At $499, the Canon PowerShot G9 is one of the highest priced compact digital cameras on the market. Its design falls somewhere between a DSLR and a compact, with a chunky outline but flat profile. There is a nice melding of retro elements, like mode and ISO dials, with modern components, like the comfortable navigational rotary dial. The G9, released one year after the similarly-styled G7, features 12.1 megapixels, a 6x optical zoom lens, and even more manual controls than its predecessor.

After running the Canon G9 through a battery of scientific tests in our imaging lab, we are convinced this camera is worth the hype. It takes excellent pictures, and its 12.1 megapixels are very effective at capturing detail. Colors are spot-on accurate, putting it far above the high-end Nikon P5000. Pictures don’t just look good in a brightly-lit studio either; in low light, the G9 performs just as spectacularly as the G7.

Noise levels are high, but not any higher than the G7, which is commendable. The camera’s ability to produce a range of light and dark tones in one image, also called dynamic range, is mediocre. In this respect, the Canon PowerShot G9 ranks lower than average, but is still higher on the totem pole than the G7 and Canon S5 and scores similarly to the Nikon P5000. Despite these few shortcomings, the G9 is a solid improvement over the G7 in terms of image quality, making it a worthy successor.

One of the biggest upgrades from the G7 is the addition of RAW shooting capability. The Canon PowerShot G9 can also shoot RAW and JPEG files simultaneously, which take up a lot of space on the memory card but allow users to print pictures directly from the camera or process the files in software later.

The G9 puts together a dream team of components. The 6x optical zoom lens effectively keeps bumps and blur out of pictures and movies with its optical image stabilization system. The 3-inch LCD screen is bright and sharp; it has very wide viewing angles, excellent 230,000-pixel resolution, and coating that is resistant to scratches, fingerprints, and glare. There is also a decent built-in flash that reaches 13 feet, and a hot shoe where Canon Speedlite 220EX, 430EX, and 580EX II accessory flashes can be attached.

The Canon G9 isn’t without competition. The Nikon P5100 has 12.1 megapixels, a hot shoe, and a host of manual controls for $399. The lower price comes with a catch or two, though; no RAW shooting and a shorter 3.5x optical zoom lens.

There are vast expanses of Manual modes and controls on the G9. Manual, Priority, Program, Auto, Movie, and 16 Scene modes populate the dial atop this digital camera. To accompany the Manual mode, there are options to adjust the flash output, focus and exposure bracketing, adjust the ISO from 80-1600, and employ more than a dozen picture effects.

The Canon PowerShot G9 improves the face detection technology that debuted on the G7. The G9’s face detection is faster and tracks faces more effectively. Before, faces had to be looking directly at the camera, but now they can be turned up to 45-degrees and still be recognized and focused upon. One of the G9’s weak links is its standard autofocus system, though. It takes too long to do its job, causing missed opportunities and portraits with blinked eyes and turned heads.

With measurements of 4.19 x 2.83 x 1.67 inches and a body weight of 11.29 ounces, the PowerShot G9 is a beefy chunk of a camera. It makes a few attempts to mimic DSLR handling, but fails for the most part. The hand grip is too flat and the camera too heavy to rely only upon the thin vertical strip of rubber on the front. More attention was paid to portability than handling.

The 12.1-megapixel Canon PowerShot G9 comes with high-quality components, including the 3-inch LCD screen and 6x optical zoom lens. It packs in a full range of Manual and Automatic modes and controls, along with trendy features like face detection. These perks are only a small part of the successful equation, though; the excellent image quality makes the Canon G9 worth its $499 price tag.