The first rule of photography is have a camera with you. Like many of you I find it a pain to lug around a dSLR and assortment of lenses and attachments although I have both large and small backpacks for this purpose. I wanted a backup point and shoot but the vast majority of products in this category are directed at casual users shooting Jpegs and never uploading them to a computer for post processing. I was in NY at B&H shortly after Casio released its prosumer point and shoot, the Exilim EX-P600, in 2004. The camera has served me well and I have gotten more than my moneys worth out of it. The initial attraction was 6.0mp, optical viewfinder, good glass (from Canon!), passable 4x optical zoom, PC flash port (so I could use my older flash gear) ... and it would save TIFFs! Too bad the camera wrote TIFFs at a glacial pace (I could nap between shots) and the noise at ISOs above 100 was not acceptable.
I have periodically cruised DPReview for point and shoot cameras that can write RAW and save the data I need to really make the images sing in Adobe ACR and Photoshop CS3. I have not been thrilled with most of the in camera processing of Jpegs. So when Canon released the G9 at the end of August, I immediately read the initial descriptions. You can get the details BY CLICKING HERE. I have the good fortune of working two blocks from a Canon dealer and I was second on his list. I still cant figure who beat me out but the shop must have helped him/her lighten a wallet more than mine over the years. I picked up the camera from his first shipment Wednesday after work. I am still playing with it but wanted to share my initial impressions.
The camera seems built like a tank. It is boxy (think small brick) and much heavier and slightly larger than my Exilim. This camera will not win any beauty contests so if you are looking for high techno-style, then look elsewhere. Functionality is a different story.
Wednesday night I unpacked the camera, loaded a purchased 2gb SD card (the 32mb SD that comes with the camera is useless) and found that it uses the same battery as my wifes XT-i so I could pop a charged battery in without waiting for the one from the box to get juiced up. Of course, being a guy, I started playing with the camera without reading the instructions. If you have used a Canon dSLR, and have experience in digital photography, the dials, buttons and menus are not hard to figure out. There are some things I instantly fell in love with.
It has nice fast glass for a point an shoot and a 6x optical zoom. The zoom control is under the shutter button and it is easy to operate both with the right index finger.
It shoots RAW! Canon calls the RAW files CR2s but it is different than the 20d and the XT-i so I had to update the Canon software and install ACR4.2 and DNG converter 4.2. No biggie. The RAW files are huge, 14 to 18 mb. I can get 115 of them on a 2gb SD card which is about the same as I get on a 1gb with my 20D. The RAW resolution is 4000px x 3000px. Thats a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the 3:2 I am used to but I can always crop in ACR. If I want smaller files I always have the option of shooting in Jpeg or converting my RAWs to Jpeg after processing.
Power up is quick. Shutter lag is not bad. The big files write faster than I expected. All good so far.
The camera has a for real ISO dial on the top. What a great improvement! No more searching menus to change ISO or fiddling with ISO button and settings displayed on the EVF/Display. What took them so long!
While we are on the ISO kick I took some shots last night in room light at 400, 800 and 1600 iso. Yes there is noticeable noise. This is not a dSLR, but better than my Exilim or most point and shoots I have had the opportunity to play with. It will be acceptable for 4x6 prints and you can get a pleasing image with the Photoshop reduce noise filter (probably much better with a plug in like Noise Ninja). We will have to wait for the bench tests that will be coming out in the next couple months but I will probably be doing most of my shooting at ISO 80 to 200.
It has a canon flash shoe on the top so I can use my Canon flash. Even though my 550 predates the camera by a few years, the camera communicated with it nicely and it worked like a charm in ettl. It does not have a PC recepticle but a PC to Hot Shoe adapter is cheap and I bot one.
The program dial on top is laid out more like a pro camera than a point and shoot. The P, Tv, Av, M modes predominate with two custom presets you can load yourself (neat!). The Jpeg presets and icons are not on the dial. You turn the dial to SCN and they appear on a virtual dial in the EVF/Display. There are a lot of them and some new ones (to me at least). Color Accent, Color Swap, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Night Snapshot, Kids and Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, and an ISO 3200.
I do not plan to take the camera underwater. This requires a housing (natch) and I am not sure how well the underwater mode would work. Anyone considering using this camera for underwater photography would be better off in camera RAW anyway and doing adjustments in ACR and in Photoshop.
ISO 3200 is crap. I was curious. Do not get excited about this feature.
The EVF/Display is great! It is big and has nice review resolution and color. The menus are intuitive, uncluttered and nicely laid out. The EVF has two display preset options that let you check a box as to what you would like displayed and the set up is easy.
I have not had time to check the EVF menu settings, but you are offered the usual suspects for white balance, a series of color filters to scroll through, exposure or focus bracketing, flash and exposure compensation, three types of metering, and (big surprise) a 3 stop neutral density filter. I am not going to use a lot of these features if I am shooting RAW and processing in ACR, but it is nice to know they are there. The camera has very professional functionality.
It also has a movie mode I have not played with yet.
There is a face recognition feature (to get them all in focus). It actually works. It really identifies faces (if they are facing you). I have yet to try a group shot to see if it will get them all into focus. I hate it when I have opened up the aperture and the main subject is in focus but other faces in the group are not. Does anyone have a good way to solve this problem? Maybe Canon has. I will need to experiment further.
There is a neat image stabilization function. It will run continuous if you want to use the EVF without a lot of blur, but I think I am going to prefer it in at time of shot mode. After all, I am going to be using the optical viewfinder and not the EVF.
My preliminary impression is that I am going to have some fun with this camera in situations were I cannot or chose not to lug my dSLR and heavy glass.
Bob
I have periodically cruised DPReview for point and shoot cameras that can write RAW and save the data I need to really make the images sing in Adobe ACR and Photoshop CS3. I have not been thrilled with most of the in camera processing of Jpegs. So when Canon released the G9 at the end of August, I immediately read the initial descriptions. You can get the details BY CLICKING HERE. I have the good fortune of working two blocks from a Canon dealer and I was second on his list. I still cant figure who beat me out but the shop must have helped him/her lighten a wallet more than mine over the years. I picked up the camera from his first shipment Wednesday after work. I am still playing with it but wanted to share my initial impressions.
The camera seems built like a tank. It is boxy (think small brick) and much heavier and slightly larger than my Exilim. This camera will not win any beauty contests so if you are looking for high techno-style, then look elsewhere. Functionality is a different story.
Wednesday night I unpacked the camera, loaded a purchased 2gb SD card (the 32mb SD that comes with the camera is useless) and found that it uses the same battery as my wifes XT-i so I could pop a charged battery in without waiting for the one from the box to get juiced up. Of course, being a guy, I started playing with the camera without reading the instructions. If you have used a Canon dSLR, and have experience in digital photography, the dials, buttons and menus are not hard to figure out. There are some things I instantly fell in love with.
It has nice fast glass for a point an shoot and a 6x optical zoom. The zoom control is under the shutter button and it is easy to operate both with the right index finger.
It shoots RAW! Canon calls the RAW files CR2s but it is different than the 20d and the XT-i so I had to update the Canon software and install ACR4.2 and DNG converter 4.2. No biggie. The RAW files are huge, 14 to 18 mb. I can get 115 of them on a 2gb SD card which is about the same as I get on a 1gb with my 20D. The RAW resolution is 4000px x 3000px. Thats a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the 3:2 I am used to but I can always crop in ACR. If I want smaller files I always have the option of shooting in Jpeg or converting my RAWs to Jpeg after processing.
Power up is quick. Shutter lag is not bad. The big files write faster than I expected. All good so far.
The camera has a for real ISO dial on the top. What a great improvement! No more searching menus to change ISO or fiddling with ISO button and settings displayed on the EVF/Display. What took them so long!
While we are on the ISO kick I took some shots last night in room light at 400, 800 and 1600 iso. Yes there is noticeable noise. This is not a dSLR, but better than my Exilim or most point and shoots I have had the opportunity to play with. It will be acceptable for 4x6 prints and you can get a pleasing image with the Photoshop reduce noise filter (probably much better with a plug in like Noise Ninja). We will have to wait for the bench tests that will be coming out in the next couple months but I will probably be doing most of my shooting at ISO 80 to 200.
It has a canon flash shoe on the top so I can use my Canon flash. Even though my 550 predates the camera by a few years, the camera communicated with it nicely and it worked like a charm in ettl. It does not have a PC recepticle but a PC to Hot Shoe adapter is cheap and I bot one.
The program dial on top is laid out more like a pro camera than a point and shoot. The P, Tv, Av, M modes predominate with two custom presets you can load yourself (neat!). The Jpeg presets and icons are not on the dial. You turn the dial to SCN and they appear on a virtual dial in the EVF/Display. There are a lot of them and some new ones (to me at least). Color Accent, Color Swap, Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Night Snapshot, Kids and Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, and an ISO 3200.
I do not plan to take the camera underwater. This requires a housing (natch) and I am not sure how well the underwater mode would work. Anyone considering using this camera for underwater photography would be better off in camera RAW anyway and doing adjustments in ACR and in Photoshop.
ISO 3200 is crap. I was curious. Do not get excited about this feature.
The EVF/Display is great! It is big and has nice review resolution and color. The menus are intuitive, uncluttered and nicely laid out. The EVF has two display preset options that let you check a box as to what you would like displayed and the set up is easy.
I have not had time to check the EVF menu settings, but you are offered the usual suspects for white balance, a series of color filters to scroll through, exposure or focus bracketing, flash and exposure compensation, three types of metering, and (big surprise) a 3 stop neutral density filter. I am not going to use a lot of these features if I am shooting RAW and processing in ACR, but it is nice to know they are there. The camera has very professional functionality.
It also has a movie mode I have not played with yet.
There is a face recognition feature (to get them all in focus). It actually works. It really identifies faces (if they are facing you). I have yet to try a group shot to see if it will get them all into focus. I hate it when I have opened up the aperture and the main subject is in focus but other faces in the group are not. Does anyone have a good way to solve this problem? Maybe Canon has. I will need to experiment further.
There is a neat image stabilization function. It will run continuous if you want to use the EVF without a lot of blur, but I think I am going to prefer it in at time of shot mode. After all, I am going to be using the optical viewfinder and not the EVF.
My preliminary impression is that I am going to have some fun with this camera in situations were I cannot or chose not to lug my dSLR and heavy glass.
Bob