PHOTO QUALITY. This 12-megapixel advanced point-and-shoot captured images with very good quality. Pictures were sharp, which means you can see most details and subtle patterns in the image. In low-light situations without a flash, pictures were sharp. We judged this model excellent for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; very good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; very good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky; and very good for low-light performance without a flash, such as capturing a birthday party. Photos taken in our low-light performance tests displayed little image noise; subjects retained most of their correct detail and color.
FLASH. The PowerShot G16 captured flash shots that were very good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate subjects very well, both near and far. The flash also has excellent, very even coverage.
LENS. This camera includes a 5x zoom lens, a bit more zoom than a standard 3x. The lens also has wide-angle (28mm) capability that's useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance. The lens has a bright f/1.8 aperture (at its maximum), which gives you a shallower depth of field for producing more professional-looking portraits and images
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. In low-light settings, it almost never produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Canon PowerShot G16 powers up very quickly.
VIDEO. The Canon PowerShot G16 takes very good video, higher quality than most advanced point-and-shoot models. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 60p.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. It has HDR (high-dynamic range) settings. Like most advanced point-and-shoot models, this camera does include an optical viewfinder, which means you have flexibility when composing your photo or video; this viewfinder has good quality. Although it has a display with 922,000 pixels, which should make it sharper than most in its class, we didn't find that the display stood out from the pack. Like all cameras of this kind, it can capture RAW files, which gives you the most flexibility when manipulating image files with software, and has a hot shoe for attaching an external flash (generally sold separately). This advanced point-and-shoot model is smaller and thinner than most in its class. Even though this is a small and light advanced point-and-shoot model, it was somewhat difficult to control and to take pictures with.
