The Canon PowerShot G10, announced in September 2008, is the enthusiast compact of its era: a 14.7MP 1/1.7-inch CCD behind a 28-140mm equivalent f/2.8-4.5 stabilised 5x zoom, wrapped in a dense magnesium body with proper dials. It launched at around £400 in the UK.
Character defines it more than specs: dedicated top-plate dials for ISO and exposure compensation, an optical tunnel viewfinder, RAW capture, DIGIC 4 processing and a 3-inch fixed screen. Its CCD produces the crisp, slightly filmic base-ISO rendering that has fuelled the recent digicam revival, though anything past ISO 400 gets rough and video is standard-definition VGA only.
Its significance is as the high-water mark of the CCD-era G series - the G11 that followed actually dropped resolution and gained an articulated screen - and it is now a sought-after piece for the CCD-look crowd, which explains healthy UK listing volumes.
Used G10s are seventeen-plus years old, so check the classic ageing points: lens extension should be smooth with no grinding or lens-error messages, the rear control dial (a known weak point on G-series bodies of this era) should register every click, and the battery door and tripod boss should be intact. Look for CCD faults - vertical streaks or magenta blotches in test shots - and dust blobs visible at f/8 on a plain sky. NB-7L batteries are discontinued, so factor in third-party cells, and confirm the optical viewfinder is fungus-free. Boxed examples with charger and strap fetch a clear premium in the current digicam market.