exposure compensation dial, which can be quite easily

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reached with the thumb. Although there’s no direct ISO dial anymore, a simple tap of

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this button on the back of the camera gives you access to sensitivity settings.

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A small dial at the top of the finger grip is used to alter aperture and shutter speed

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– depending on the mode being used – and is very easy to access, again when shooting

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one-handed.

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Changing the autofocus points is done by pressing this button here and scrolling around with

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this dial, or by pressing one of the four way directional keys. It’s fairly easy to

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do, but a touchcreen would have made it much quicker. If you need to capture a lot of fast

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action, it’s probably easier to set the focus point to the middle and focus and recompose.

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Other direct access buttons include this one for changing the metering mode, this one for

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changing the focusing mode and this one for changing the flash mode. Most of the commonly

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used settings can be accessed via this Function menu, which means you don’t have to delve

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into the full menu every time you need to change something. Here you’ll find settings

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such as white balance, continuous shooting, aspect ratio and raw format shooting.

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It would have been nice if Canon had found room for an extra customisable button somewhere

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on the body so you could have immediate access to an extra, commonly used setting.

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Images taken straight from the camera are bright, vibrant and punchy. There’s also

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lots of detail, with the f/1.8 aperture lens allowing for some beautiful shallow depth

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of field effects to be achieved.