Upgrading the G6, Canon’s chunky and solidly built G7 looks and feels every inch the photo enthusiast’s dream, marrying a maximum resolution of 10 million pixels to a flexible 6x optical zoom. Its attractive black and silver casing lends an additional impression of sophistication.

This is best viewed as a more compact alternative to owning a semi-professional digital SLR (D-SLR) with interchangeable lenses. While you can’t swap the 35-210mm zoom boasted by the Canon Powershot G7, you can add optional wide angle and telephoto (zoom) attachments should you want to extend creativity. Unlike an SLR, it can be slipped in a coat pocket for spur-of-the-moment shots, while it also boasts high quality 1024 x 768 pixels video capture.

Other notable features include a low reflection, wide view angle 2.5in screen for framing and playing back shots (there is an alternative optical viewfinder, but it’s small and less clear), plus a dedicated dial for rapidly switching light sensitivity settings – from auto up to ISO1600. There’s also a hot shoe bracket for adding an additional flash gun if required, though the built-in bulb should suffice most users’ needs.

The G7 adds an increasingly popular fully automatic Face Detection setting for sharp portraits, and advanced noise reduction to counter the intrusion of visible grain when shooting at higher ISO settings.

Picking the camera up, one-handed operation is possible, though its weight means two feels steadier and, along with its well-performing optical image stabiliser, helps avoid image blur when shooting at lengthier zoom settings.

Activate the camera and it’s ready for the first shot within two seconds, the lens extending to maximum wide-angle and the monitor simultaneously switching on, its speediness due in part to a new internal Digic III processor.

As the G7 lacks a proper grip to the left hand side of the body, the screen itself becomes quickly covered in thumbprints. Though there are 25 shooting modes to hand, it’s possible to point and shoot from the off, and then pick and choose your settings as confidence grows.

The shutter button is spring-like in feel, so you have to be reasonably gentle with your press, but there’s no noticeable shutter delay or wait while the first maximum resolution image is processed and the camera is ready to take a second.

While Canon has singled out the G7 as its most complete compact to date, it misses out for some by not including top quality RAW capture – which gives photographers more hands-on control over exposure and colours – alongside regular JPEG files. But, as the images it does deliver are well saturated with colour and razor sharp, we didn’t miss that more sophisticated feature. In all, the G7 makes you feel like a better photographer than you probably are.

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