CNET Asia Review

The PowerShot Pro 1 is the first compact digital camera from the Japanese manufacturer to sport the illustrious Canon "L-series" (Luxury-series) tag. The "L-series" label is usually reserved for Canon's professional-quality SLR (Single Lens Reflex) lenses. These optics incorporate fluorite and UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) lens elements that provide excellent picture quality. Paired with an 8-megapixel sensor, the Japanese vendor sure has done its homework. The Pro 1 should rank high up on shutterbugs' wish lists.

The Red Stripe!
If you're an enthusiast, the first thing to strike your attention will be that red stripe--the indication of a professional lens for the uninitiated. After all the verbal exclamations of "oohs and ahhs" have settled, you'll wonder what it's doing on a camera this small. Although the build of the Pro 1 is good with a solid feel, the compact size does bother us somewhat. We can't really hold the unit as per the usual left-palm-under-the-lens manner. Doing so will cause difficulty in using the zoom-by-wire control--at least comfortably. That same zoom control did not sit well with us, either. There's a small amount of latency which throws us off, especially just after powering up. We found it much slower to get to our focal length of choice and with more hassle when compared with Konica Minolta's Dimage A2 and Sony's Cyber-shot F828. Both the latter employ mechanically-linked zoom controls instead.

With regard to design, the Pro 1 is a very different beast to the company's previous G-series prosumers. As a result of the increase in optical reach, 7x versus the 4x of the PowerShot G5, the Pro 1 sports an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). The parallel optical viewfinders of the previous G-series will not be able to give the same level of accuracy and we've already had problems with its later iterations with regard to obstructions in its widest view.

Unfortunately, Canon has elected to endow the Pro 1 with a now-standard 235k-pixel EVF only. While that's plenty for most situations, shutterbugs with a penchant for macro photography will feel a little shortchanged. It's just too difficult to make out the details on small subjects with just 235k pixels. To its credit, the Canon compensates by magnifying the center portion of the image to help you judge focus better. This will come at the expense of composition, though.

Features
Matching its 8-megapixel competitors, the Pro 1 has a very large feature set. You can expect the same freedom for creativity with the options to independently control both shutter and aperture operation. However, strangely the 8-megapixel Canon omits the real-time exposure histogram as with the older G series. The histogram is once again available only during playback.

For optics, the Pro 1 adopts the same useful 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) focal range made popular by Konica Minolta's older Dimage 7 series and, more recently, the A series. As an "L" lens, you'd expect more and the Pro 1 doesn't disappoint. Its variable maximum aperture starts from a fairly big and fast F2.4 that tapers down to F3.5 at full telephoto.

In terms of capturing motion, the Pro 1 can record video clips at 640 x 480 resolution with audio for 30 seconds while at a rate of 15fps. If, on the other hand, you prefer time-lapse photography, there's the Intervalometer function that allows users to schedule up to 100 shots taken at various intervals ranging from a minute to as long as an hour.

In The Field
In our tests, we found the Pro 1's performance to be mediocre. The unit powered up in about 3 seconds with the first shot ready to be taken in under 5 seconds--an eternity for a camera in this class. However, it did redeem itself in the shot-to-shot stakes. Be it RAW or JPEG, the Pro 1 clocked in at about 1 to 2 seconds with the flash off. Similarly, in continuous shooting mode the Pro 1 can fire at 2.5fps for four frames (8-megapixel shots) before a noticeable pause for JPEGs. With the flash enabled, timings dropped slightly to about 3 seconds between shots.

The auto-focusing (AF) system was generally average, often taking just over a second for situations with adequate lighting and 2 to 3 seconds under low light. This was slower than the G5's focusing timings and could be because of the Pro 1's new hybrid AF system. Unlike the G5, the Pro 1 does not employ a visible AF assist lamp. Instead, the Pro 1 uses both an external sensor mounted beside the lens as well as the more common contrast detection AF via the CCD.

In terms of image quality, the Pro 1 delivered pretty good-looking photos. With ISO speeds at and below 200, we found the images to be usable, offering relatively clean images with good detail. Unlike most zoom lenses, distortions were kept to a minimum. We were able to detect some slight barrel distortion with the Pro 1 at its widest angle, but did not notice any pincushion distortions at its full telephoto reach. Sadly, this Pro 1 didn't escape unscathed in our tests. We found some of our pictures exhibiting a tinge of purple fringing along high-contrast scenes. On the upside, the colors captured were natural and metering generally gave well-exposed shots. The camera's automatic white balance performed predictably as with other Canon cameras--warm under indoor lighting.

Verdict
The Pro 1 is the Japanese manufacturer's first compact camera fitted with a professional-quality lens. While--given its status--we'd have preferred the camera to exhibit less aberrations than it did, the image quality was generally good and the flaws wouldn't have affected the photos excessively. What did irk us was the slightly unresponsive zoom-by-wire control and average-quality EVF. If these are unimportant to you, this Canon's quick shot-to-shot performance and unparalleled RAW processing (among the 8-megapixel crowd) should rank it high on your list.

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User Reviews

ozzy

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NICE CAMERA

Jun 24, 2006

Rating: 8 out of 10 (Excellent)
Pros: gr8 quality simple to use nice zoom and good software
Cons: has a motor for the twist zoom
Opinion:
it a gr8 camera funny shape but i really like the camera i just dont the twist zoom makes it feel a little more cheap the camera is gr8 good quality and all very happy with its much better than the panasonic lumix fz30, better than the fujifilm s9500 very good camera

 

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