In the first month of ownership I’ve taken a few hundred images on the Canon Powershot G9. My overall impression is that I have probably found the ‘companion camera’ I was looking for. If only I could find someone who stocks the soft case life would be rosy!
Upsides:
- confidently detailed 12Mpx images
- speed of handling (now I’m using a 4Gb SDHC card)
- fantastic screen with auto rotate in playback
- ISO setting on a knob on the body
- ease of use in manual and semi-auto modes
- instant reversion to a compact ‘point and shoot’ for those occasions when you hand the camera to an inexperienced photographer (face detection almost guarantees sharpness and good exposure where it matters)
The downsides:
- slowness and difficulty focusing in Macro mode
- current lack of support for G9 images in either Camera Raw or Lightroom (colour is way out)
- the 80per cent view viewfinder
- exposures are bang on or too light and I regularly underexposure by 1/3-2/3 stops to get the look I want
Posted by David Prakel 