Canon PowerShot G9

[jeffblaylock]

Does anyone use a Canon PowerShot G9? A buddy of mine just got one to take to India, so we test drove it taking mostly portraits at night. It handles well, is very responsive, and takes sharp photos, at least portrait-style photos. He took some impressive looking macro shots of a bee pollinating his lime tree. No landscapes yet.

I've been debating what photography gear to take to Yosemite in July. My default equipment is a Digital Rebel XTi with a Tamron 28-200 mm lens (effectively a 45-320mm). That lens probably won't cut it. So I'm either in the market for a prosumer compact camera which shoots RAW or a wider, faster digital zoom lens for the dSLR I already have.

Anyway, if anyone has experiences with the G9, particularly with respect to landscape photos, I'd love to hear it.

[Al]

I can talk about the G6.  Very nice camera with the following limitations which I would also expect of the G9.  The biggest limit is the lack of telephoto.  Even with a converter and multiplier it is pretty limited and use of the multiplier blocks the infrared sensor and viewfinder.  The G9 doesn't have the flip and twist LCD screen which is a significant limitation.  What it does have is RAW and a hot foot for an external flash which almost all cameras except for a DSLR do not have.  All in all it should be a very nice camera with limited telephoto capability. I would expect it to be great for normal panarama shots, the night sky, closeups and portraits but not for birding or zooming in on that mountain lion glaring down at you from top the the mountain.  These days there are some incredible cameras that are cheaper and have much higher zoom with image stabilization in a smaller package that I would probably lean toward  that were not available when I bought the G6.  Popular Science had a hack for some of the lower end Canon cameras that did not allow RAW capability that appeared to be pretty easy if you have a minimum requirement for RAW capability. 

Al

[tjavery]

I've talked with several people who've used a G9. It's pretty good, but still exhibits a little noise at the lowest ISO setting. This isn't such a big deal, since most noiseware will clean it up easy. There are some good articles online regarding the G9.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/G9-Japan.shtml

http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080206_Canon_G9/index_alain_briot.html

http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080206_Canon_G9/index.html

If you're serious about quality pixels, I'd stick with the Rebel. A very good and reasonably priced wide angle lens is the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 (19-38mm effective FOV). I owned one for a while and used it on a Canon 20D. It was built like a tank and every bit as good (optically) as my Canon 17-40mm f/4L.

There are a bunch of lenses out there right now that I'm not familiar with, but I know some good ones exist. There are superwide zooms (10-12mm going out to 20-24mm) and there are wide zooms (17-18mm going out to 55, 85, or even 200mm!).

If you've never shot wider than 28mm on your Rebel, then I'd highly suggest getting a lens that is at least rated for 17 or 18mm at the wide end 

[Sotol Vista]

you can always rent a wide angle lens instead of buying one. i have rented both the canon and sigma 10-20 mm lenses and they are both nice.

this place is the one i used and they are quick to get you the lens if they have one. all shipping both ways is included in the rental cost so there are no hidden fees

http://www.rentglass.com/shop.aspx?type=Canon

James

[Al]

Here are a couple of G6 pictures, albeit close up, from a few minutes ago . . .



I just had to bother her.  Both photos have been reduced to below the 500K limit . . .



Click to enlarge.

Al

[RichardM]

Both photos have been reduced to below the 500K limit . . .

Just remember, CG put that arbitrary 500K limit on there before he knew how much we'd use it.  There are currently 3633 pictures on it.    I ran your two pics through the XP Image Resizer at the same pixel size and dropped the total size for your two files from 823KB to 438KB.  And yes, I do the same for any pictures hosted on http://www.bigbendgallery.com/uploads/ that I feel are significantly larger than needed.  If anyone has a problem with that, I highly suggest getting a free photobucket, flickr, or other free hosting site. 

Here are links to your resized pics, Al:
http://www.bigbendgallery.com/uploads/files/G6_Wiener1.jpg
http://www.bigbendgallery.com/uploads/files/G6_Wiener2.jpg
Compare to the originals:
G6_Wiener1.jpg
G6_Wiener2.jpg


P.S.  I just looked at the upload page and noticed that CG still has it saying "Please try to keep files under 1mb"  instead of 500K.  Needless to say, 1MB is friggin' huge for our purposes.

[Al]

Yes Daddy.  I was good but just not good enough.

Al

[SA Bill]

That glass rental place is a good thing!

Too bad I have a Sony DSLR since they only rent Canon and Nikon stuff.
  Bill

[homerboy2u]

That glass rental place is a good thing!

Too bad I have a Sony DSLR since they only rent Canon and Nikon stuff.
  Bill

 I am listening professor...from the looks of it, Canon & Nikon are narrowing down my options for a future purchase of a DSLR.

[jeffblaylock]

More ruminations on this subject from my blog, for anyone interested in where my thinking is going.

Punchline:
Current equipment weighs 102.5 ounces (6 pounds, 6.5 ounces) and delivers 8 megapixels with effective focal lengths of 32mm-420mm. About $435 is needed to purchase a wider angle lens for digital use, resulting in reduction of about 19.5 ounces. Renting definitely a possibility, as noted above, but not considered in the blog entry, since I'd have to keep renting it. Switching to a PowerShot G9 for backpacking treks costs around $725 (camera + memory cards), reduces weight 73% to a whisker under 2 pounds, and delivers 12 megapixels with effective focal lengths of 35mm-210mm. Relative costs per reduced ounce of weight are $22.31/oz. for the new lens versus $10.21/oz. for the G9 option (versus $0 for the do nothing option).

[jeffblaylock]

OK, I bought it. I took it with me this weekend to Big Bend. It performed well. The battery gave me 327 photos before dying, which is better than expected. Everything about it just snaps. Very fast, very responsive. I'll be reviewing the photos for a few weeks, but the early returns are very, very good.

And it is SO much less weight to lug around!

[lighter fluid]

OK, I bought it. I took it with me this weekend to Big Bend. It performed well. The battery gave me 327 photos before dying, which is better than expected. Everything about it just snaps. Very fast, very responsive. I'll be reviewing the photos for a few weeks, but the early returns are very, very good.

And it is SO much less weight to lug around!

So far the pics look great , Jeff. 
and with the added bonus of cutting pack weight!

[jeffblaylock]

Thanks LF.

I've noticed my photos are much sharper with this camera. One of its less touted features is an image stabilization mechanism in the lens to compensate for minor camera shakes, such as those produced by pushing down on the shutter release. Combine that with more megapixellage, and you've got sharper images. The detail is amazing, too. I can see, clearly, individual grains of pollen in the claret cup blooms. In macro mode, the minimum focal distance is 1cm, which blows away my current SLR setup. The more I look at the photos, the more impressed I am at this camera's capabilities.

[Al]

At a street price of $450 plus extra battery and a couple of memory cards the G9 almost meets my criteria for buying new technology to replace one I already own; which is a least twice as much performance for the same price as what I have.  The G6 cost over $600 and is 7 MP, slower, without image stabilization and not as robust. I'll probably hold out for one more iteration but would love to have that camera.

Al

[dkerr24]

Ahh... thought I remembered reading some posts on this site about the Canon Powershot G9.

I just ordered the G9 through dell.com for $429.99.  This will be a major upgrade for me as my current camera is a Powershot A540 6mp that I picked up at the local Staples store for $150 on sale about 2 years ago.

Q:  Do you use the Canon battery packs for the unit?  I priced them online and they are over $40 each.  Generic branded battery packs for this camera can be found for around $10-$12 each.  Anyone with a G9 try the generic packs yet?

My next backpacking trip is in November at Clear Creek in Grand Canyon.  I was trying to decide if it is worth the extra money to stick with the Canon battery packs.  That is one thing I'll miss about my Powershot A540... it uses 2AA batteries.

Luckily, I already have 6 SD cards in various sizes from 1gb to 4gb.  SD memory cards have come down as well in price.