Canon Says G7's JPEG Mode On Par With RAW

Gizloco — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:19:04 EST

Canon's PowerShot G7 doesn't feature raw mode support and that upset quite a few people when it was released just a little while ago. We've also been wondering why Canon would seemingly go out of its way to not include a feature that many higher-end digital cameras just throw in nowadays. The official response from Canon is that by increasing the amount of megapixels in the camera, the amount of noise per pixel increased to such an extent that their was little difference in quality between JPEG compression and raw mode. Straight from Canon gatekeeper Chuck Westfall:

The net result is that even if the G7 offered raw image capture...there would be no discernible improvement in image quality compared to...superfine JPEG mode.

Conspiracy theorists say that Canon actually removed raw support so as not to cannibalize sales of its digital SLRs. But with the recent post by the New York Times' David Pogue that proved (anecdotally, at least) that people cannot even tell the difference between all those megapixels, maybe Canon is trying to make a statement. – Nicholas Deleon

Why Canon's PowerShot G7 lacks 'raw' support [Cnet News.com]

First Photos: Canon PowerShot G7

Charlie White — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:17:45 EDT

Here are the first pics to surface of the Canon PowerShot G7 which will be introduced at Photokina 2006 tomorrow. The 10.2-megapixel successor to the PowerShot G6 raises the bar with a 6x optical zoom and a faster Digic III processor. Canon has also improved the autofocus algorithms on this flagship camera; it's able to discern faces with its nine-point autofocus mode.

An unusual addition to its spec list is its ability to shoot higher-rez movies, raising the resolution to an nearly-HD-level 1024x768, albeit at just 15 frames per second in a 4x3 ratio rather than that coveted 16x9 of HD. Price will be around $600, and it will be available in October. – Charlie White

More pics after the jump!

Powershot G7 first pictures! [Digital Camera Latest, via The Gadget Blog] (Thanks, Colbert!)

Gizmodo: canon powershot g7

Canon Says G7's JPEG Mode On Par With RAW

First Photos: Canon PowerShot G7