Best Powershot G

Hi Jerry,

Well, that helps a lot. I have tried raw, with my FZ150, but was unable to improve on the native jpeg. One of the guys on another forum, took a night shot I liked and was able to edit the raw to bring up the part I wanted; but he was the only one who could. I think you have to know what you're doing with a raw editor. So, unless Canon's jpeg engine is not good, which I very much doubt, I probably will not use raw.

By the way, I spoke to guy who's selling his G9 for parts. He said that it just stopped working, and that he has reads articles from others saying the same thing about the G9.

Your point about 'shooting from the hip' sounds quite interesting. I never really thought about it, but it would be much easier to steady the camera, assuming it has the articulating screen; but I can't quite picture how your neck strap works.. The main reason I'm looking at the G series is the view finder. It's very hard to find a good camera, in relatively compact form these days unless your willing to spend your pension on it. But the articulating screen puts an entirely different spin on the shooting. When I use the FZ150, which is rarely, I use the articulating screen to avoid getting too close to my nasty (spider) friends.

.. john

P.S. Oops! I think I called you Gerry in the last mail; because I saw Gerald's gear list, and figured I had remembered your signature wrong.

GeraldW wrote:

John,

You didn't say if you use RAW. If you do, that would let out the G7, although it's sharp and has very good color. I actually preferred it over the G9. And, of course; both have that OVF issue.

The G11 & G12 went back to 10 MP, have good color, and a better grip than the G7/G9. In terms of what you shoot, the difference between them is that the G12 has a front wheel, and the G11 doesn't. In my hands, the front wheel affected the handling, so I preferred the G11.

I mentioned (I think) the G7 was a little sharper. To determine that, I downloaded the studio scene from Imaging Resource for each camera at several ISO settings, and then ran them through a good JPEG editor and added a little sharpening. The edited shots were then printed as borderless 8.5" x 11" prints. I then examined each print with a fairly strong magnifying glass that's normally used for thread counts in fabrics. With my reading glasses, I can't see any significant difference up to ISO 400 at normal viewing distances. I did run the G10 through that process as well.

I just took a break and went to my print files, and found ISO 100 and ISO 400 prints (as described above) for the G7, G9, G10, G11, and G15. I also found my thread count magnifier and examined all 5. As I said earlier, I really cannot see a difference with just my reading glasses, and I'm looking closely - like 6-8". The G15 is the exception, as Imaging Resource changed the lighting and the whole image just looks different. However, when I use the magnifier, I can see minor differences.

My advice would be to look for a really clean G11 or G12. Same lens as the G10. The G10 had over 14 MP, the G11 & 12 had 10. Even so, the extra resolution is eaten up by higher noise at ISO 400. And I don't see any better definition of fine detail; but I do see more noise grain. Also, the G11/G12 will do better at ISO 800. If I remember correctly, the G11/G12 had a fully articulated LCD; which is nice for sneaky shots with the camera at waist level. Normally, for cameras of that size, I use a neck cord attached to the right hand strap lug. Mainly because it wraps neatly around the camera and it's still able to fit in a loose pocket. With a 2 point attached neck strap, they don't wrap well and the whole thing isn't pocketable.

Hope this helps,

Jerry

Jerry