Canon Powershot G9

[Neil]

Doug, I found that vertebrae 30 years ago on a canoe trip (while bushwhacking to the top of an island) and later on in a museum of natural history's workshop saw a cardboard box on the floor with a dozen in it. Some sort of creature with a very spiney spine. I've never looked into finding the species name.


My wife and I jusyt went to a camera shop for a side by side comparison of the G9, the Rebel and my current A540.

The DSLR is just too big for bushwhacking.

The good news is that she fell in love with the G9.

Buying the G9 at the store up here in Canada would cost $600 incl taxes.
On the net...... $440 at Buydig. (free delivery)

 

[AntlerPeak]

Doug, I found that vertebrae 30 years ago on a canoe trip (while bushwhacking to the top of an island) and later on in a museum of natural history's workshop saw a cardboard box on the floor with a dozen in it. Some sort of creature with a very spiney spine. I've never looked into finding the species name.


My wife and I jusyt went to a camera shop for a side by side comparison of the G9, the Rebel and my current A540.

The DSLR is just too big for bushwhacking.

The good news is that she fell in love with the G9.

Buying the G9 at the store up here in Canada would cost $600 incl taxes.
On the net...... $440 at Buydig. (free delivery)

This should tell you everything you need to know about that camera. Several pages of info, looks like an in-depth credible review.
G9

 

[Lou Hale]

Ultrazooms, like the Canon S5 or the Panasonic FZ18 offer a lot in a fairly compact package. They won't have the low light ability of a DSLR, nor the top notch image quality, but for most of us they will do fine and at a much lower cost/weight/complexity.

I have a canon S5 and love it.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

I was in photography long before I began hiking, so here's my 2 cents. If you thought about whether you want a P&S or an interchangeable lens camera (DSLR) and decided on a compact, the G9 is a nice camera. I suppose a "Benz" camera is a matter of opinion. My opinion is that the G9 is certainly a high-end P&S, but a consumer (or even a PROsumer) grade DSLR is not a high end camera in its class. I reserve that label for more expensive "full-frame" DSLRs such as a the EOS-1D series that Canon offers. I have preferred Canon over any other brand since day one when compact P&S digital cameras became affordable (less than $1000) for consumers.

Back to your question - I recently researched cameras much like you are doing now, and decided against the G9 in favor of the Powershot 720IS. If you haven’t already done research at these two sites, I recommend it.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/

 

[Grandaddy]

I have a Leica Dlux 3, which falls into a similar price range as the G9. I love this little camera. I do leave the dSLR at home for long hikes.

One of the nice things about this camera is that you can shoot video in 16:9 aspect ratio. While not Hi def (720p/1080i) is does 480p (similar to that of DVD)

Take very nice pics (with the help of the photographer ) and has very low noise.

I am very happy with the controls on this bad boy, which leads me to this suggestion to try out as many cameras as you can side-by-side in a shop, then order from B&H or Abe's etc. (used both with satisfaction.)

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

As the former manager of a couple small camera shops (now out of business), I feel obligated to mention that if you have a local camera store, give them a shot at the sale. Even if the initial cost is a little higher, the follow-up service and support might make it worthwhile. If buying on line, be careful who you do business with - there a many dishonest business people out there. A personal referral (like was given above) is usually safe, as is B&H (but often an annoying hard-sell on the phone), but they are legit and offer decent prices. Amazon.com is a breeze to deal with.

 

[yvon]

I think a DSLR would be too big and bulky for me to want hike with.

I am the same view as you. I use my compact 95% of the time, when I do hiking, because of that. But sometime.....


Beware if you buy a product elsewhere that Canada Neil. Because the guarantee will not be the same. Being Canadian, if you buy the USA, your warranty will be an International. Often this guarantee Internationale is a term shorter than the regular warranty.
A few years ago, I wanted to buy a Sigma, on the Web, from an USA store, and international guarantee was only one year (I asked this question directly to Sigma). But the guarantee of Sigma Canada was 5 or 10 years. Maybe it could be the same thing for others products or compagny.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

Regarding high end DSLRs, some companies, such as Nikon USA, will not service a "gray market" camera (not sold through the Nikon USA dealership system). Nikon (and USA Canon might have the same policy) would not honor any warranty on these 'gray" imports, they also would not work on the camera for any price. Sometimes, saving those dollars in the initial purchase is not a good value - not sure what the policy of the authorized Canadian importers is, eh?. Of course, none of that applies to Point & Shoot cameras, which I have found, are good for 2 or 3 years, then you replace it with something better and cheaper. That is just one of the reasons I went for a P&S digital camera for less than half the price of a Canon G9.

 

[Neil]

I still haven't purchased the G9. My family is going to pitch in and get me one for xmas. However, the G9 has been replaced by the G10. In trying to understand the lingo on Digital Camera Review I get the idea that the G10 will have a better dynamic range, thanks to some high tech sleight of hand. A wider angle lens, less zoom (6x down to 4x) and more mega pixels are also part of the new model as well as a better processor.

I went to one of Montreal's biggest camera stores to check it out (and to heft it) and they had sold out of them quite rapidly and didn't know when they'll be able to get more of them.

Has anyone here got anything good or bad to say about the G10?

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

They are both great cameras. If you want to save money and can get a deal on a leftover G9, I recommend that you buy it and ignore the MP count. At that level, it just doesn't matter whether it's 12 or 14MP.

The difference between the new G10 lens and that of the G9 is more significant, and the G10 has a definite advantage. With a high quality lens and 14MP sensor, you can always crop the image to simulate a longer lens, but the wider angle lens of the new G10 (35mm equivalent of 28-140 vs. 35-210 on the G9) is something that you can't do in CS4, or any other software. It's great to have a wide angle lens sometimes, and that makes the G10 the clear winner. Ask Santa for the G10 .

 

[DougPaul]

Ken Rockwell has a nice review and comparison: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/g10.htm

Looks like you should ask Santa for the G10.

Doug

 

[David Metsky]

Ken Rockwell has a nice review and comparison: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/g10.htm

Not to be harsh, but Ken Rockwell is a bit of an idiot.

My concern with the G10 is that they're continually pushing the MP on a fairly small chip, and the image quality at high ISO has noticeably decreased over the years.

The G10 has a 5x zoom (28mm - 140mm). The G9 has a 6x zoom (35mm to 210mm) so you're losing a lot of reach, but gaining some good wide angle. Frankly, for outdoors stuff the wide angle is more useful. The 15MP images allow for a lot of cropping, but if the image is noisy to begin with, any crop will be noisy.

To get the best out of either model you should shoot in RAW and do all the post processing yourself. If you don't want to do that, I'd advise getting a different camera. The extra price isn't worth it unless you plan on using those features.

 

[DougPaul]

Not to be harsh, but Ken Rockwell is a bit of an idiot.

He has his viewpoints which sometimes disagree with others. IMO, they are often useful.

Would it make you feel better if Michael Reichmann (Luminous Landscape) also liked it? http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml

For me, the 28mm minumum eFL of the G10 would be a huge advantage over the 35mm min eFL of the G9 for scenery pics. The image sensor is the same physical size--the additional pixels are at the expense of pixel size. The difference in the MP is pretty meaningless (For these small sensors, anything above ~8MP is of limited value.)

I would certainly choose the G10 over the G9.

Doug

 

[Neil]

Do you think the increased MP is merely a Wow! factor, that in reality diminishes the overall quality of the picture? Anyhow, I don't plan on printing a lot of 16x20's.

Nice to have 5x zoom but in low (even medium) light I assume that will force a higher ISO and lots of noise.

The pics taken with the G10 on Rockwell's site are pretty convincing.....

 

[DougPaul]

Do you think the increased MP is merely a Wow! factor, that in reality diminishes the overall quality of the picture? Anyhow, I don't plan on printing a lot of 16x20's.

The more MP for the same size die, the smaller the pixels. Smaller pixels have more noise (which is why full frame (35mm) sensors have the lowest noise). Resolution is a function of both the lens and the MP. If you have enough MP for the lens, then more will gain you no more resolution but cost you more noise and bigger files. This is why P&S cameras do not allow small apertures (which reduce the lens resolution)--my A75 (3MP) only goes down to F/8. The 8MP limit for a P&S is from one of the photography websites.

And yes, big MP numbers sell but don't necessarily offer improved performance. Just like GHz in computer processors.

The pics taken with the G10 on Rockwell's site are pretty convincing.....

Wait until you read what Reichmann (Luminous Landscape) has to say...

Doug