Canon PowerShot G15 Digital Camera Review

Motion

Under our bright lab lights, the G15 recorded extremely clear, vibrant, and smooth HD video. Artifacting and trailing were kept to a minimum, though the 1080P mode's set framerate of 24fps is inherently more prone to trailing than faster framerates like 30 or 60fps. However, we did notice quite a lot of rolling shutter (jell-o vision, as some call it) when shooting with the camera out in the real world, so we suggest shooting with a tripod and ball head if you want to capture the clearest possible video.

In low light, artifacting became markedly more apparent, though trailing was still pretty limited. The camera's excellent low-light sensitivity helps here in other ways, too, preventing shadowed areas from being completely lost to darkness. More on how CamcorderInfo tests motion.

Video Sharpness

The G15 recorded extremely impressive video sharpness numbers, with 675 lw/ph of observed horizontal sharpness and 650 lw/ph of vertical sharpness in our bright-light studio test. These are remarkable scores for a compact camera, outdoing the mighty RX100 and its comparatively massive sensor. More on how CamcorderInfo tests video sharpness.

Sharpness didn't fall off as much as you might expect in low light, either. We recorded a maximum horizontal sharpness of 650 lw/ph and a vertical measurement of 625 lw/ph in our 60 lux low-light test.

Low Light Sensitivity

In testing the Canon PowerShot G15's low-light sensitivity, we found that it required just 3 lux of illumination to produce an image that achieved 50 IRE on a waveform monitor (i.e., the BBC's minimum broadcast quality). To put this in perspective, Canon's latest mid-level DSLR, the EOS Rebel T4i, required 5 lux to achieve the same result, despite its huge advantage in sensor size. This is a remarkable achievement for the G15's sensor, and one that has favorable applications in both stills and video shooting.