Advice for a tight budget - G11?

Take a look at a refurbed SX50hs from the Canon online store for around $200.  Great little camera with a big zoom.

Murry

NegativeAttitude wrote:

Howdy folks,

I hope I'm posting this in the proper place.

I currently own a D70 which I love very much, but I'm looking for something smaller that I can have on me constantly to encourage myself to shoot a lot more frequently.

Problem: I am on a ridiculously tight budget. I can afford at most £200.

I'm considering a second-hand G11 which I have seen bundled with a bunch of accessories for £190.

Is this a good choice? Am I throwing £190 down the drain? Do you have any better suggestions?

I want something that:

- Shoots RAW

- Has full manual controls

- Has either an OVF or EVF

- Will do for street photography (doesn't take ages to write a raw file, isn't impossible to focus) as well as some travel shots and some night photography.

I'm not looking for something to replace my D70, just to augment my kit for when I can't carry a DSLR.

G11, good camera but, will not do for street photography. The AF is too slow and low light is not that good with a CCD sensor. The G11/G12 make great landscape/travel cameras.

What you should get is a used Sony RX100 which you should be able to get for around the 200 pound mark. It will do everything on your list except the viewfinder (G11 viewfinder is a joke anyway, forget it). You'll also get supremely better image quality and much, much better low light performance. You can also look at a used G1X which is selling for peanuts now but the will not have very good Auto Focus speed. I would go with an RX100, even if you have to save a little more. They are great cameras.

Second on the used G1X, BUT you have to really know your way around a camera. DSLR quality, great color, full manual controls and a big chip currently for $274 used.

Consider various Canon refurb cams from CanonUSA. A G15 refurb was until the 1st of January, $198. US with a 1 yr warranty and free shipping. I think they will go down again Feb 1st. The G1 is about $270. now on the Canon refurb site. I am assuming other Canon worldwide sites have similar availabilities.

tarsus wrote:

Second on the used G1X, BUT you have to really know your way around a camera. DSLR quality, great color, full manual controls and a big chip currently for $274 used.

Yep, the G1-X would be a very good choice, especially at the give-away prices now for a used model. The image quality is excellent, miles above even a G16.

jimwoodward wrote:

Consider various Canon refurb cams from CanonUSA. A G15 refurb was until the 1st of January, $198. US with a 1 yr warranty and free shipping. I think they will go down again Feb 1st. The G1 is about $270. now on the Canon refurb site. I am assuming other Canon worldwide sites have similar availabilities.

Hey, thanks for the tip. I just purchased a refurb'd G15. Great camera. I had one before and took it back after I got a G1-X, then wound up getting rid of the G1-X and regretting taking the G15 back because the image quality was quite good for a small sensor camera and the lens is fantastic.

Cheers.

Thanks for the tip jimwoodward.

Unfortunately it looks like Canon UK don't have the same kind of refurb store they have in the USA. They just seem to have a small eBay store with very few items.

GeraldW wrote:

I have owned most of the G series from the G5 up to the G15. I actually preferred the G11 over the G12. I have also had a number of the S series and am currently using the S95. It is pocketable and does very well in low light and in daylight in the P mode.

Both the G11 and S95 use the same sensor and processor, the main difference is in the lens. The S95 has a 28-105 mm (equivalent) f/2- f/4.9 lens, the G11 is 28-140 mm f/2.8- f/4.8. So the S95 is faster at 28 mm; but the G11 is faster at 105 mm. They are equal at around 50-60 mm. For street photography, it's a toss up, but the G11 has the OVF. The OVF is small; but at least it's there and it's useful in full sun. The G11 also has a fully articulated LCD. I have used that feature to take stealth shots with the camera near waist level and the LCD flipped out. It often doesn't alert the subject and you can get a true candid shot.

As to the Sony RX100, it's a little larger than the S95; but not much. Lens speed is the same as the S95; but the Sony has a larger sensor, so there is less noise at high ISO.

You had several recommendations for the G1X, and it has a much larger sensor ( a bit larger than an M4/3 sensor) and very low noise. But it's big. And since you wanted a smaller "take everywhere" companion for your D70 it's really on the large and heavy side to fill that role.

In the end, the G15 is probably the best choice; but cost will be an issue. It has an OVF; but a fixed LCD. However, it is the best of the G series to date, and if you use a lanyard (neck cord) instead of a conventional 2 point attached neck strap, I find the G15 fits quite easily in the side pocket of looser fitting trousers.

Doesn't the RX100 also have a much higher resolution and DR at base ISO?