The G10 is the third incarnation of Canon’s flagship ‘prosumer’ compact since the G series was reinvented with the G7 in 2006. Announced two years after the G6, the G7 caused quite a buzz; partly because everyone had presumed the budget SLR had killed off this sector of the market, partly because it lacked several of what had become G series trademarks (fast lens, tilting screen, raw mode, secondary LCD panel), and it would be fair to say the response was ‘mixed’. The G9 went some way towards placating the critics, reintroducing raw mode and improving handling, but it still suffered from the fundamental problem that the sensor inside couldn’t deliver on what the fantastic camera promised on the outside.

When we reviewed the G9 last year, we praised it for the styling, handling and build and for its excellent output at low ISO settings. The G10 builds on this by adding handling and control refinements, improving the LCD resolution, and, most importantly, adding a wider lens starting at 28mm (equiv.). It also retains the rangefinder styling and solid build quality, and reduces the amount of silver accents on the camera. All the external controls have been carried over, and a new one has been added (a very useful exposure compensation dial).

Handling the number crunching is Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 processor which brings a number of enhancements to the camera, including more efficient H.264 compression for video (albeit still in standard definition), improved face detection, a new self-timer option which exploits face detection to wait for the photographer to enter the frame, motion detection, a new Servo AF mode, and i-Contrast which can boost shadow areas in images.

The screen remains a 3in model, but Canon’s upgraded the resolution from 230k to 460k pixels, allowing it to display much finer detail in composition and playback, along with allowing much smoother menu fonts. The new screen also has a very wide viewing angle.

The primary reason to buy a camera like this, however, is the photo quality, and here the G10 doesn’t disappoint. Color and exposures are great. There’s some wide-angle distortion at the 28mm-equivalent maximum, but photos have very good center and edge-to-edge sharpness at longer focal lengths. ISO 80 and 100 produce relatively pristine images and if you’re alert to it, you’ll see some noise-suppression artifacts starting at ISO 200. But photos look quite usable up to and including ISO 400; at ISO 800 they get visibly soft. (For more on photo quality, click through the slide show.)
Though I can’t yet compare it with competitors like the Nikon Coolpix P6000 or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, users of the G9 or previous models who want the higher resolution and who won’t miss the extra lens reach won’t be disappointed. Only the mixed performance–not bad, just not as fast as it should be for the price–brings down its overall rating. And even if the Canon PowerShot G10 eventually turns out to not be best-in-class for whatever reason, it’s still a great camera.