The Canon PowerShot G9, following last year's PowerShot G7 model, is visually very similar to its predecessor -- the only obvious changes being a re-profiling of the handgrip and rear panel. Under the skin, the Canon G9 offers a CCD sensor resolution of twelve megapixels (up from ten in the G7), coupled to the same Canon-branded 35-210mm equivalent 6x optical zoom lens. The Canon G9 includes optical image stabilization, where a lens element is moved inside the lens body to compensate for camera movement. You can frame images with the Canon G9 via its optical zoom viewfinder (an increasingly rare option these days), or on a 3.0-inch LCD display. Optical viewfinders can be rather nice to have, allowing you to save battery life, or get the shot when harsh sunlight makes it harder to see an image on many digicam displays; the LCD will be the better choice when shooting scenes that will be affected by parallax error, or when precise framing is necessary, particularly if using the stabilizer. In addition to the slight boost in sensor resolution that comes from a slightly larger 1/1.7 inches imager, there are some other changes in the Canon G9. The Raw file format is back on the G9, an option that had been removed in the previous model, much to the chagrin of many G-series fans. The Canon G9's LCD display is also half-an-inch larger, at 3.0 inches with 230,000 pixels. The Canon G9's maximum ISO sensitivity is 3,200, although this can only be accessed in a specific scene mode at a lower resolution -- otherwise the limit remains ISO 1,600, as in the previous camera. Other features of the Canon G9 include USB 2.0 connectivity, and SDHC/MMC card storage. The Canon G9 went on sale in October 2007, priced at $500 -- fully $100 below the initial launch price of the PowerShot G7.