Canon PowerShot G5

The acclaimed G3 enjoys a megapixel boost - but at what cost?

When Canon extended its PowerShot range with a camera for photographers wanting professional results without the bulk of a digital SLR, the result was the PowerShot G3. In feel and style, it was strongly reminiscent of a Konica Hexar or Leica M6, both popular models for serious film photographers, and proved an enormous success.

Buoyed up by its success, Canon has now unveiled the G5 – a 5-megapixel version, with a stylish black body that’s as much a piece of jewellery as it is a camera. But is it as good as its 4-megapixel predecessor? Well, oddly enough, no. In fact, the £200 price hike brings into sharper focus some of the original design’s niggling shortcomings.

Although the G5 is quick to start up and certainly sports an impressive lens, there’s a sluggishness about it that shouldn’t be present in a camera at this price. Both the shutter release and the refresh rate on the LCD screen are disappointing – and, surprisingly, the extra megapixel doesn’t seem to add any extra sharpness at all.

Using the G5 is straightforward enough, although the menu system and controls can be confusing. There are simply too many buttons, some of which are poorly positioned. Changing everyday settings – flash, for instance – requires the dexterity of a double-jointed acrobat. Another irksome point is the positioning of the flash unit at the top-left of the camera. It’s far too easy to cover with your fingers when shooting.

As to the lens, it’s sharp – and you can even snap on supplementary wide and telephoto adaptors – but the 4x zoom seems lacking for such a big camera. Smaller offerings, such as the Pentax Optio 550, are cheaper and offer better-specified lenses.

If you don’t want to rely on the G5’s optical viewfinder, you can always use the LCD screen at the back. You can either fold this away so the screen faces into the camera to avoid scratches, or pull it out, twist it around and snap it back into place for shooting. It’s useful, but we noticed distracting red flashes and streaks each time we depressed the shutter button in readiness for a shot.

Storage on the G5 is provided by a CompactFlash and MicroDrive slot, which should please advocates of Flash memory. But the 16MB card that comes with the camera is a joke… At this price, Canon ought to throw in 128MB.