Canon PowerShot G11

Opinion: I owned a G5 prior to getting the G11. I waited until the articulating screen came back before I upgraded.
I find the G11 takes wonderful pictures. It is a good companion for me to my 5D MkII when I just want to casually capture images on the go of family, street, scenery, ... etc.
My copy is one of the ones that suffered the lens scratch caused by the moving lens cover. I sent it back to Canon and was repaired under warranty. About a year later I have a scratch again, exactly in the same place. I assume it was also caused by the close tolerance of the lens cover. No warranty this time.
The narrow grip area allows your thumb to accidentally hit the menu and other buttons. I thought I would get use to that and naturally over time avoid hitting the buttons. After all these years I still hit the buttons. I just put up with it. When I touch the shutter button the menu goes away and continue composing my shot.
It looked like the G12 was nearly physically the same. The G1X I may pass on as well. I've been a Canon fan for 40 years. But it looks like my next camera to be purchased soon is the Sony NEX-7. I'm still keeping and will continue to use my 5DMkII and all the L lenses I have collected. But for a carry around travel camera I'm going with the new mirror less SLR direction.

Opinion: This is my first digital camera, I have taken a couple hundred pictures. I really love this camera, I can't compare it to other cameras because of lack of experience, but to me it is a great camera

Opinion: I took the camera to a dance performance in a theater. Despite having lots of LEDs, it is still hard to use the camera in the dark. I set the ISO to 800 and 1600, and the photos are quite acceptable, even when viewed at 100% zoom. I was able to figure out most of the control without reading the manual. The video mode is always auto exposure with exposure compensation. I wish there is aperture, shutter, and manual mode for video. The camera feels heavier than expected. It is probably intended to be a men's camera. The average women would find it too bulky and unwieldy.
The optional case PSC-5100 is a tight fit requiring two hands to guide the camera in. Since there is no opening at the bottom, you have to pull the camera out with the neck strap.

Opinion: I can recommend this camera only for those, who want to use in full manual control for shooting raw. Generally the other features of this camera are useless.
Pros: Swivel LCD, lens cap.
Cons:
I am after a one day trip; I shot more then 100 images. I had to discard 40%, because in auto mode with auto flash the exposure time was set (automatically) 1/8-1/30 sec (with firing flash)!!! I don’t understand. Why there is no enforced flash is auto mode. Why there is not limit of exposure time? The 90% of remaining images should be process with photoshop, because the exposure was not correct (generally poor contrast). In the last ten years there was no any evolution in the digital photography?
Strong barrel distortion, which is not corrected by the internal software (for jpeg). Why?
In auto mode several scenes are not recognized correctly or not recognized at all.
E.g. in photographing of a monument (from about 5 m) the macro (flower) icon appeared, and the monument was underexposed.
Ok, let’s shift to the program mode.
The program shift is not active until you push the AEL button. It should be always active!
In the shutter and aperture priority mode the other value (aperture or shutter) is not visualized, until you push the shutter button halfway.
The sharpness and contrast setting is under my color menu, which is not available in scene modes. The sharpness, contrast should be in the main menu, and valid for every shot.
AF light is blue or white, which is not allowed to use in museums, galleries.
There is no maximum depth of field scene mode.
There is no pause for video recording.
The half press of shutter button locks the exposure and the focus, too. It should be set, the half press of shutter button fix the exposure or focus, and the other (AEL or FL) should be set by * button. Focus lock and AEL should be used independently.
Summary: Except the manual exposure control no any other function is usable. The camera has a very limited use. Generally you have to push too many buttons for taking pictures. For program shift, first you have to push the AEL first. In Tv and Av mode you have to push the shutter button halfway to check the other (exposure time or aperture) value. Too much time to compose an image!
The manual is not enough detailed. Eg. flash exposure.

Opinion: User for six months Now.
Overall I find it a very good piece of hardware with a lousy software:
I Like: IQ ; Nice zoom Range ; Has a viewfinder ; Looks Sturdy ; Top Controls ; ND Filter ; Swivel Screen.
I Don't Like: No 1:1 ; No Step Zoom ; Back Controls ; Menu System ; Viewfinder not good enough for composition. Barrel distortion on wide end.

Overall Nice camera that could be much better with a firmware update.

Opinion: I recently made 1300 pictures on a group trip.
The results are fantastic. Using the SCN scene stand Indoor delivers
very good pictures of f.i. dancing people and the SCN stand Sport
delivers sharp pictures from out of a riding bus. I was amazed by
the results. Church pictures using a small tripod are so sharp and
fresh. I bought the wire release which makes the usage of the
camera together with a small Hama tripod very easy.

Opinion: I've bought this camera about 1,5 months ago.
I've been using it for quick snapshots on vacations, family gatherings and occasionally landscape and animal photography.
It's not as fast as I tought it would be.
The auto focus sometimes just doesn't understand what I want to do. We seem to use two different languages.
The images are super in good light quality, but are useless if the light conditions are poor.

Opinion: I bought this camera exclusively for underwater photography, upgrading from the g10. The g11 although only slightly different is a lot better, clearer pictures, less noise and much better in the low light of the oceans depths. The only way you could beat this camera underwater is to spend $1000's on an SLR and even then the price difference would be a hell of a lot bigger than the picture difference!!!!

Opinion: This camera I have had since October and it is nothing short of amazing. It is both
impressive and a curse that it is presented as a point and shoot. To be so simplistic
and thought out as far as ergonomics, that it is point and shoot classified takes
away from it's sheer ability and flexibility. The photos it produces are sharp, crisp
and with color saturation which one can not expect to be bettered from a point and
shoot let alone a basic DSLR. I find myself torn between grabbing the G11 or my
Nikon D5000. While the D5000 offers great quality and versatility, you can not beat
the G11 for compact ease of use. All features are easily accessed without have to
through multiple levels. Build quality is superb with heft which belies it's diminutive
size. Retro good looks are the cherry on top.