Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Background - I used to own a 7.1 mega pixel Sony Point & Shoot for around an year, back in India. When I came to US i decided to buy a new camera. I wanted a high end Point & Shoot, as they are easy to carry and I thought SLRs would be tough to use. I had multiple choices at hand Sony T200, Canon 850, Canon Powershot S3 or Canon G9. Well I read a lot of reviews, went and checked out all these cameras at B&H Photo Video and finally i decided to buy G9. It was a little pricy when compared to all the other choices I had, but it offered tons of other features which none of them had. Usage - I have been using G9 for over 3 months now and believe me its worth every bit of money and more. First of all the colors that I get from Canon G9, i could not get such beautiful colors from my Sony Camera. The features provided by G9 gave a lot of control and creativity to my pictures. I always shoot my pictures in the Manual Mode now, and G9 makes it so easy to use. The wheel at the back controls a lot of features but mostly i use it for shutter speed and aperture. You can also control the ISO separately and it goes up to 3200. When you play around with these shutter speed, aperture and ISO you get to know that there is so much more to photography. You can freeze motion by using high shutter speed and bigger aperture or you can imply motion by using a shutter speed as low as 15 sec. There is a whole set of pre-adjusted modes available, but when you start using the manual mode and read a little bit about photography you will prefer the Manual Mode. Apart from shutter speed, aperture and ISO you can also use presets for White Balance, flash (both strength and timing) and manual focus. The 6X optical zoom is better than most of the cameras in its class except Canon Powershot S3. Some say that 12.1 mega pixel is an overkill, but never the less its very useful when you want to take pictures and edit them on your computer, most helpful when you want that wide angle look from your photo. Size - Canon G9 is a bit on the bulky side, its not one of those cameras which you can slip it in your jeans pocket. But i guess you can pack all the power in a smaller camera. It feels a little heavy, but then again you will get used to it and when you see your pictures on that 3 inch wide screen, you wont regret the size. The screen is very bright and beautiful. Pictures - I think i have used G9 for all sorts of pictures - I have taken Portraits, Landscapes, Kids, Slow Shutter speed, Fast Shutter Speed, Indoors, Outdoors and they all come out great. I don't use the presets much, but once i used the Snow preset and it did the job perfectly well for me. I have used the RAW pictures a few times and its really useful feature to have, if you would like to edit the pictures without loosing quality. I have also taken a lot of Movie shots and they also come out reasonably good, I don't expect much from it as its primarily for photography. One good thing is that you can zoom in and out while taking the video, which was absent in my Sony. Finally speaking you will be amazed to the pictures you take...when they start to look pretty professional. Other useful features include Color Ascent mode, where only one color gets highlighted in your picture and rest of the picture is B/W. You can use this to play around with your pictures and it gives excellent results. Battery Life - Well Battery lasts for only one day out i.e. around 200 photographs without flash. It also depends on the time you spent in viewing your pictures on the wide screen. But I would have loved it, if it lasted more. I guess you need to keep an extra battery with you. Memory - Only a meager 32 mb card comes with the camera. You definitely need a bigger card. Buy a 2GB or 4GB one, so that you can make full use of the 12.1 mega pixels. Recommendation - Well i think this is the best Point and Shoot camera available. It has acted as an inspiration to me and I have learnt a lot about photography after buying and using this camera. I just love the hobby now and probably in few months I would shift to SLRs as now I feel comfortable in using them. Hope this review was helpful to you. PS: Talk about inspiration - I did a blog post on Photography, if you get time do read it, here is the link - [..]

After working with this camera for a month I ended up sending it back to Amazon. I didn't want to have to buy a DSLR and a compact camera to get everything I used to get in one good workhorse. That is why I researched all sorts of cameras for several months before deciding on the G9. In theory it appeared to have all the qualities of both in one camera. I specifically wanted a camera that was physically small enough to become a permanent attachment for those spontaneous shots, one that could take candid shots without spooking people, extra optical zoom, high megapixels so I could print large-sized photos, one that would take spectacular macros. I also needed a camera to take good, clear, close-up photos of jewelry for online sales. I take hundreds of jewelry photos per week, and don't have time to color-correct them all in an editing program. Perhaps I got a lemon, I don't know, I'll try another G9 from a local camera shop before I completely jump ship on this one although at this point I'm pretty gun-shy about Canon. The white balance totally sucks when using the G9 in the studio under ECA lamp bulbs, even when setting the custom white balance using a grey card (or any other color card for that matter). Cyan colors in turquoise and other glue-green gems are interpreted as plain old blue, even in RAW mode. I have an old Sony DSC-S75 that records turquoise as true turquoise under ECA bulbs without any color-correcting needed. I have asked numerous people about this issue, one professional said my Sony was the exception and that most compact cameras have problems interpreting the cyan colors correctly under artificial light. Even directly speaking to the Canon support representative produced no comments or solutions to this issue, it was as if they never heard of this problem before. The battery life is unacceptably short. Apparently this is an issue with other Canon compacts as well from what I've read. I thought it was just because I had the camera on a lot trying to learn how to use the features, but even so the battery should last longer than a day. When I finally did have one of those great spontaneous photo moments, the battery died almost immediately and I had to use my trusty old Sony dinosaur instead. There is a blue cast to the live view screen, but I have noticed that when I download the photos, they all have a slight blue cast when viewed on my computer. Blue seems to be the G9's favorite color. Probably okay for average amateur shots, definitely not acceptable for professional product shots or award-winning photos (like my old Sony has done for me). Macros were okay but not likely to win ribbons. I had trouble getting the G9 to focus on what I wanted it to focus on, and I had tremendous trouble trying to get a sharp photo of earrings hanging on a display, it just would not get it all in focus no matter what settings I tried and, believe me, I tried all sorts of tricks. Back to the Old Sony once again. Apparently newer is not always better, especially with ECA lamps.

I have been shooting with manual focus, manual exposure SLR systems since I was twelve years old. That's almost thirty years using kit like the Olympus OM-1 (my first love, too bad it was stolen!), Pentax MX, numerous lenses, professional flash equipment like Vivitar 283 and Sunpak 383. My cousin asked me to shoot her wedding, so I thought maybe the time had finally come to switch to digital. Okay, so maybe I'm old school, and maybe I have some unrealistic expectations for modern equipment, but every time I looked at the digital SLR offerings, I was disappointed. Even the Nikons (well, the affordable ones like the D70 and D80) were polycarbonate bodies with plastic lenses. Not professional-grade. Do you have to pay thousands of dollars to get a metal-bodied SLR today? Something built to withstand a 5 fps motor drive, like in the old days? Well, I looked at the Pentax K10D -- metal body, reasonably affordable, fully compatible with all my lenses -- but I just had this vague sense of dissatisfaction. These fragile contraptions are big, clunky, dare I say dorky compared to an old film SLR. Hey, and don't let any dust get on the sensor. Sheesh, talk about wearing kid gloves. Then a friend told me about the Canon G9. Whoa, paradigm shift here, folks. I hadn't considered a non-SLR, but I sure am glad I did. This thing has pro-grade features: aperture and shutter priority modes as well as full manual exposure, manual focus, RAW capability, decent optical zoom range, spot metering, a hot shoe that works with all my existing flash gear, and many other things that usually only make it into SLR's. For example, with most P&S cameras, shutter lag is a huge problem. Good portraits demand instant shutter response. The G9's shutter is almost instantaneous SO LONG AS you half-press to lock the focus, and compose with the optical viewfinder (i.e, turn the LCD off). I am getting great portraits of my kids using this technique, and it does feel a bit like using an old Leica rangefinder. Never understood why anyone would give up an SLR; now I get it. Quiet, easily concealed, doesn't announce "I AM A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!" or otherwise make you look or feel like a dork. The optical viewfinder zooms pretty closely with the lens, and parallax has not been a problem. I wear eyeglasses and the viewfinder works just fine with them; in fact, better than with my MX. When using the viewfinder, the LCD just displays important camera information: shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, stuff like that. I've found it's pretty easy to glance down at the LCD to check those things, then return to composing in the viewfinder. For those moments when I really need to see exactly what's in the frame, I switch to composing with the LCD. This is handy to set the manual exposure, too. I shot some pics of my kids in front of the fireplace and in front of the Christmas tree, with available light, and I just dialed down the shutter speed in manual mode until the exposure looked right in the LCD. And what an LCD -- again, it's SLR-grade. Overall, the build quality is phenomenal for this price. It feels solid. Others have compared it to a tank, or a swiss watch, or a Leica. It is very enjoyable to hold and use. Taking pictures is fun again! Video capability is a bonus, too, that you won't find on SLR's. I'm not a big video shooter, but I have two young kids and there'll be times when I want it. Back when I was looking at SLR's, I always figured I'd need to purchase a separate (cheap) video camera, maybe a Pure Digital Flip model. Not anymore. The G9 is not perfect. Some shortcomings can be overcome or compensated for, while others simply can't. I am disappointed with the noise above ISO 200. Autofocus is not as fast as an SLR. Wide-angle zoom isn't as wide as I'd really like. The retractable lens looks a bit fragile to me. I recommend the Lensmate lens adapter for when you think you might bump into things. It's anodized aluminum, so it's rugged; unfortunately, it really sticks out into the optical viewfinder, cutting off about half the view. Well, that's when you go with the LCD, I guess. Works of man fall short of perfection, and all gear has strengths and limitations. Learn them and use them, or work around them as best you can. There are lighting conditions that NO digital handles well, and for those, I'm happy to continue shooting film. But for everything else, I'm really happy with the portability, control, responsiveness, and quality of the G9. All things considered, especially that it's less than half the price of a D80 or "serious" DSLR, it is a great camera.

I own a second Canon Powershot SD600 digital elph for over two years now, the first one accidentally fell into the ocean and was damaged instantly. I am very impressed with its sturdy and compact built and it has not failed me in taking wonderful pictures in my travels both here in the US and abroad hence I decided to buy another one. The choice to buy the Canon G9 was initially driven by the need for a higher megapixel camera and I truly believe you simply can not go wrong with the CANON brand especially with the compact point and shoot type. The reviews from early buyers also influenced my decision. The body frame of the camera ( metal alloy ) is bar none the best in its class, the look and feel is expensive and classy, very comfortable to handle and operate, long battery life and the pictures are awesome! The large active LCD matrix does not strain the eyes of the viewer. The accesories (teleconverter, macro, wide angle lenses) are really not that essential for this very versatile camera. My few complaints: the zooming in and out function is surprisingly slower than my digital elph which is a disappointment. The LCD viewer is raised from the main surface of the camera back hence can be potentially scratched although this can be alleviated with a peel off screen protector which is a challenge to apply completely free of trapped bubbles. For future models, a recessed screen, like the digital elph's is much more protected and lasting. Overall, still highly recommended for quality, durability,and dependability if needing a higher end but still compact point and shoot type digital cam.

I bought the G9 and thought it was a very nice, well built camera that has something very cool in terms of design, build and quality. BUT . . . it's just too bulky and it bothered me every time I used it and just carrying it around. It is not pocketable. And as someone who studied industrial design and knows the competing cameras, market and technology I can not see why the camera is so heavy and bulky compared to other 10-12MP cameras. If it had a large sensor it would be understandable. But mainly, as a second camera to one's DSLR/SLR or other it just doesn't make sense. It is sharp and very good, but nothing greater than the competition. It is also quite complicated, offering great features but not easy, super fast or intuitive. I returned my G9. I bought the new Ricoh GRD2 yesterday and love love love the form factor, being about half the size and weight of the G9, easier to use and seemingly more of a photographers camera akin to small Contax cameras, Rollei 35, or a Minox (35) yet even smaller. If size doesn't matter to you, the G9 is wonderful and a good value (can get for just over $400 now). But the Ricoh is truly pocketable and delight in addition to feeling to be a better photographer's tool. Hope this helps. [...]

I've owned the G7 for about 1 month now and I've really learned to appreciate all its advanced features - but recently I received my G9 and I will be returning the G7. What I like about the G9 over the G7: 1. Bigger screen (3.0" vs 2.5") - with no apparent decrease in battery life. 2. Picture quality is better. I have done many parallel tests using the exact settings on both cameras (with the exception of the 12 vs 10 MP of course) and the results have been clearly more favorable towards the G9 in terms of light metering and sharpness. The G9 has a new metering system as well as a more advanced focusing system too. 3. RAW option is great. Even though most pics will be taken using JPEG (to conserve memory space), you know it when you've got a great landscape with just the perfect lighting conditions that you know may result in a printable pic, in which case you will want to have a raw copy for processing it to the highest potential. 4. Timelapse photo functionality is a very nice to have option which the g7 lacks 5. The physical handling of the camera is better, the front has more grip. 6. Some other design aesthetics have also gone into the g9 which I prefer. 7. Noise levels are exactly the same as in the G7. I tested both up to 400 ISO (I would not use anything higher that that) many times and the speculations found on the internet forums that the higher number of pixels would result in more noise is simply incorrect - at least in my ability to see it in my tests. * the only thing I dislike in the g9 over the g7 is that new usb connection door mechanism. It feels like it may one day break even with proper use. The "slide out" door (like the battery door) mechanism was so much better in terms of use and possible durability. If I were a G7 owner (and you could not return it because you've had it longer than 30 days) I would not upgrade as the g7 is a superb camera - but if you were looking to buy a new camera the g9 is a better choice over the g7. The g9 is the perfect camera alternative to a bulky SLR - without the loss of total photographic control or quality. Highly recommended.

1. Background info: I am not a Canon user (but I have nothing against Canon products), I've shot with film for many years (Contax), and digitally for the past 4+ years (Sony 828, Sony V3, Sony R1). 2. I was very interested in the G9 when it was recently announced because of the great reputation of the Canon G series and most importantly--> the return of the RAW format in the G9. Furthermore, everything on paper completely outshined my ancient Sony V3; a very good camera but very very slow... and with limited zoom range etc... 3. Thus it was very dissapointing when I had to return the Canon G9 after several days of testing. Here were my impressions of the camera. a. Build Quality: Good b. Size: Good; actually smaller than my V3. c. Performance: excellent--> RAW write times were impressively fast (for a point and shoot). d. LCD: completely terrible. This is supposed to be the state of the art LCD (3 inch), but there was an overt cool /bluish color cast. I tried every suggested variable (via Canon Tech and various on the forums), I went to a local camera store to try another G9 (same problem), and my observations were also confirmed via numerous folks on the web. Some suggested that I just ignore the color cast and just use the LCD for framing and for checking basic exposure--initially a resonable argument but then when you logically think about it--> why should anyone put up with an overt color cast (and also an overly contrasty) image on the LCD, in a supposed top of the line point and shoot camera, from an industry leader like Canon? It just doesn't make sense. I mean, a $200.00 cheap 5 MP camera has better color rendition on the LCD than this G9. e. Even with the above LCD issues, I was still going to keep it if it weren't for the only "ok" image results. I did some basic testing comparing the G9 vs Sony V3 (real old camera)--> all shot in RAW, all shot via Tripod, all shot using calibrated gray card etc... Bottomline, the G9 images were good and I'm sure that people will be able to get nice shots from this camera--> but when / if you actually compare it to something like the Sony V3 (which again is an old camera)--> the Sony consistently just produces more sharper images. 4. Thus each person will have to decide what's important to them in regards to their photographic needs / wants / goals etc... For me, it's always image quality and thus I had to return the G9. All around a decent camera that could and should have been a lot better. For now, I'll continue using the Sony V3 and episodically be frustrated with the slow performance, but at least the image quality will be excellent.

I'm a professional photographer and I don't always want to carry my 1D or 5D around with me on trips, biking or in the kayak. They are just to heavy and easy to steal. This little camera fits in my fanny pack and gives me about 70% of the control I have with the bigger cameras. The manual control is simply outstanding both in what you can do and how Canon implemented the menus. I have a SD500 that I've used for years and it has little manual control. What the SD500 does have in manual control is all burried in layers of menus that make it slow and hard to get to. The G9 is nearly as easy to use as my 5D and that is amazing for a little camera like this one. Having the ability to shoot RAW is the final icing on the cake. Don't let earlier reviews worry you about RAW, Adobe photoshop and Lightroom support it fully. The build quality is amazing, it feels like a tank and I expect it to stand up to my needs very well. I will also be using the underwater case and that is a great additional feature that further inhances its value to me. On the down side, the f/stop is a little limited. It stops at f/8 which is a little less than I would like but it is mostly fine. It is very noisy at ISO 400 or larger which makes me wish the camera manufactures would stop playing the megapixel game and focus more on image quality. I would take a 8mp camera that looks great at ISO400 over a 12mp that doesn't any day. In the end it is a camera that I will have with me a lot and it will take great photos in most of the situations I need to to. Those photos will all be outstanding compaired to not having a camera with me at all which is after all the point of photography. Highly reccomended!