A Useful Book

In my experience books from Peach Pit Press are the best how-to tech publications around.  They specialize in Apple products, but are not exclusively Apple.  So when I saw, Canon Powershot G12, From Snapshots to Great Shots by Jeff Carlson was a Peach Pit book and that it was general purpose enough to work with the Power Shot SX 50 I bought it. I highly recommend it. 

In the introduction Jeff says: 

"The owner's manual is a great resource that covers every feature of your camera. Writing a book that just repeats this information would have been a waste of my time and your money. What I did want to write about was how to harness certain camera features to the benefit of your photography."

The book is full of topics like "Selecting the Proper ISO." or "Manual Focus For Anticipated Action." 

It's not surprising that the Powershot G12 and the Powershot SX 50 have nearly the same features and menus. They are both Canon products and are designed for the same customer, that is the person who wants more than a basic point and shoot and less than an expensive SLR.

Following is an example of how the book can help. 

Below are two shots of a very cold squirrel.  The first is OK.  It was taken on "Auto" mode.  The second I think is better.  Using the advice from Jeff's book.  I switched to "P" mode and there was able to darken the image by going down one F stop.  This makes the backlight on the fur stand out more.  It was the back lighting that drew my attention in the first place. 

 In the book Jeff says there is a reason the "P' mode is right next to the "Auto" mode on the selection wheel.  "It offers choices and control that none of [the automatic modes] can deliver." That to me is useful info.

All in all.  I recommend this book as a useful addition to the camera.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.