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canon G9 big features with a major design flaw. hate to break the news

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most g9 owners will go through a series of emotions when they read this. disbelief, then anger, then nothing left but to accept the facts of modern marketing. I say most most g7s and g9s will be permantly shelved in about a year after using unless canon will step up and fix this major design flaw. a recall if you like. your very cool g9 (and mine to) has a drop in lens assembly sharing basically same design as used in g7 and a few other point and shoot models in canons line up . this lens/iris/auto focus/power zoom/ view finder optics unit sort of a drop in modulear cartridge type unit holds most of the actual moving parts of the camera. will get contaminated with dust to a point so bad you cant even use it for simple family photos. you cant clean the dust out. ant you cant change out the moving parts unit cause its mounted deep into the internals of the camera. canon will replace this lens cartridge unit once for you someone posted, but not twice. My g7 started showing blotches in images with smooth even lighting like a shot of the sky or a wall for example. I thought it to be sensor dust. it was most noticable at full optical zoom. cant clean it my self. so I shelved it ,figuring I did something wrong. took it camping to many times in dusty locations etc . (I loved that g7) replaced with a new G9 that has raw. No dusty camping trips . bought in january 08 winter no camping trips yet as its cold out. mostly shots of family and building projects. guess what? Same blotches images. to many to photo shop out. I did notice tiny specks inside my optics when cleaning a few weeks into ownership but life is not perfect so I did not worry about it to much. My big pro lenses somtimes had a few very tiny tiny specks after years of use and those specks never showed up in the final product. not so with the point shoot extending lens of today. now the dust really shows up on those tiny lens elements. My finder of the g9 also has a lot of dust and what looked like tiny lint fibers internally. I took a bright led flashlite and extended the g9 lens to full optical zoom ,looked inside and found a load of lint, dust. to see this on your g7/g9 look into the lens at a extream side angle with the camera front element acting as a magnifying glass. you see for your self the amount of crud sticking to the interior of the forward most lens barrel. the stuff sort of looks like its clinging by static electricty. I always keep camera in a lowepro pouch and not in my pocket . I took the camera to a company in irvine ca. that we did work with . I meet a dust specialist who is paid high dollars to keep their medical equipment intergrated circuit manufacturing clean rooms mostly particle free. With in 20 min we had an answer to the problem. Plastic and glass materials moving creating a tiny static electrical charge along with a lens unit that draws in un filtered .air (and dust) every time it extends as you turn it on. As the lens retracts the air is forced out of the collapsing lens tower leaving the dust and lint statically trapped in side. as the air moves past the optics it too helps create a static charge. We did a test with a special chemical in a testing chamber a video scope that enabled us see the flourence vapor in slow motion as the whoosh of air moves in and out of the lens barrel gaps and surprisingly the viev finder adjustment wheel slot to the left of the eye port as well. the tech explained how this dust just keeps adding up each and every time the user powers up or zooms. Canon should have installed a system to prevent this. Yes you could purchase the lens adapter a 58mm uv filter and yes this will help but this flimsy plastic adapter now makes the camera clumsy for a point and shoot and also blocks the viewfinder. we need the g9 ,it has no equal. it is a powerful imaging tool with video and audio too. can any one who works at Canon look into this? I feel Canon should have installed a better optics module on a cemera of this quality. Its also a slap in the face to the hard working engineers who did an excellent job on the rest of the camera and let the optics r&d dept blow is for us all. Sorry to break it to you. a camera is only as good as the lens.
 
I know , your right I have a bad habit of going back to editing my work and I timed out as Ihave to many eruptions at my house today . I also know everyone will pick this apart. and rip on me. I have thick skin It is only for your own knowledge . Use the info or don,t use it. Just thought it might help someone.
 
I had this problem back when I owned a Sony W1 which has the same kind of lens assembly that opens and retracts when you power the camera on and off.

I would think this problem would be a problem for ALL cameras that have this type of lens assembly.

I just purchased a canon a650 and purchased a lensmate adapter that (made of aluminum) to try and alleviate the problem from happening but then like you said, it makes the little P&S a lot more bulky.
 
Thank you for your in depth explanation of this issue. You sound like you know what you are talking about.

My personal view is that these digital cameras are disposable nowadays. If I get 2 years of use out of this camera I'll be more than happy. This camera is amazing but I really only use it for fun anyway. I must be the only one who thinks the camera is cheaply priced and an absolute bargain, even with these various misdoings...
--
http://www.ronphoto.zenfolio.com
http://www.ronphoto.com
 
as long as mine keeps giving good pictures... sure can't afford a new one of any kind. I am just amazed that no one of all the fine photographers here did not catch this.
--
Russ

 
Paragraphs are a wonderful thing, learn to use them.

My Sony P200 got infected with a huge dust particle, and I had to send it to Sony to get repaired. This is (1) an annoying and a waste of my time; (2) not free if the camera is out of warranty.

It's possible that the G9 suffers from this problem too, because like the Sony, it has to suck air into the camera as the lens comes out. But I haven't read any complaints yet. In the Sony forum, people were constantly complaining about the dust problem.

--
Big Mike
http://www.bigmikephotoblog.com
 
I've had my G7 since it was introduced. I've taken over 4900 photos in various conditions and environments. I've never had any dust problems. So in my opinion, no matter what you think, the G7 and probably the G9 also are not flawed cameras.
 
I don't know how often it happens, but apparently I just got a blotchy sensor dust on my 4 months old G9. Nothing too alarming for now as it's only visible in a bright and clean shot like a wall at f/4.5 and beyond and I don't usually go to f/8. But it's there, regardless of focus, and I think it will get worse and worse to the point that it'll have to go to cleaning service. I checked the lens barrel and there are indeed a considerable amount of lint and dust stuck at the corners.

I'm very careful with my stuff. My G9 is always in the eveready leather-case since from beginning. Never exposed to dust, sand, rain, pocket, whatever.

And, well, this just shouldn't happen. It spoils such a great (and yes, expensive and luxury) camera.
 
liquidslow said:
I don't know how often it happens, but apparently I just got a
blotchy sensor dust on my 4 months old G9. Nothing too alarming for
now as it's only visible in a bright and clean shot like a wall at
f/4.5 and beyond and I don't usually go to f/8.
Click to expand...
If the dust spot become more visible with the smaller aperture, then it's probably dust in the lens rather than dust on the sensor.

--
Big Mike
http://www.bigmikephotoblog.com
 
I found your comments interesting and checked my Fuji F30, now about 2 years old. Using magnification and led light I could see past the first lens...little if any detectable dust. The question arises...is the a common problem or only to certain types of construction?
Maybe others can check this out and report.
I 'll post a link in "Open Talk"........
--
Fred, KM A2 and F30
'Your best Photo should be viewed with a biased eye'
http://coolsiggy.smugmug.com/
 
The information would have been more effectively given if you used paragraphs! :-)
it was difficult reading it...

although all I got from the perusing (I could not really read it thoroughly/seriously because ...well it was difficult reading it)...

The lens construction of the G9 and all P&S cameras will suck in dust...
 
BigMike1 said:
If the dust spot become more visible with the smaller aperture, then
it's probably dust in the lens rather than dust on the sensor.
Click to expand...
Hmm, you may be right. Problem is, it's not on the outside, so it doesn't matter, I'll not be able to reach it. But I just spotted this speck right behind the diaphragm, I suppose it's over the back lens:



Sorry about the focus, it's very difficult to do it perfectly with a Ricoh R4. Anyway, I don't know if it's related to the blotch on the image, which is at the low center area:



7.4mm @ f/8

That lint/speck behind the diaphragm is at the center and the right portion of the diaphragm.

And just to state that all that bright (OoF) dots on the first image, around the rings are specks of dust, too. So things are getting pretty nasty there.
 
Nikon 5200, +3 years, perfectly clean.

Ricoh R4, 1 1/2 year-old, perfectly clean.

Canon G9, 4 MONTHS old is sucking a lot of dust inside the barrel lens, viewfinder, assist-beam. Affecting image, under certain circumstances.
 
anyone to try to read it. Perhaps it is a joke...
 
That is one difficult post to read. Next time, try using capital letters to start a new sentance and paragraphs.

Mark
 
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