
Well, I just have to gush about a camera today. I picked up a Canon G9 a little over two weeks ago. I can’t say enough good stuff about it.
First, and most important, the RAW files are incredible. At ISO 100, at 180ppi they print at 16x20”. The noise at higher ISO is probably not as good as a similar-price ($500) DSLR like a Nikon D40 or something, but it’s acceptable, and better than 35mm film. The color accuracy right into Camera RAW rocks, and I’m starting to LOVE the SD cards… a 2GB SD card is $15.
Frankly I bought this camera so I’d have a RAW-capable camera with me at all times… I have 2 more books under contract, and I need to provide about 250 images per book. I have to take my own advice: shoot your butt off.
More than that, this camera has brought me back to the days when I used to carry a camera with me rock-climbing, mountaineering and backpacking… my dream was to have a pocket-sized 2 ¼ format camera, an impossibility with film, even with folding models.
The camera I fell in love with was the Olympus 35RC… a semi-automatic rangefinder point-and-shoot, and even the Leica CL didn’t match up to that camera, for what I needed. The G9 is every bit as perfect a solution, with file quality that surpasses most 2 ¼ film. And this is not a claim I make lightly.
And here is the surprise. The LCD viewing screen is my new obsession. Why? Composition.
One of the things you learn when you shoot with a “ground-glass” camera like a 4x5 view camera, a twin-lens reflex or an SLR like a Hasselblad, is that the ground-glass gives you a nice little picture… almost a preview of the photograph. You don’t get lost in the viewfinder, whether it be a rangefinder or a prism, you see this nice little 2-dimensional frame of your image. Except, of course, it’s usually backwards, upside-down or both. The LCD on the G9 does exactly the same thing… it’s just like viewing a ground-glass, except the image is right-side up. It also has a histogram on it, if I want, as well as all sorts of other information. The LCD allows me to see my composition, and visualize my photograph, real-time, with the actual aperture (so I can see the depth of field).
Once I made the adjustment to this radically new way of shooting with a digital camera, yet one firmly rooted in tradition film shooting, I was out of control. I just love it. Beyond that, I can’t really see much through most viewfinders these days… since my glasses it’s just never been quite the same. Heh…
Finally, (and I don’t add this lightly… this is one of the most important factors in choosing a camera), the thing just feels and looks sweet. It has even more of a solid feel than that old Leica CL. It’s metal. It has knobs. This is important, frankly, because if there is one thing I learned from the years I worked selling cameras, it’s that us photographers simply like working the machinery, almost as much (and more, in some cases) than taking pictures. If you’re trying to decide between two cameras, I’ll always tell you to pick the one that feels best to you.
I’ve intentionally stayed away from product reviews and endorsements on this site, but I just can’t stop myself on this camera. It gets my highest form of praise: a resounding “SWEEET!”.
Labels: Canon, Compact Cameras, review