To those in the know, Canons "G" series of PowerShot cameras represent the pinnacle of Canons compact-camera arsenal. These are not compact, removable lens systems like Sony's NEX series, but rather compact cameras that offer more features, performance and manual control than other PowerShot bodies, obviously with a higher price tag. To maintain exclusiveness, there is only one G series camera at a time.

With the G10, Canon opted for a larger 15-megapixel camera, a blatant attempt at testing the effectiveness of the grossly untrue marketing phrase "more pixels are better". Rather predictably, the enthusiast market didn't buy this, and with the subsequent G11, and now the G12, things have stayed at 10-megapixels.

Look and feel

In-hand, the G12 feels extremely dense, and with its Lithium-ion battery, it's pretty heavy for its relatively compact dimensions. It's thicker than a regular PowerShot, but doesn't have the prominent bulge that resembles a hand grip. Rather the G12 makes do with a slight protrusion. The body is made mostly of metal - and this is what exudes a reassuring feel of quality. Only the rear case, and the articulated LCD are built of plastic/polycarbonate. Owing to the articulated display, the screen size is a bit smaller at 2.8-inches.

The embedded flash unit is positioned to the left of the lens, and to the right of this, we have the optical, tunnel-based viewfinder. This latter component seems like an afterthought. Sure, it's brighter than viewfinders on other compact cameras, but miles away from the wonderful viewfinder on the EOS 7D. Why go less than half the distance? Additionally, at wide angles, the top portion of the lens barrel is visible, and obstructs part of the view.

Controls

A smaller body means the buttons are closely packed, and the layout will seem rubbish to a dSLR user. But as far as compact cameras, things aren't so bad. The only problem is the G12 has to have a lot more controls than traditional compact cameras, given its enthusiast positioning and pricing. Canon has done a reasonable job of juggling control buttons. On the front, below the shutter button and zoom ring, we have shutter speed dial. Feedback is weak, inconsistent sensitivity is another issue and the button never feels nice. The zoom ring has a very small surface for ones thumb. The shutter button also has mediocre feedback. The top of the camera body houses three dials. The exposure compensation dial is located on the left of the horseshoe flash bracket and offers poor feedback and mediocre levels of grip. On the other side is the ISO dial, with a smaller mode dial set atop it. The ISO dial is very hard, and offers mediocre feedback. The shooting mode dial is better, although spinning it with one finger takes effort. So far, control placement is good, but implementation is poor.

On the rear, we see a decent dose of manual control buttons. A dedicated aperture key, as well as one for metering, and another for face recognition. The rear dial offers minimal resistance and is very usable, although the downside to this is a slighty tacky feeling. Set amid this dial is a four-way button with a centre button. Canon has done a decent job with button placement, but the layout needs some getting used to. However, the front/rear dial system is similar to the the top/rear dial system on EOS bodies. There is even a spare button that can be assigned a number of functions. In fact, the dials can also be configured to work in a couple of ways.

Click next to read on our take on performance and the conclusion