Canon PowerShot G5 Digital Camera (Canon-8398A001)

Canon PowerShot G5 Review

by Tracey Capen

- WHAT'S HOT: Sometimes, small changes are best: Canon's G5, for example, is not much different from its predecessor, the G3, but it does improve on the G3 in one essential way: Canon upped the megapixel count from 4 to 5. The only other obvious change is a switch in body color from silver to black--the conventional wisdom being that black looks more professional. Subtler changes include the addition of a second custom white-balance setting (useful if you shoot under rapidly changing lighting conditions), and new controls for making simple edits to your movies within the camera. The G5 retains the G3's swing-out LCD (an innovation when it first appeared on the G1), and it keeps the G3's extensive creative settings and plethora of dedicated control buttons. The layout is well-organized, with manual focus, exposure value, and white balance settings all just one push away. Both cameras share overall specs--the same 4X zoom, fast f2 lens, shutter speed range, and rather hefty weight. The G5's minimum aperture is one stop higher than the G3 (f8 versus f7.2).