Canon has issued a statement in response to a request by Amateur Photographer, asking why the firm felt it necessary to reduce the pixel count on its new PowerShot G11.
The PowerShot G11, announced last month, carries a 10-million-pixel CCD imaging sensor – nearly five million pixels less than the 14.7MP G10 that debuted a year earlier.
David Parry, from Canon UK’s Product Intelligence Team, told us: ?The pixel count reduction of the sensor is a key part of the Dual Anti-Noise System. Reducing the number of pixels on a sensor of the same surface area allows the individual pixels to be larger and capture more light.
‘Therefore the sensitivity of the sensor is higher and higher quality, lower noise images can be captured ? especially important for low light shooting.’
Parry continued: ‘Canon is committed to providing the best possible image quality for our wide and diverse customer base. The reduction in pixel count? is testament to this commitment ? allowing advanced users to explore new shooting opportunities whilst greatly increasing the superior image quality they have come to expect from Canon.?
He explained that image quality is essentially influenced by three factors: lens, sensor and processor. ‘Our goal is always to optimise these three components to obtain the best image quality for a particular user.’
Parry added: ‘However, image quality can mean different things to different customers. In the PowerShot G10 we optimised image quality based on a users? need for high quality, high resolution images suitable for large prints and creative cropping. Therefore we used a high resolution 14.7 megapixel CCD sensor in conjunction with a superior quality lens and advanced DIGIC 4 processor for advanced noise reduction. The PowerShot G10 won critical acclaim and many avid followers.
‘Since the G10, we have seen that potential users of the PowerShot G11 and PowerShot S90 have been demanding the ability to shoot high quality images in lower light, with expanded dynamic range, lower noise and higher sensitivity. Therefore, the Dual Anti-Noise System was developed.’
