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G-series vs other Powershots - IQ comparison for beginners

Started Mar 20, 2016 | Discussions thread
(unknown member) Veteran Member • Posts: 6,192
Re: G-series vs other Powershots - IQ comparison for beginners

patriot07 wrote:

Mark9473 wrote:

patriot07 wrote:

When reading Canon specs on sensor size, does 1/1.7" mean (1/1.7*25.4) = 14.94mm? Assuming so, that's a nice step up from entry-level p&s, but still a good bit smaller than even the APS-C/DX sensor size for DSLRs.

Unfortunately, all sensor sizes other than FF are quite a bit smaller than what their name seems to imply. 1/1.7" sensors are actually only 7.6 x 5.7 mm i.e. 9.5 mm diagonally = 0.37 inch instead of 1/1.7" = 0.59".

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format#Common_image_sensor_formats

Is the main difference between the expensive ones and the Elph series going to be in low light, or are they going to take noticeably better pictures all the time?

You can compare image quality for many cameras on this site: https://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM (click on "all cameras" at the top for the older ones).

When comparing different models, keep in mind that a slower lens makes the camera select a higher ISO sooner - but I'm sure you knew that.

Thanks for the reply. To your last point - do p&s cameras suffer from the same degradation in sharpness wide open as DSLRs do?

Compacts get criticised more severely in reviews for it. If you read most reviews you would not believe it was ever a problem in ILC lenses. In fact with many prime lenses softness is considered a charming part of their character.

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