Canon PowerShot G11

Resolution (14.94)

The G11 scored very highly on our tests of the resolution of images: in our tests, the images were consistently sharp across the zoom range and had low chromatic aberration. The only issue that we saw was some distortion at the wider end of the zoom range. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (6.22)

The lens of the G11 added very little distortion to the images at most points on the zoom range: we measured it at less than 0.8 percent in the middle, and less than 0.3 percent at the telephoto end of the zoom range. There was more significant distortion at the wide end of the zoom range, though; just under 3 percent, which is a lot. You can see an example of this below.

Distortion Examples
Wide (6.1mm): 2.98% Barrel Distortion

Sharpness (22.72)

The G11 had excellent sharpness in our test images: we found that the camera did an excellent job of capturing fine detail across the zoom range. Most cameras tend to get a little soft at one or other end of the zoo, but the G11 remained consistent across the range. We did see some evidence of the images taken at the wide end of the zoom range getting a little soft at the edges, but this was much less pronounced than in other cameras.

Chromatic Aberration (8.57)

The G11 also did well in our tests on the chromatic aberration of the lens: we saw only very small amounts of the color fringing that indicates that the optics of the lens are diffracting the colors of light differently. There was some evidence of some aberration on the images shot at the widest settings of the zoom lens, but this was very minimal.

Quality & Size Options (8.47)

The G11 offers a wide selection of options for image size and quality: 6 different sizes of image and 3 levels of image quality. One of these options is to save images as RAW images, which saves all of the data from the image sensor. These images are large, but they are the best for editing images. One feature that is missing here is the ability to save images as both RAW and JPEG format, which some cameras can do.

Image Stabilization (2.94)

The G11 includes an optical image stabilization system, which moves a part of the lens to try and correct for hand shake. We found that this system did improve the sharpness of images taken when the camera was moving, but not by a huge amount. We test this by setting the camera to a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second, shaking the camera with our stabilization system and measuring the sharpness of the images it captures. We run this test with the stabilization system on and off, and measuring the difference it makes. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Canon G11	Panasonic DMC-ZS3	Samsung HZ15W	Canon SX120 IS
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On