Canon PowerShot G9

Picture Quality / Size Options (8.5)
At 12.1 megapixels, the high-end Canon G9 boasts the most resolution of any compact digital camera. Under the hood of the G9 is a 1/1.7-inch CCD with 12.4 total megapixels. The G9 is also capable of RAW and RAW + JPEG shooting at 4000 x 3000 pixels.

The image size can be adjusted in the Function menu with the following options: L (4000 x 3000), M1 (3264 x 2448), M2 (2592 x 1944), M3 (1600 x 1200), S (640 x 480), and W (4000 x 2248). The JPEG compression can be changed from Superfine to Fine and Normal in the Function menu, as well. Some PowerShot digital cameras hide the compression options in a hard-to-find submenu, but they have their own spot in the Function menu of the Canon G9. Pictures can be resized to 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240 pixels in the Playback menu.


The simultaneous RAW + JPEG shooting can be turned on and off in the Recording menu, separate from the image size options in the Function menu. This is slightly inconvenient.

There aren’t any RAW editing features in the Playback mode; users have to wait until pictures are loaded into a software program to really play around with editing.

For more detailed information about the effectiveness of the Canon G9’s 12.1-megapixel resolution, check out the resolution portion of the Testing/Performance section.

Picture Effects Mode (8.5)
As with most other PowerShot digital cameras, the G9 is not lacking in terms of its picture effects. It has a great selection of effects in the Function menu under the My Colors submenu.

Available picture effects are Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, and Custom Color. All except the Custom Color option are also accessible in Playback mode.

Users can customize colors by tweaking contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue, and skin tone channels on +/- 2 full-step scales. The picture effects are interesting and more useful than the other two effects residing on the camera, Color Swap and Color Accent. These options are grouped with the Scene modes, but are more closely related to effects than modes. They allow users to select one or two colors with a superimposed frame and the set button.