Canon PowerShot G5

Evolution has been a favourite term of camera manufacturers in recent years, and it certainly applies to the PowerShot G series. The follow-up to the successful G3, the PowerShot G5 doesn't break the styling mould established by its brethren, but is the first in the range to offer resolutions up to five megapixels. But is it worth your attention compared to the similarly specified competition?

We've always liked the straightforward, utilitarian design of the G range, and the styling of the G5 is more or less identical to the G3: it feels comfortable and reassuringly chunky in the hand. That said, there's a touch more plastic in the body's construction than that of its predecessor.

Aimed squarely at the prosumer, the G5 is competing with the likes of the Coolpix 5400 as well as Sony's high-end models such as the DSC-F717. It has the kind of specification that lends itself to serious use, which is ideal if you need comprehensive control in something smaller than an SLR. Point-and-shoot operation is also well catered for with a dozen subject-based automatic modes. Autofocus proved capable for all but a moving subject, needing a second or so to lock, which is par for the course. An excellent touch is the adjustable focusing point, allowing you to define the area of the frame onto which you wish to focus. As with most zoom digitals, though, shooting from the hip isn't an option given the four seconds needed to start up and extend the lens.

The 4x optical zoom covers moderate wide-angle to moderate telephoto, its 7.2-28.8mm range equating to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera. The macro mode allows close-ups down to 5cm, although Nikon still rules the roost for extreme macro photography. But Canon knows a thing or two about optics and the good news is the speed of the lens: f/2 at wide angle, reducing to a still very respectable f/3 at full zoom.

The sensor is a 1/1.8in CCD with a 5.24-megapixel effective output, giving an image resolution of 2,592 x 1,944 pixels. RAW file output is available as well as JPEG, with a Type I/II CompactFlash card slot catering for a Microdrive as well as solid-state cards. RAW files are captured as 12-bit rather than 8-bit data, so those needing to preserve maximum tonal range should shoot with this file format, even if it's clipped to 8-bit data later in your editing package. It will still provide superior results.

Images are viewed and reviewed on the rear 1.8in LCD. Like the G3 (and Nikon 5400), this is a fold-out and swivel unit, with the bonus that it settles back flush with the body rather than sitting proud. Over-the-head or ground-level shots are as easy to achieve as normal eye-level work. The optical viewfinder is clear enough, but with only mediocre frame coverage of 84 per cent.

White-balance options cover various shooting situations, and the Photo Effects menu offers a means to manipulate images in-camera and includes saturation, contrast and sharpening adjustments. For the more adventurous, there are sepia and black-and-white modes, but as always you're better off performing these sorts of manipulation after downloading to your PC.

Exposure modes cover the full range from manual through to fully auto, most of which can be combined with spot, centre-weighted or evaluative metering. The spot-metering system can also rather cunningly be locked in to the selected auto-focus point. Assisting the auto-exposure is Canon's iSAPS (Intelligent Scene Analysis based on Photographic Space) system. This is an internal statistical database of several thousand scenarios, against which the current view is compared; the camera can then make an educated guess about the contents of the shot to avoid being fooled by unusual conditions. Manual focus step selection, while not as accurate as an SLR's, is assisted with both an LCD distance scale and a magnified view facility. Extra features include an intervalometer for timelapse photography, plus a remote control supplied as standard. Battery life was good enough that it never became an issue during testing.