New toy

Late adopter that I am, I just acquired a Canon Powershot G9, a point-and-shoot with RAW file capability. I'd been intrigued with Paul Butzi's series of entries about the G9, basically as the walking-around camera when the 5D was too much to carry (and I love that he first got the 5D as a walking around camera in lieu of the Linhof 4x5). I've been facing the same issue, and since my neck injury I've been more reluctant to heft the big rig everywhere I go. There was a shooter on the Newspaper Video listserv getting rid of his G9, and I pounced.

I flirted a couple of years ago with a p&s, and decided that I just didn't like seeing the world through an LCD. Ultimately, it was being stuck in jpg land that made me toss the camera back where it came from (Glazers bought it back—a great reason to buy local). But in video, I can only see the world through an LCD, so I figured I'd just better get used to it.

First impressions, from someone unfamiliar with this genre of cameras: it's a cool little beast with a lot of usability. It's sharp. I like that I can poke it into my subjects (like my flowers). I like that I can actually manually focus it. I really like the RAW file thing. At 1600 it's noisy, no getting around it. But, you know, it's a kinda pretty noise. It reminds me of old 1000 speed Agfachrome.

When get my Sandisk SD reader to work on a Mac (it sees the reader, but not the card—any ideas, anyone?), I'll be even happier.

Comments

[David Adam Edelstein]

I really like my G9 -- and I suspect that Canon should really be selling the 5d and the G9 as a kit, since a ton of people have that combination.

There are many things I find slightly frustrating, but really the only one that I'd change cameras over is if someone came out with the same camera with no. ()!&*. shutter lag.

[Doug Plummer]

I'll talk about this later, but the physicality of the two cameras results in a different kind of imagery from each. Being enclosed in the totality of an SLR view is different than the rough, incomplete abstraction of an LCD view. But being able to poke the camera into stuff, like foliage, and have it in focus an inch from the camera makes for a really different point of view.

[Tom Dills]

Doug - I had the exact problem with the cards for my G9 when I got it. If you're using an SDHC card your card reader might be the issue. The reader needs to be an SDHC reader - an SD reader won't work - and it's not easy to tell since the cards fit. The last couple of cards I bought actually came with an SDHC reader and they work great in my Mac.

[John Kish IV]

Doug-- I've had a G9 since the end of last year. It took a bit of consideration, I almost bought an older G model used (wanted that 1.8 lens). What I wanted was a Olympus Stylus Epic 2.8 with a Canon 10D image. What I got was a G9. After some initial disappointments, I've become very found of it. I've made some prints that I am very pleased with--would put up against anything up to a size. I've gotten used to composing with the rear screen--which is really easier than a waist level viewfinder. If you haven't yet, try the spot metering.
--Enjoy