G9X vs. G9X ii for an elderly person?

I have a G9XIi. I really like it. It is my most used camera. Tough too.

But would I give one to my 90 year old mother. Absolutely not.

Just getting her happy with a basic cell phone went badly because the charger cable was awkward, hard to see and stiff to insert. About like my G9XII.

Here are some other problems for older people. Tiny hard to see on/off button. Close to the play button so it is confusing. Tiny protrusion on zoom lever. Tiny hard to see lettering.

Mom's hands are not as agile and as sensitive as they used to be. It would be hard for her to feel the detented on/off button and press on it exactly right for the camera to turn on. I have seen her struggle with things like this that were not so heavily detented. ( of course for me the detent is great...the camera doesn't accidentally turn on in my pocket like my SX260 often would...... mostly when I would stick my hand into my pocket retrieve the camera and a finger would hit the button and turn it on)

Mom is always having to get reading glasses to read tiny lettering. It would frustrate her even just looking at a G9XII.

Menu navigation by swiping. Way weird... she has never had anything like that in her whole life.

And what is the red button for? I know Mom would find that confusing. it is the only red button... it must be really important. Especially since it is on only one she could probably easily see.

David, Thanks for both posts. YES. Age stinks. I have a younger relative hitting his 40s and he said "geez, 25 year old girls won't even look at me anymore". I told him "wait until 50 year old women don't".

About the G9X II. My brother has trouble with all touchscreens. He says it's because his index finger loves his middle finger so much it bends to kiss it all day. He has arthritis and his fingers have started to twist. The icons are small for sure.

aging punk. Thanks for the tip. I'll try that. By the way, I love the camera and have been surprised at the IQ. I don't quite get the DPR review of it. I'm surprised with the results IQ wise and I am pretty fussy. For a real (!) compact it delivers.

All good wishes.

mcshan said:

I don't quite get the DPR review of it. I'm surprised with the results IQ wise and I am pretty fussy. For a real (!) compact it delivers.

All good wishes.

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Well the big soft lens comment in the review is a horrible landscape shot focused on the twigs in front of the camera where the distant horizon is blurred. Saved it is a 77Kb image, there is a bit of discussion of the size of these images in the comments . I expect DPR thought this was an Ixus and forgot about shallow depth of field.

I am sure you can take a grotty shot like this even with a RX100 which is of course perfect in every way. I get the impression the reviewer just did not like the camera from the start and it makes very depressing reading. It does not sound anything like my Mk I and I am sure the Mk II is better. it is very difficult to know if the fact that a camera is not a RX100 is a fault in itself which cannot be overcome under any circumstances.

(Edit: When you look at the accolades heaped on the RX100 yet a fault with the tiny G9X is at 84mm the lens is too short for a safari or whale watching trip. For heaven's sake and constant references to softness due to diffraction! Really trawling for put down comments on the kit here. The £1,000 RX 100 V goes to 70mm but not a problem there I suspect and a handy do it all machine I am sure.)

Putting the fact that it is an idea to take a spare battery on a days outing as a con for a compact makes you wonder if the guy has ever used a compact before and especially a larger sensor 1" which with the modern fast processors is going to push batteries a lot. It applies to every compact I have ever owned bar the Stylus 1S and that is not so compact.

I still rate the G9X as an Ixus on steroids. I hope people look in to these reviews and look around and make their own mind up.

Thanks for all the opinions - a lot of good information here!

In the end, (and despite a lot of good advice!) I decided to go with the G9 X ii.... Here's my reasoning:

- It's a little bit bigger than the A2300 she's coming from - but not TOO much bigger. Her favorite film camera was a Pentax Auto-110 that she used for 25+ years until she couldn't get 110 film any more; she would not like anything the size or shape of a dSLR.

- She's point-n-shoot only; she'll leave it in auto mode and won't seek out anything more complex; she's still quite functional and is perfectly capable of learning what the red button is for and avoiding it. I'm more concerned about the flash slider, actually.

- She's not a complete tyro with digital cameras - this will be quite similar to her previous camera, except with a charger, better picture, faster operation (lol, any modern camera would be better) and a bigger view screen.

I ended up getting a refurbished one from Canon Refurbished (thx for reminding me!), a large SD card, a nice case and a spare battery. I think she'll like it - and if she wants something bigger, I'll exchange it for a G7X or something. Thanks for all the help!

Colin

I own the G9X-1, but for this use case you might want to look into the Lumix ZS100/70.

I looked at the G9XII at a store here in Tokyo last week because I am thinking of getting one. I have had the S95 for 6 years as my pocket camera (I keep it in a small, soft case when in my pocket to keep dust out of the lens and sensor) and I still like it, but it seems like it is time for an update. One nice thing I was glad to discover at the store about the G9XII is that the big front dial around the lens can be set for exposure compensation just like the S95. That means it isn't necessary to use the touchscreen interface for that. I played with the touchscreen a bit and I can't say I liked it better than the button/dial interface of the S95, but I don't need to change things that much on my S95 except exposure compensation. Now that I know both cameras can use the front dial to do that it makes the G9XII somewhat more attractive than before I went to the store.

--
Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

hemingray said:

(I don't have experience with the original G9X, but DPReview notes that a number of things corrected make the Mark II a better camera. See the review just posted today (Dec. 14)

--
Dave

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I have a Mk I and I doubt that an elderly person will find much missing that will cause any problems unless they worry about half a stop and fast RAW capture. In fact I saved my money and got the Mk I and it works OK. Old cameras are only a problem if you use the new camera.

mcshan said:

Hi, No way. I tried but they just couldn't get it. One was a long (!) retired ophthalmologist and he was the worst. Sadly age takes many things away. Old is old.

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I know young and middle aged people who wouldn't "get it!" Or a lot of other things. :-O

David5833 said:

But on the rare occasions you DO need or want to change things, an intuitive and user friendly interface is important.

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If the person can use a smart-phone they should be able to handle the G9X. If they have trouble with, or have never used, a smart-phone then not so much.

They might not like the touch screen, it takes some getting use to.