Do you own a Powershot G10 ?

[Steve.Ledger]

I'm a very casual photographer. I mostly use a PENTAX *istDS (purchased soon after it was released). I does me fine, but sometimes it's just too bulky to tote around.
A couple of months ago I wanted a small pocket cam and after reading many reviews settled on the DMC-LZ10.
Well it was a complete waste of $350 Aussie dollars.

I hate wasting money and can't afford to buy rubbish again.
I'm seriously looking at the Powershot G10 which offers v.good manual control, quality images and reasonable good video mode.
My concerns are:

1) Too many pixels
2) Noise at ISO 400 (and up)
3) Only 4:3 video recording

Everything else about the camera I really like, especially the design and the build quality (magnesium body)

I fell into the *professional* reviews trap with the DMC-LZ10 and ended up with a very disappointing camera. Not keen on taking notice of pro review sites again.

I'd love to hear from genuine G10 owners.

Is this camera worth the money?

How does it perform in real every day life and is the older 4:3 video mode an issue?

 

[Orby1]

Hi Sledger,
I got my G10 a couple of weeks ago so I'm still getting used to it, but so far I have no regrets or problems at all. Your points in order:
1. Too many pixels - I read a lot of reviews before I bought, and many seemed to mention how they wished Canon had fitted a better, higher quality chip with fewer magapixels. I can see the pointlessness of this incessant megapixel war between manufacturers, but to be honest, you can just set the camera to 10 if you like, or 8, or whatever. Not a problem to me.
2. Noise at 400ISO. Yes I'd read about this before I bought. I like to do a lot of low light and night-time shots and was a bit worried, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Actually I took some 8" exposures last night, I just stuck the thing on a tripod and kept it on 100. Gorgeous!
3. 4:3 video. I have a camcorder!

So far I'm very happy with the G10, no problems at all.

 

[Steve.Ledger]

Thanks Orby1,

With the pixels question, yes you can set the cam to use less recorded pixels (which only affects resolution) but this doesn't change the size of the photosites actually used on the sensor. Whatever the setting, they remain the same size and result in the same signal noise at certain light/ISO levels.
This is where the problem lies.
Canon could have increased the sensor size at the same time as increasing the mp??

I don't want to carry a camcorder around as well as a pocket-cam. The whole point of buying a decent small camera is to make it easier to have with me at all times, especially when the dSLR is inappropriate.

Would love to see some of your images when you are ready to post them

Cheers

 

[kiasdad]

Thanks Orby1,


Canon could have increased the sensor size at the same time as increasing the mp??


Cheers

Yes, but with a substantial price-hike I expect. I would love to see Canon make a camera in the same form-factor as the G9/G10 with an APS-sized sensor, with something like an 18-55mm lens. You never know, they might now that Micro 4/3 is about...but the lens would probably be quite slow - say f4 - f5.6. That's assuming it's possible to make a lens that would have compact enough dimensions to fit in with the size of the camera.

The only APS-sized compact that I'm aware of the is the Foveon-based SIgma DP1 (please correct me if the model number is wrong), which has a fixed focal length lens.

One thing that might stop them though is that it might eat into sales of the lower-end DSLRs like the 450D, so it may not be worth the R&D effort. You can dream though...

Whilst I own a G9 rather than a G10, if something happened to my G9, I would buy a G10 in a heartbeat. This series of camera is wonderful. Great ergonomics, great image quality.

 

[Steve.Ledger]

OK - I bought the G10.
So far I'm as happy as a pig in mud
I just love the weight and feel of it.

Now to find more time to use it -

Cropped shot of my mate PeeKai.

 

[Woz!]

1) Too many pixels

It makes for BIG files, which I'm not too fond of. I would have been happy with 10mp, but the quality of RAW files from it are very very good.

2) Noise at ISO 400 (and up)


ISO 800, available light:

Full resolution here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3156/2974674805_48727448a0_o.jpg Warning it's VERY big!
(I tend to shoot RAW and most of the examples from my G10 on that page will have been shot in that format)

As you can see, you can get quite useable high resolution pictures up to 800 ISO. 1600 is only any good for emergencies to be honest, but the I.S is very capable so you don't need to go that fast often at all.

There's quite a few more pictures from the camera on my Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvf-woz/

The camera is a lovely size and very solidly built. Mine was dropped onto a stone floor by a relative when it was only a few days old ( ) but it didn't even scratch the paintwork! There's literally not a mark on it, and it shoots just as well as before.
My one minor complaint is that it's much more complex than my 400D to use - it doesn't have to be as you can turn all the options off, but without reading the manual you're always thinking you're missing something (and you're probably right!).


Edit: doh, just noticed you bought it already! Enjoy - but carry the manual for the first few weeks!