Fall's Most Promising Cameras

The top-of-the-line Canon PowerShot G11 camera has some mighty big shoes to fill, since it's the follow-up to the RAW-shooting, 14.7-megapixel Canon PowerShot G10 released last year. By the looks of its specs, though, the G11 seems poised to bust clear out of those shoes entirely. Despite having a lower megapixel count (10 megapixels to the G10's 14.7-megapixel sensor), the G11 brings a few new tricks: In addition to an optical viewfinder, it has a flip-out LCD for tough-angle shots, and its revamped sensor is optimized for low light. Other than that, the specs are nearly identical to the G10, including optical image stabilization, RAW mode, a 5X optical zoom (28mm to 140mm), rugged old-school looks, and fast access to ISO and exposure compensation settings via handy camera-top dials. The $500 PowerShot G11 will be available in October.

(See PC World's Cameras page for more on new cameras.)