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"I really like my G9!" on by Gordon Katz
Pros: Good photos, jog wheel, excellent interface, EZ manual shooting, big LCD, image stabilization, long zoom, preview histogram, face detection, alignment grid, RAW, hi-res video, ISO knob, hot shoe
Cons: Heavy for a point and shoot (but lighter than a SLR)
Summary: I really like my new G9! I got it yesterday and have pored over the manual, camera in hand, learning its ways. I've practiced with most of its features, but (full disclosure) I haven't done any real shooting yet.
For context, I'm a serious amateur. My prior cameras are an S80, an S30, and a Pentax fully manual film camera. I process my photos using Photoshop Elements on a Macintosh, and I favor RAW. I'd almost go for the Digital Rebel, but it's really too big and heavy for me.
For the record, accessories I got are a Lexar SDHC 4gig high speed memory card, Canon semi-hard case (it's a G7 case, but it fits), Speedlite 430EX flash, and Canon underwater housing WP-DC21.
Now then. The G9 is conveniently small and will allow me to continue my practice of carrying a camera around without making a big thing of it. It will be convenient to use as a scuba diving camera, too.
The G9's human factors are excellent. I didn't really anticipate how much I'd appreciate the the camera's use of buttons and the way they interplay with the excellent control software.
If there's one thing that puts the G9 over the top for me, it's the jog wheel. It's a genius invention. It makes adjusting settings and real-time exposure (to mention two) a pleasure. It looks to let me flex back to fully manual shooting and like it again.
The preview histogram is wonderful, and the extensive shot data are welcome. I expect the alignment grid will mean less preprocessing of my mostly crooked shots when I send them around via email for previewing.
I really like the large LCD. My old eyes can actually read it! It's big, sharp, bright and easily viewed from severe angles, such as when I hold the camera overhead. I've used a friend's G3 with a flip LCD, but I like this better. It does the work of a flip without the fuss or risk of breaking.
I'm looking forward to using my new Speedlight 430EX flash on the hot shoe and at last being able to take decent family pictures at the dining room table. I'm also looking forward to better in-camera flash pictures with the auto flash exposure feature.
Image stabilization is new for me, and welcome, as is face detection, and the 6x optical zoom coupled with "safety" digital zoom. I find I do a lot of cropping to the limit, so I'm sure that IS, better zoom, and my step from 8 to 12 megs of resolution will be helpful.
I'll be using AE with continuous shooting(!) at ground level at sports events. I'll also be making use of the high-res (1024x768@15fps), fill-the-card video capability, as well as the time lapse feature.
I've always had very mixed results with pictures taken skiing in the high mountains. I'm hoping that the snow mode, the availability of equivalent neutral density filters, and the preview histogram will help with this. (The camera is much more convenient to tuck under a parka than is a SLR, incidentally.)
I'm glad for the option to quickly jack up the ISO without fumbling with menus. I've occasionally had to pass on charming opportunities to shoot sleeping kids. Not only that, but there's a "safety" option for doing this, too. And the wider lens may help me shoot more pictures at lower ISO settings, without having jack them up.
I haven't mentioned the most important thing of all: photo quality. I don't have any personal experience yet, but I know from G7 reviews that the G9 will be just fine for me. I'm already confirming that, by comparison with my S80, I'm getting much more accurate photos with it.
I'm just warming up, but...time's up. -
"The VF is TERRIBLE" on by fastfashn
Pros: Beautifully Made
Cons: No fold out LCD, Optical VF horrible, Canon Lens
Summary: This is a beautiful camera, solid, handsome, old school. The pix are pretty darn good.
However... There is a time and a place for an LCD, and a time for an optical VF. If you are going to put an optical VF on a camera, that piece of hardware should work. Instead, what we have on a $500 camera is a cloudy, dim, plastic bit of optics that makes a fifty year old box brownie finder look good.
Look, many people will never use anything but the LCD, but this is a camera aimed at the super-amateur photog who wants to carry something smaller than his SLR at times. We use optical finders. We like optical finders. We don't expect the optical finder on our $500 camera to be as useless as a clear plastic kid's telescope.
Canon has certain blind spots when it comes to real quality. Until they settle their issues in house they will never be the true successors to Zeiss and Leica.
Sorry Canon, better luck next reincarnation. -
"Great camera" on by dcstephens
Pros: Resolution improved from G7 and RAW added
Cons: View finder not accurate
Summary: I've only had my G9 for a day and only had time to take a few test pictures comparing the resolution to my G7, which I've taken a couple of thousand pictures on.
At ISO-80 the G9 is substantially more detailed. I took a photo with the G7 and G9 of a piece of fine furniture from twelve feet. I could begin seeing better clarity in favor of the G9 at 100% (double)blow up. At 400% it became very dramatic. The extra megapixels are for real.
At ISO 400, the difference were still there, but not as dramatically different. There was no increased noise at this level, in fact it's reduced.
Handling and functionality were similar with the main edge going to the G9s larger and easier to see in bright light LCD.
I thought I'd get some early thoughts out for anyone trying to decide between the G7 and G9. IMHO, the G9 is the way to go.
The biggest negative to me is the viewfinder's inaccuracy. I've gotten to where I use the LCD in almost all situations to make certain that I don't end up with a picture that's composed out of balance.
Dave -
"Good camera with some mechanical problems" on by pseudomonos
Pros: accurate face detection, large LCD, good photo quality
Cons: mild light leak of LCD screen (noticable when LCD and sourranding are totally black); mechnical noise when autofocus set continuous mode.
Summary: This camera does take excellent photos (much better than my 5MP A95)like other online review, so I won't bore you on that. However, I'd like to point out some problems:
1. when AF (auto focus) set to "continous" mode, there is dull "ka, ka, ka, ka" mechanical noise inside the camera, when you turn "continous" off, the noise goes away. I assume the noise comes from the constant lens focusing. But the noise sound so abnormal that I'm just afraid the lens track will break down some time soon. Can any G9 users confirm this finding is normal?
2. There are 2 yellow blotches on LCD when LCD screen is black and ambiance also black. My is very mild, but if you search google, some people have worse. I'm debating if I want to exchange it and try another one.
3. Image quality is good, noisy starting from 200ISO, so don't use auto indoor! use P or C1, C2 and manually set ISO to 80 or 100, and use exposure compensation +2/3 or flash compensation +2/3 in low light. -
"Was a tough choice, ultimately happy(Review and P5000 Comparison)" on by mishuga
Pros: full manual features including manual focus, great menus, nice zoom range, great video/sound quality, nice red eye removal, hotshoe, 2 custom settings and a custom button
Cons: ISO 800 and above noisy, must mute all camera sounds to get rid of double beep before shot, relatively heavy, not ergonomic
Summary: 5 months ago, after much indecision, I chose a Nikon P5000 over the G7, not knowing that the G7 had manual focus. Took the P5000 on a trip. It's a wonderful camera in it's own right, and I have some truly beautiful pictures from it. Then I heard about the G9, and discovered that both it and the G7 had manual focus.
Two weeks ago I bought the G9 and am selling the P5000. I'd decided that the larger zoom range and manual focus in particular will allow me to have much more control over artistic shots. More importantly, I'm selling my D70s and the three lenses I have. The D70s is a great camera, but the size of the kit and the camera itself discouraged me from using it much. The G9 is not a full replacement for it, in particular has a noticably longer shot-to-shot time, but it's damn near close, and incredible for its size.
That said, the camera is not perfect, and trails behind the P5000 in a few areas. Rather than just listing complaints, I'll offer a comparison of the two, first listing where the G9 is superior to the P5000 and the list where the opposite is the case.
G9 pros over P5000:
- G9 has 6x zoom whereas the P5000 has 3.5x zoom.
- I find a generally faster shot-to-shot time on the G9.
- G9 has manual focus, P5000 does not.
- While both cameras give you manual exposure control, the G9 gives an exposure preview on the screen as you change the settings, in addition to a meter. The P5000 just gives you a meter, which is not as readable as the G9 meter.
- The G9's movies are of much better quality, particularly with respect to sound. That was one aspect of the P5000 with which I was flat out disappointed.
G9 cons compared to P5000:
- The ISO 800 setting on the G9 is too grainy for my liking, whereas the ISO 800 on he P5000 is still tolerable. This is something to consider if you plan on taking alot of pictures of moving objects in low light.
- The G9 is not comfortable to hold. I bought an aftermarket grip for it that improves the situation greatly, but the P5000 is, out of the box, a dream to hold. It has the perfect weight for taking slow shutterspeed shots in hand. Again, the G9 grip helps alot, and you can find info on getting the grip at mycanong9.com. This is a big deal. I would not be happy with this camera without the aftermarket grip, which I think ran me 28 bucks.
- I didn't use the viewfinder on the P5000 much, but the G9's is particularly useless, since the barrel is clearly in the frame when the lens is at its widest.
One more observation. I found the onboard post-shot red eye removal on the G9 very good, although other than that it does not have very useful post processing. The P5000 has a nice automatic contrast enhancement called D-lighting, as well as the ability to crop the picture. The G9 allows you to rotate and resize, but not crop. To me the G9 wins in this category because the red-eye removal is much better than anything such tool I've used before on a computer.
Overall, unless the higher price tag or more challenging low-light situations bug you alot, I'd highly recommend the G9. Again, I'm stepping down to it from a D70s DSLR, and am quite comfortable with this decision. But again, get the grip. Good luck in your research!
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