The Canon PowerShot G16 is the much awaited upgrade to the G15, bringing in WiFi connectivity and a BSI sensor. Canon also upgraded its image processing chip to Digic 6. However, all this fits in the same size as its predecessor, the camera looks just like its predecessor, but does it perform just like its predecessor? We find out.
Left Image exposed for shadows. Right image exposed for highlights
The Canon PowerShot G16 will take amazing photos of your Cheesecake
Geeks and Gadgets, the G16 handles them all well (in good light)
We took a bunch of photos at an ISO of 3200 and noticed quite a few issues. First, there was a noticeable noise, but the good thing is that it was the ugly red and blue dots. The noise we saw in our images was more of a grain, which would have been okay if it was finer. The second issue we noticed was a strong drop in contrast coupled with a slight colour shift. The good thing, however, was that the colour shift could be recovered and contrast fixed, but what it does mean is that you’re absolutely going to have to shoot in RAW format to make it all happen…
The left image had severe color shift which had to be corrected for. The right image shows the warm bias in low light
Despite the BSI sensor and fast aperture lens, the G16 struggles at ISO 3200 and above
Overall, the Canon G16 is only slightly better than the G15, but not noticeably so. The low light performance was somewhat of a let-down, seeing how BSI sensors tend to be better in low light than their predecessors. But unfortunately, physics gets in the way of things.
Conclusion
The Canon PowerShot G16 is a camera we love. Why? Because it is built just like the G15, and spec’d almost like it. There are no compromises or deterioration in performance, although the improvements aren’t that ground breaking. The BSI sensor doesn’t really offer the kind of performance bump we had expected. Also, the need to shoot RAW to make the most of it might not make it ideal for everyone. On the good side, the AF is much better than what’s gracing the G15. Overall, it wouldn’t make much sense to move up from the G15 to the G16. However, if you are in the market for a new camera, you might as well get the G16.