New Camera – PowerShot G12

I cashed in some credit card rewards and picked up a Canon PowerShot G12.  I’ve been thinking about getting a smaller, lighter camera to take with me on motorcycle rides because the full-sized DSLR just takes up too much room.  I’ve been a little picky though, because I absolutely would not compromise on one point.  Whatever camera it was, it had to have the ability to save images in RAW format.  I’ve gotten extremely spoiled by the flexibility RAW gives me, so no compromising on that one.  I settled on the G12 after a bunch of research, and it arrived today.

The battery is charging, so no time to do picture tests, but they’ve been covered to death on photo sites, so I’m not going to bore you with that.  The big deal for me is that it’s SMALL.  I could fit it in one of the pockets of my riding jackets.  By way of comparison, the bag with the DSLR, a 17-40 f/4, a 100mm f2.8 macro, and accessories took up about half of one of the RT’s panniers.  I’ve quite literally gotten back room to pack a few more days worth of clothes thanks to the much smaller size.

Is it the equal of a good DSLR with good lenses?  Probably not.  But that’s not the point.  Image quality is good, the reviewers are pretty much in agreement on that, so it’s not going to be taking crap pictures.  It’s just that carrying the DSLR was taking up so much space that I really couldn’t spare.  Look for pics from the upcoming trip up to see Reese for his birthday and judge for yourselves…