Baseball with the G9 (not what your thinking)

G9 >

no flip screen > strike 1

lithium ion battery > strike 2

$100 more than an A640, $150 more than A630 > strike 3

It's outta' there !

In fairness, I'm the first to admit, that the G9 takes beautiful photos..... But then their are a LOT of new digicams out nowadays that do this, my A640 and A630, just to name a couple.

Yes, I am somewhat surprised, and thrown off, by the fact that the G9, with all of the shortcomings I've brought up, gets so much more play than the A-series, which lack none of those things....

Hmmmm.....
Fish

--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

Unfortunately the G9 being the new kid in town is going to get all the attention. It's just the way it is...

I myself own a G9 and absolutely love it...

Fish Chris said:

G9 >

no flip screen > strike 1

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A reasonable issue for some. I will take a smaller (G9/G7 vs G6) camera.

Fish Chris said:

lithium ion battery > strike 2

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A big plus for me. That last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch of AA batteries. Would you want AAs in your cell phone?

Also, if you use disposable batteries it is like having to buy film for your camera. Rechargable ones means spending at least $30 extra to get a independant battery charger.

Fish Chris said:

$100 more than an A640, $150 more than A630 > strike 3

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Raw alone is well worth the difference in IMHO.

Fish Chris said:

It's outta' there !

In fairness, I'm the first to admit, that the G9 takes beautiful
photos..... But then their are a LOT of new digicams out nowadays
that do this, my A640 and A630, just to name a couple.
Yes, I am somewhat surprised, and thrown off, by the fact that the
G9, with all of the shortcomings I've brought up, gets so much more
play than the A-series, which lack none of those things....

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Apparently a lot of other people have opinons that differ given the g9 traffic.

jerryk.smugmug.com

jerryk said:

jerryk said:

lithium ion battery > strike 2

Click to expand...

A big plus for me. That last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch
of AA batteries. Would you want AAs in your cell phone?

Also, if you use disposable batteries it is like having to buy film
for your camera. Rechargable ones means spending at least $30 extra
to get a independant battery charger.

Click to expand...

A big plus for me too. I refuse to buy a camera that takes AA batteries.

Olga

Olga Johnson said:

jerryk said:

Olga Johnson said:

lithium ion battery > strike 2

Click to expand...

A big plus for me. That last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch
of AA batteries. Would you want AAs in your cell phone?

Also, if you use disposable batteries it is like having to buy film
for your camera. Rechargable ones means spending at least $30 extra
to get a independant battery charger.

Click to expand...

A big plus for me too. I refuse to buy a camera that takes AA batteries.

Olga

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Same line of thought here too...I much prefer the Li-ion. I have 3 that get rotated and charged. I always have 3 charged batterries with me when I go out and have never run out of juice yet. Oh, yeah, and 3 batteries take up very little space. No AA's for me.

abana

It's handy it uses the same battery as the 350D/400D

Abana said:

Olga Johnson said:

jerryk said:

Abana said:

lithium ion battery > strike 2

Click to expand...

A big plus for me. That last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch
of AA batteries. Would you want AAs in your cell phone?

Also, if you use disposable batteries it is like having to buy film
for your camera. Rechargable ones means spending at least $30 extra
to get a independant battery charger.

Click to expand...

A big plus for me too. I refuse to buy a camera that takes AA batteries.

Olga

Click to expand...

Same line of thought here too...I much prefer the Li-ion. I have 3
that get rotated and charged. I always have 3 charged batterries with
me when I go out and have never run out of juice yet. Oh, yeah, and 3
batteries take up very little space. No AA's for me.

abana

Click to expand...

--
Galleries and website: http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/mainindex.htm

For me, strike two (lithium battery), is a base-hit all the way. I know the AA's are more practical, but I would just rather have a spare lithium. That has caused me to shun the A series. Just a preference.

I think another reason for the great reception is the initial feel of the camera. It just feels great to hold. Like a well built piece of machinery.
But you made some good points.
-
Kelly M

Olga Johnson said:

jerryk said:

Olga Johnson said:

lithium ion battery > strike 2

Click to expand...

A big plus for me. That last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch
of AA batteries. Would you want AAs in your cell phone?

Also, if you use disposable batteries it is like having to buy film
for your camera. Rechargable ones means spending at least $30 extra
to get a independant battery charger.

Click to expand...

A big plus for me too. I refuse to buy a camera that takes AA batteries.

Olga

Click to expand...

--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries

Yes i would much love to have double AA's in my phone on those days when i'm out and its about to die and i have no charger in sight.. it sucks being a slave to chargers and car chargers and extra batteries.. I dont have to carry any extra AA's on me becuase just about any 24 hour store carries AA's when i need them. I know walmart does for sure.. I'm pretty sure even 7-11 does or even AM PM..

Aside from that, lets not compare apples to oranges.. A cell phone is left on ALL day all the time, the camera isn't, you cant realy compare power sources with diferent intended uses.. the nice thing is if you like recharging you can buy rechargable AA's, and from what i hear, they are better for the flash than the g9's battery pack.. From what i hear..

I also have to say, the G9 is getting all the press cuz its the new kid? and the A650 is old hat already? They launched about the same time, it's simply becuase there was a massive glitch in the casing of the A650 and the re-call that make it scarce.. It dissapoints me very few people on here are afrter the A650 compared to the G9, but i'm not faltering, it will be the A650 for me. The fact that the G9 has only the rechargable battery seals the deal for me.

AA batteries are a huge plus for me -- I don't think I would buy a camera that uses "special" batteries like that in the G9. Consider: using one set of AAs on an A650, you can expect to get 600+ exposures. Buy a set of AA non-rechargable lithium batteries (like the Eveready brand), and you can expect to get 2500+ exposures. (This is no exaggeration.) The G9 might muster 350 with its proprietary battery.

Why the prejuduce against AAs? It should be the other way around. With the AAs, you don't have to change batteries during a shoot. With the proprietary batteries, you almost always have to change batteries, unless of course you are just taking a few shots.

AA batteries are available everywhere, they provide robust performance, and they are less expensive. Strike 3, game over.

Mike

mamiller said:

Why the prejuduce against AAs?

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The throw-aways are a pollutant.

Don
http://www.kleptography.com

I also thought that way until I bought a G7. The batteries are tiny and easily carried and charge fast. I can change one in seconds. For my wifes camera it takes 4aa batteries and they are not easily carried, the charger is large and takes a long time and changing them takes a lot more fumbling. It just works better for me with the g7 batteries.

James

Don Ellis said:

mamiller said:

Why the prejuduce against AAs?

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The throw-aways are a pollutant.

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ALL batteries are throw-a-ways after their service life, even the rechargeable NiMHs and Li-Ions. None has indefinite service life. Thus ALL batteries are pollutants if you don't have means to recycle them. But granted, the non-rechargeables have a shorter service life and thus likely to be more of a pollutant. Don't dump your batteries, find a way to recycle them.

--mamallama

mamiller said:

AA batteries are a huge plus for me -- I don't think I would buy a
camera that uses "special" batteries like that in the G9. Consider:
using one set of AAs on an A650, you can expect to get 600+
exposures. Buy a set of AA non-rechargable lithium batteries (like
the Eveready brand), and you can expect to get 2500+ exposures.
(This is no exaggeration.) The G9 might muster 350 with its
proprietary battery.

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Your getting way better than advertised mileage. The specs for the A650 show 300 with regular AAs and 500 for Ni-MH. The G9 is rated at 240-600 depending upon display usage.

FWIW, I use 3rd party batteries with a rated capacity close to double the Canon batteries and are much cheaper $11 vs $60. The battery, NB-2, has been around for years and is used in the S series, Digital Rebels, and a number of other Canon camera.

jerry

--
jerryk.smugmug.com

first off, thank you for all of the friendly responses, and of course, your personal opinions.

As for the battery issue (which seem to have gotten the majority of attention in this thread, so far) my thoughts were, for my A630 and A640, which might go a month or more, without taking a single shot.... but then I stick the world record bass, and need 100 shots (okay, so I'm dreaming again AA's are the best, because if my hybrid NiMH have gone dead in the time since I last used my camera, the two sets of spare alkaline batteries I always carry will certainly pull me through (with an 8 to 12 year shelf life !). Whereas, if a Lithium Ion battery had gone dead in my camera, I could have 10 more spares, which would likely ALL be dead as well.

Anyway, I just can't say enough great things about the latest hybrid technology NiMH AA's ! Tons of shots per charge, and great shelf life too (compared to the old NiMH AA's, and especially to Lithium Ions.... albeit, nothing like the shelf life of old fashioned alkalines).

But hey, about that tilt and twist screen (or lack thereof) this is a feature that reminds me of high speed internet..... Sure, I could have probably lived without it..... Until I bought a camera that had it, and now I can't imagine ever buying a digi-cam without it !

The $$$ factor....... Yea... just kind of a ho-hum thing I threw in, as I know this matters a lot to some people. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am a poor guy who fishes too much, and doesn't work enough.... but as long as we are talking toys less than $1000, I pretty much get whatever I want, if I want it bad enough

But hey anyway, like I said before, I know the G series, the A series, and the SD series, as well as a whole long list of digi-cams from other manufacturers, are ALL really awesome cameras.

I'd just like to see more press for "the other" Canon cameras. I'm doing my best..... but I have a hard time taking photos of "little ones"

Peace,
Fish
--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

mamallama said:

mamallama said:

Don Ellis wrote:
The throw-aways are a pollutant.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

mamallama said:

ALL batteries are throw-a-ways after their service life, even
the rechargeable NiMHs and Li-Ions. None has indefinite service
life.

Click to expand...

I seem to have caught you in one of your more literal moods. Next, you'll be telling me perpetual motion isn't feasible.

mamallama said:

Thus ALL batteries are pollutants if you don't have means to
recycle them. But granted, the non-rechargeables have a shorter
service life and thus likely to be more of a pollutant. Don't
dump your batteries, find a way to recycle them.

Click to expand...

Perhaps we can agree on "...much, much, much, much, much more of a pollutant," since so many more of them will be tossed compared to rechargeables or Li-Ions. And people who choose disposables in the first place aren't likely to be the ones most concerned about recycling, although your advice is good. And then there's the problem of disposal in countries/regions where recycling is non-existent.

This is friendly banter, by the way... I always enjoy your posts. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who knows that it's "None has..." rather than "None have...."

Cheers,
Don
http://www.kleptography.com

I don't own either the A650 or the G9 (I am still using my trusty old A620), but the battery life figures I provided here are my actual experience with the A620 and AA batteries, using the LCD display almost all the time and often using the flash. The thing about the AAs is I don't have to carry extra batteries around -- they just keep on ticking. I usually use a set of NiMH, but once a year I go on a two week backpacking trip and use non-rechargeable lithium batteries for that trip. These batteries are lighter in weight and last forever. This summer's trip (in late August) saw me take about 600 photos in the backcountry and here we are in November and that set of batteries is still going strong -- I am at about 2400 shots to date.

Regarding another poster's comment about the inconvenience of carrying extra AAs, that seems like so much nonsense to me -- I keep an extra set in a small lightweight plastic case, which is just as convenient as carrying around an extra one or two G9 batteries. Remember, the likelihood I would have to make any battery change at all is low with the A620 and its AAs, but high with the G9 and its rated battery life of 250 shots. (Anecdotal reports about the G9's battery is that it can do better than that rated battery life, but not nearly as well as the AAs.)

Given the high build quality of the G9, I was tempted to buy it, but not with the poor grip and not with the poor battery life. The A6XX design, whatever you might think about how it looks, is functional as can be. The grip is ideal, the controls are well designed, and the batteries are robust and ubiquitous.

Mike

mamiller said:

Regarding another poster's comment about the inconvenience of
carrying extra AAs, that seems like so much nonsense to me

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Nope, no nonsense at all. Immensely more convenient to "throw" an extra G9 battery in my purse or in my camera case than a set of 4 AA rechargeables. In my lifetime I've had AA batteries be useless when I wanted to shoot, when one of them went bad, or roll out of my hands and get lost rolling on the ground (stop laughing, it happened), or even get lost in my purse (well... it sort of made it behind the lining of the purse and I couldn't get it out with one hand in the cold.)

It's a little easier when a camera takes 2 AA batteries rather than 4. But it's much easier with one.

Also the G9 charger is half the size of the Maha 204 (which is the smallest AA charger I ever found) and there is no cable required to connect it to power since it has a flip out plug.

Olga

Last year my wife took our A95 (4-AA batteries) to France. She took a couple thousand pictures with 2 or 3 sets of alkaline batteries. She stayed on a houseboat with 12 vott power so I am not sure how she could have charged batteries. This summer we went on vacation and took both the A95 and G9. Every evening I recharged batteries. The AA batteries recharged in 15 minutes. The G9 battery took well over an hour. I guess that is no big deal. Next year we are planning a camping trip. I already bought a 12 vott recharger for the G9, but in order to charge I will need to leave the keys in the ignition and the car open for an hour or so.

jrkliny said:

Every evening I recharged batteries. The
AA batteries recharged in 15 minutes.

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You should consider a better/slower charger. The fast chargers often have two flaws. First, there is one charger for all of the batteries. So if you charge 4 batteries as soon as the 1st one is full the charger shuts down. Second, they charge at a high rate and generate a lot of heat. This cause a dramatic reduction in the life of a rechargeable battery.

Get a unit that has separate chargers for each battery and that can condition the battery. Here is a link to a good comparison of chargers.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html

--
jerryk.smugmug.com