Canon PowerShot G9 review

As it uses the same lens as the G7, its similar distortion issues come as no surprise. But Canon probably tweaked the image-processing a bit, because photos this go-round had fewer artifacts. Among the G9's good qualities you'll find an excellent noise profile--photos hold detail well as high as ISO 400--and as usual Canon's exposure and white balance hold up quite well; it renders realistically saturated colors without going overboard. Despite the distortion, the lens holds sharpness from edge to edge; there's little purple fringing, though some magenta and cyan aberration does occur.

The Canon PowerShot G9 gets a leg up over its predecessor by improving photo quality and restoring raw-format support while maintaining the same excellent performance and body design. You probably can't miss with this model as a compact backup for your dSLR.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon PowerShot G9

2 

1.7 

1 

0.5 

Canon PowerShot G7

1.7 

1.5 

0.9 

0.5 

Nikon Coolpix P5000

3 

2 

2.2 

0.9