A new toy, acquired in October 2012 at first release, from the Canon PowerShot Series.

This is a high end point & shoot that Ye Olde Photographer believes will fit nicely between his rather long in the tooth Canon A80, a 4MP P&S camera, and his EOS 40D, a 10MP DSLR with excellent performance and interchangeable EF and EF-S series lenses. At 12MP, and with a 5:1 optical zoom that provides f/1.8 at the wide end to f/2.8 at the telephoto end, as well as image stabilization, the G15 should serve well for casual shooting under a wide range of conditions. The unit is very compact and can be carried easily in a small belt pouch.

Among other possibly handy features, there is an accessory shoe that can use an external flash, although there is a small built-in pop-up flash. This also has an optical viewfinder, something found less and less in P&S cameras. Unlike some of its G series predecessors, it does not have a moveable LCD on a stalk, something the A80 has, albeit postage stamp size. The fixed position LCD is supposed to have enhanced viewing angle, and YOP finds the lack of an articulated LCD not a significant problem.

Some real world examples of its work include Turkey Day 2012 and a 2012 Indianapolis trip. So far (December 2012 and almost 500 pictures), Ye Olde Photographer is impressed with its low light capabilities and loves its compactness. In 2014, many of the photos on a tour across northern NY State were taken with the G15, albeit there are also some iPhone 5C shots sprinkled in.

The negatives are shutter lag, although it's better than the A80, but doesn't measure up to the EOS40D. And perhaps silly, but Ye Olde Fumble-fingered Photographer finds when attempting a pickup and shoot with one hand, it is alarmingly easy, given the little guy is bristling with buttons and dials, to inadvertently prod it into some weird mode or display. Time and practice appear to be reducing that problem.

NOTE: If you run Windows 7 and cannot see thumbnails from the G15 raw (.CR2) files, as of 11 December 2012 you can update the Windows camera CODEC pack with a new file from Microsoft.

More of Ye Olde Photographer's real world G15 examples: A Phillies game, a Sunday night concert and fireworks in Souderton, a trail walk and a 4-H Fair.
We've taken over 1370 shots with the G15 as of August 2013.

Update: As of November 2014 this macchina fotografica has nearly 4200 shots recorded. Ye Olde Photographer is quite pleased with it as an effective combination of easy portability, usability and high quality results.