Overall, the PowerShot G5 is a great 5-megapixel camera that should please enthusiasts wanting to create large prints.

Canon arrived at the party a bit late, but the company's 5-megapixel update to the winning, 4-megapixel PowerShot G3 was worth the wait. Although the G5's black finish makes it look different from the silver G3, the two digicams offer nearly identical features and specs, including the same 4X zoom lens. Throw in the G5's improved performance and generally great image quality, and you have a hard camera for photo enthusiasts to resist. Only a noticeable problem with purple fringing in some photos gives us pause.

The G5's brushed-metal body comes dressed in basic black instead of the G3's silver finish; otherwise the two models are identical twins. The new camera's 500-gram heft (including the CompactFlash card and the battery) and protruding handhold give it a solid, comfortable feel. The controls covering the device provide quick, easy access to almost every important feature, although they may put off novices. Even advanced users will want to skim the manual to figure out when to use the mode dial instead of the four-way navigation pad and to learn what the button labeled with an asterisk does.

Nearly every function is a single button-press away. You get to exposure compensation and the white-balance settings, for instance, via the four-way rocker switch, which you can also use for menu navigation. Pushing the Function button calls up most shooting-related settings--including light sensitivity (ISO), image size and resolution, flash compensation, bracketing, and effects--on the LCD. The main menu system is reserved for global and infrequently changed options, such as the self-timer delay and the autofocus mode. We especially like the ability to switch between two groups of customisable settings from the mode dial, as well as the white-balance selector's under-the-thumb location.

Just like the G3, the G5 has a 1.8-inch LCD that makes it easy to compose most pictures. It either flips out to the left and twists around 270 degrees or tucks into the camera back. A separate status LCD on top helps you keep track of current settings.

The G5 takes the G3's lens converters, though they won't be colour-coordinated. You won't want to leave the optional lens adapter on full-time, as it intrudes upon the view through the optical viewfinder. And another little gripe: The lens cap pops off with little provocation.

Feature-crazed enthusiasts will be hard pressed to find anything to complain about in the G5. With the exception of a real-time histogram (the G5's is available only during playback), this device has everything you could wish for in a camera of its class--and then some.

The fast f/2.0-to-f/3.0 lens offers a focal range of 35mm to 140mm (the 35mm-camera equivalent) and the ability to focus as close as two inches, so you're covered for both landscapes and macro shots. If you need a broader range, the camera accepts the same lens converters as the G3, in conjunction with the optional lens adapter.

Shutter speed drops as low as 15 seconds; it can be as fast as 1/1,250 of a second at all apertures and 1/2,000 of a second at f/4.0 and higher. You can opt for first- or second-curtain flash timings for night shooting, and there are two types of flash-exposure control: compensation in 1/3-stop increments and a simpler low/medium/ blowout selection. The hotshoe on top of the camera works with Canon's EX Speedlite external-flash line.

The shooting options alone could fill an entire spec sheet. The G5 has Stitch Assist, Movie, Portrait, Landscape, and Night Scene modes; automatic, program AE, aperture- and shutter-priority, and manual exposure; exposure bracketing; and Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, and Black And White effects settings. You can also customise combinations of contrast, sharpness, and saturation. There's even focus bracketing, something we rarely see. In addition to automatic white balance, you get presets for taking photos in daylight, in cloudy conditions, under tungsten and two types of fluorescent lights, and with the flash. You also have two menu slots in which to save manual white-balance settings.

Exposure assists include a built-in neutral-density filter for very bright scenes or for decreasing exposures to allow slow shutter speeds, exposure and flash compensation, and three metering options. You can even selectively tie the metering to the frame's center or the center of the movable focus area.

You can save both JPEG and RAW files, and the format is selectable even after you've taken a shot. If you activate this helpful carryover from the G3, the G5 will ask whether you'd like to save your image as a RAW file each time you shoot in JPEG mode. The camera captures quite usable three-minute movies at either 320x240 or 160x120 resolution with mono audio, and basic in-camera editing is available as well. You can also annotate images with voice captions during playback. If you prefer time-lapse photography to 15-frame-per-second video, the Intervalometer lets you schedule up to 100 pictures snapped at intervals ranging from one minute to an hour.

The G5 performs significantly better than the G3 as well as many other 5-megapixel cameras. Going from off to first-shot capture--a process that entails extending the zoom lens, turning on the LCD, focusing, and shooting--takes about four seconds. As long as the focusing situation isn't difficult, shot-to-shot times settle at about two seconds across the board, regardless of file type, file size, and flash operation. In relatively bright light, the autofocus locks in only a fraction of a second; under dimmer and low-contrast conditions, it takes longer.

At its fastest, the G5 slightly outpaced Canon's rated 2fps continuous-shooting speed, and it took 50 consecutive shots with no pauses. But with RAW files, the camera managed a mere 0.6fps; we snapped just two frames in a row before the buffer choked.

As with the G3, the optical viewfinder is small but reasonably distortion-free. Unfortunately, it shows only 83 percent of the scene, not enough to be truly useful for composing, and the lens intrudes upon the view when zoomed out to a wide angle. In contrast, many competing models now use electronic viewfinders that provide more precisely framed, if sometimes less sharp, rendering. The LCD, on the other hand, offers a 100 percent view and gives you an extremely good image under both sunny conditions and low light.

The included rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasts a fairly long time, but it doesn't die gracefully. The low-battery light doesn't mean "Warning: Your battery is low." It means "Death rattle: Change me right this instant." We couldn't coax even one more photo out of the camera after the indicator came on.

Except for one possibly serious flaw, the G5 produces excellent images. It doesn't outshine the competition in any particular aspect of picture quality, instead getting consistently high marks across the board. Exposure, for example, tends to be a little dark, but the camera preserves highlight and shadow detail extremely well. Colours are rendered vividly yet accurately. The colour balance is typically Canon: too yellow when you use the automatic white balance under tungsten lights but otherwise good.

Like all 5-megapixel cameras with low light-sensitivity options, the G5 delivers fairly noise-free shots at ISO 50, but from there, noise levels go from irritating at ISO 100 to unacceptable at ISO 400. On the other hand, photos are sharp and detailed, and highest-quality JPEG files contain no noticeable compression artifacts.

Flash exposures are even, and the camera metered properly for the sidelighting in our test scene. In fact, the flash throws so far and so evenly that at its highest setting, we could take pictures of dark rooms from about 20 feet down the hall. If you prefer the results of long exposures to the artificial look you get with the flash, you'll also be pleased with the G5's low-light performance.

So what's the catch? Chromatic aberration. That neon-purple fringing, which afflicts all digicams to some extent in high-contrast areas, is particularly severe in the G5. If you often shoot at midday, are partial to snowscapes, or like backlit silhouettes--all prime opportunities for the problem--then we recommend you consider another camera.

Canon PowerShot G5
Company: Canon Australia
Price: AU$1,599
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 021 167

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