Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
by Canon
Our Price: $979.00
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: CanonRelease Date: 2007-08-31
Model: G9
Color: BLACK/SILVER
Product features:
- 12.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints
- 6x image-stabilized optical zoom; 3.0-inch LCD display; optical viewfinder
- Face Detection technology and in-camera red-eye fix
- 25 shooting modes, including 9 special scene modes; Print/Share button
- Powered by NB-2LH lithium-ion battery (battery and charger included); stores images on SD or MMC memory cards (32MB MMC memory card included)
- Serif PhotoPlus X3
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Upgrade [OLD VERSION]
- Aperture 3
- Pixelmator [Old Version]
- AmazonBasics SDHC Class 4 32GB Secure Digital Card
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Customer Review: Better than the Sony H3? Could be! Lower zoom, but higher MP, +RAW support.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, you may or may not have read my review of the Sony Cybershot DSC-H3. I'm your average point-and-shoot-er... I'm not well versed in ISO, focal length, color depth, noise & color aberrations. I tend to point, shoot, and hope it comes out well.
That said, I've done a bit of reading over the last month after buying a Sony H3 and being moderately unsatisfied with its point & shoot results (noise & color aberrations).
However, having read so many reviews, I got a bit more info on things like ISO settings on digital cameras and links with noise, and color issues. So, I think that some of my prior issues with the H3 may have been "user-malfunction"-related. IE, "know thy camera, and they camera will love you."
Prior to the H3 I owned a Canon A70 (3MP), which I'd say was an excellent point & shoot camera that rarely disappointed me.
Anyway, partly due to my initial bad experiences with the Sony, partly due to its overly expensive memory cards, and partly because I really trust Canon (had prior bad experiences with a Sony P72, I think, as well?), I decided I wanted to upgrade to the 12MP + RAW of the Canon G9 (after reading lots of reviews of it versus some other models).
The things I like about the Canon G9 were several:
- Its portability (very similar to the Canon A70, and slightly better than Sony H3)
- Its heft. Believe it or not, I *like* the weighty feel of it.
- Its metal body. Again it feels sturdy (though I hope never to drop it and test just how sturdy it is).
- I like the fact that under normal lighting conditions you can point & shoot, and it seems to take extremely crisp images with very little noise (from an amateur's perspective), and the noise that I can see only seem to be noticeable if you zoom all the way in to view the actual pixels and such up close.
- I like the dial with direct access to ISO settings. Somehow that gives it a rather "professional" feel. Even if it's only a mental thing. It's still nice to have easy access to the setting rather than having to fiddle with menus, etc.
- I like the fact that despite having a slightly more complex button layout than the H3 (something I wasn't looking forward to), once you figure out what the buttons do, it's rather intuitive and the multitude of buttons doesn't really detract (for me) from the usage experience.
- I like the instant access to a white balance (I think?) adjustment button in the upper right of the back face, just above the back face jog dial you use to control it. That way you can instantly dial up or down the exposure a few levels. I find that could be handy for "mood lighting," and have already used it a few times to set the lighting a bit lower in a scene like candle light, etc. (where the camera tends to want to expose a bit more, but it would detract from the candle light).
- I like the fact that one can zoom in on images in playback mode to see if focus and such were correct, and if detail is sufficient, or if the shot needs to be taken again. I realize other cameras probably have this feature too. It's just nice.
- For me, startup time seems very quick. Hit the button, lens extends, picture shows up on the LCD, ready to start snapping away (unless you need to change modes or flip to a slightly different exposure setting; but that's not the camera's fault! You should have been ready beforehand!).
- Thus far I've not run down the first charge on the battery. Then again, I'm casual about images, turn the camera on for a few minutes, snap a few good photos, kill the bad ones, and turn it off. I've snapped a number of shots around the office to test it. I've snapped a few images around home in non-optimal light to figure out how to get the best quality image. I took pictures at our work Christmas party, and briefly took a couple pictures at my own family Christmas dinner. I've still got 2 out of 3 bars left on the battery.
- I like the fact that it uses a standard USB A-MiniB cable, unlike the proprietary Sony AV cable that came with the H3.
- Likewise, I like the fact that the Canon uses standard SD/SDCH cards that are cheaper than the Sony H3's Memory Stick Duo and Pro Duo cards.
I'm finding it hard to say much negative about it thus far. I'm still learning how to take the most crisp images with the camera. But I've got a book now with tips and tricks. Will have to start using my tripod more, it looks like, for the old "tack sharp" photos. But, under normal light, it seems to take pretty excellent images, even just point and shoot.
One complaint might be that the button in the upper left (the one that flashes when the camera wants to "shift gears" to a different ISO) is actually somewhat difficult to press / activate while holding down the shutter part way to maintain auto-focus. For me, I seem to have to either push it with a fingernail, or push REALLY hard with the edge of my thumb.
Oh, yes, and the fact that several lights blink constantly while the machine is downloading images is rather distracting (and I wonder if it wastes the battery; though I suspect they run off USB power); likewise the "fireworks"-like animated graphic in the middle of the LCD that also continues to play while downloading. Minor complaint. But I'm sure I'll learn to ignore it. Would be nice to find a way to turn off the blinky lights though, as they're a mild nuisance.
I'm pretty sure this will be my new "work horse" camera for the foreseeable future. I don't expect I'll have to upgrade any time soon (unless of course they come out with a camera that's a portable/pocketable, point & shoot, does full HD video, and lets you zoom while shooting video, and/or lets you use a wireless remote to take photos w/o camera shake). Unless such a lovely hybrid comes on the market any time soon w/o sacrificing any features (like RAW support), I don't foresee having to switch camera again.
To those who complain about some subtle cool blue tint to the LCD, I don't see it. Perhaps I'm not a "pro," so I don't notice these things. But, so what? Really... Is it designed to be a "professional" camera or a high end point & shoot? I think it's the latter, as intended.
If someone wants to USE it for a professional camera, by all means, be my guest! But if one EXPECTS a high end point & shoot to *be* a low-end DSLR, perhaps they're setting their expectations too high in general. If you want DSLR quality, get a DSLR. If you want a PORTABLE point & shoot with near-DSLR (but still point & shoot) quality, the G9 is admirable. My opinion only, of course. As a casual user who is thrilled that a PORTABLE / POCKETABLE point & shoot camera can achieve such high quality output while maintaining relative simplicity, depth of features, PROFESSIONAL LOOK & FEEL, etc.
Likewise, to a few people I've heard complaining that there's insufficient "grip" or that the zoom lever or button are too small: I've not had an issue with either. The zoom lever has been sufficient for me to use under a range of circumstances and camera angles. Likewise the grip isn't all that large, but it's large enough, and I've never had a slippage or inability to grip the camera. I generally hold with the index and middle finger up front on the grip and thumb in the space just left of the mute/microphone button. Seems to be ample space for me. ring and pinky fingers usually just rest at the bottom of or underneath the camera.
The small viewfinder is a neutral issue for me. I don't use the viewfinder, frankly. It doesn't display the entire image to be taken, and the LCD allows for a much wider number of shots to be taken, where you can't always have your eye pressed right up to the camera. Likewise, I'd hate to smudge the LCD. I'd probably not care much if the viewfinder was removed completely. I doubt I'd miss it, honestly.
Addendum (12-26-07): I've added several shots to the "customer gallery." One is a night shot capturing a bare tree in the flash, with the moon back-lighting a portion of the branches. For being a newbie and using mostly automatic settings, I think it came out pretty well!
The other images are a set of 3 images of a Christmas decoration, progressively cropping to finer and finer detail. I find it rather amazing how closely one can crop this image and still retain excellent picture quality (right down to not-too-bad reflections off a tiny ornament in a large scene and the fine gold inlaid detail printed at the top of a decorative glass). As of this writing they put it somewhere int he middle of the gallery. Apparently they don't sort the gallery by upload date, which is odd.
More Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom reviews:
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Description of Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
PS1) Canon Powershot G9 DigitalDigital Cameras
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