G15 low light issue

MisterPootieCat wrote:

1. The crippled Auto ISO that has a maximum setting of 1600. With the seriously good sensor/digic combo the upper limit should be adjustable up to 6400 at least. Even Canon realized this limit was a mistake in the 7D and made the rare decision to fix it with a much welcomed firmware update.

2. This latest revelation where the ISO is forced to 80 for shutter speeds longer than one second. Again, based on the performance of the sensor/digic this seems to be an oversight. The previous G series cameras with CCD sensors weren't crippled like this.

3. The 5:4 aspect ratio crop as implemented by Canon is retarded. Why would they force a portrait orientation crop on such a nice sensor? Or are we too stupid to turn the camera 90 degrees when we need to shoot a portrait? This looks like something an engineer with little or no photographic smarts came up with.

Some of the things I like:

1. Flash sync speed using the in-built flash now tops out at 1/2000 second, my G10 was always limited to 1/500 second. Fill flash in bright light with the G15 should be seriously sweet now.

2. Multiple aspect ratio RAW support. And the crops can be removed or adjusted in post using DPP, although the 5:4 crop is lame as already mentioned.

3. The LCD. It's been suggested (but not confirmed) the cover is now glass. Very nice. And the increased resolution is nice but in all honesty it was long overdue.

4. The new soft touch shutter release. It adds a classy feel to the shooting experience.

5. The relocated EC dial, it feels right at home now under my thumb.

6. Write speeds to the SD card are much improved but don't get much airtime on the forums.

7. HD video is awesome, and I'm not even a fan of video.

8. Improved metering compared to my G10's. I used center weighted averaging 98% of the time with the G10 and the EC dial got quite a bit of use too, with the G15 I'm finding evaluative metering rarely misses an exposure and the EC dial gets used rarely now.

9. The Auto DR feature (limited to JPEG) is a much welcomed addition. With the inherently limited DR of the small sensor this feature provides very nice results in-camera that rarely look overdone. And the camera will analyze each exposure and only apply the Auto DR when a scene warrants it.

10. Intelligent image stabilization. A lot of people seem to overlook Canon's excellent IS systems until they buy something from another vendor. I always thought the G10 had pretty good IS but the G15 takes it up a couple notches. And the ability to automatically recognize when the camera is on a tripod is sweet, although the user's manual still recommends turning it off for HDR shooting.

11. In-camera algorithms that take advantage of all the goodness the G15 has to offer. After shooting with it for awhile it becomes obvious that someone with street smarts was in charge of this department. It's nice to watch as the camera automatically goes about wringing out the best of the features.

12. It's just plan fun to use.

Just because I have an opinion about why a certain feature is crippled doesn't constitute whining or complaining IMO. Canon has marketed the G series specifically at DSLR users who are looking for something a little easier to carry and obviously as a complement to their high end gear. I think they've done a great job, but like so many things in life, there's always room for improvement. My guess is we'll see hacked firmware for the G15 soon that will break at least a few of the shackles Canon placed on the camera. But I'm enjoying the camera today, warts and all.