Canon Powershot G16 Review

Written by Photography

This baby can shoot! I’ve always been a Canon fanboy, and after using the Canon A2200 for I while I felt it was time for an upgrade. I was initially leaning towards the S120 or even the way more expensive G1x Mark II, but I was happy I settled with something in the middle.

I take this guy everywhere. He comes with me to work, volleyball games, and everywhere in-between.

Why did I upgrade from the Canon A2200? Well, the A2200 was poor in low light. It didn’t allow me to control a lot of settings like my Canon 60D did. This mean no long exposures, no out of focus backgrounds, no focus point selection and much more. Plus this baby has a significant weight advantage over the 60D (weighing in at 12.5 ounces) which I didn’t always want to carry with me.

Instead of listing all the specifications of the camera, I’ll just give a few reasons why I love it so much:

  • f/1.8 lens – Lets me shoot in low light and helps create those lovely out of focus background images (especially when zoomed in).
  • Hotshoe – Allows me to mount my canon flashes / videolight
  • Wide ISO range – No grain at ISO 80, and very well controlled grain at higher ISOs
  • Easy to use dials – Button layout is very similar to my 60D. Even with my big hands I find the camera very comfortable to use.
  • Viewfinder – This is not such a necessity, but I love using it when tracking subjects (e.g. volleyball players)
  • RAW – It shoots RAW! – I can change white balance temperatures, recover highlights more efficiently and bring out the shadows in post production.
  • HD Video – Yes, yes. Many cameras out there shoot HD video. But considering the size of its sensor, this camera shoots great video at 1080p 60fps. Did I mention the video is image stabilized?
  • f/2.8 when zoomed in – Most cameras start out at a fairly wide aperture, but as you zoom them in they close down to around f/5.6. This guy stays at f/2.8.
  • Really fast burst – 9.3fps after the first 6 frames which are shot at 12.2fps
  • Built in Wi-Fi – I can instantly transfer images from the camera and upload them onto the web. Wi-Fi also allows for geotagging images by means of my cellphone.

And of course where there are pros there must be some cons (or maybe just one con):

  • Rear dial – The dial itself is well built, but it is a bit hard to rotate without pressing the directional buttons built into it.
  • Maybe I am being biased towards Canon, but this is all I can think of.

This is definitely a solid product for the price. I would highly recommend it to anyone trying to get a little bit more out of their point and shoot, or any professional who just doesn’t want to lug their DSLR around.