What camera?

[riwiho]

My canon ixus point and shoot recently packed in after many years of general use.

I have enjoyed taking pictures with the canon but it was obviously limited with what it can do. I do not pretend to take high quality images but i enjoy messing around with the settings and have some interesting results.

I now have a budget of around 300 to spend on a replacement and have no idea what I want. My only requirements are that it has a reasonably optical zoom and is as versatile as possible.

I have reader lots of review and have been rather taken with the canon G9, does anyone have any experience with this unit or any viable alternatives?

Any help is very welcome as my holiday is in 4 weeks and I need to have the new unit by then. I am more than happy to consider DSLR or point and shoot however the budget does not leave me with many DSLR options.

thanks

[thekirbyfake]

My Ixus just gave up the ghost too and I've managed to get a refurb DSLR with lens from Canon for under £300.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by thekirbyfake on Tuesday 29th July 19:18

[riwiho]

Just bumping this up to see if there are any thoughts on the G9

[andyparrott]

riwiho said:

Just bumping this up to see if there are any thoughts on the G9

I have a G9, it's a good camera for what it is. Not as good as a DSLR but better than a compact (manual controls, hotshoe for flash, RAW).

Size wise I can just about fit it in a coat pocket.

Only thing I don't particularly like is the wide end of the zoom, I would prefer something that was a bit wider.

[gingerpaul]

Andy is spot on. If you want one knowing full well the quality isn't the same as a DSLR then it's a great camera. It'll never compete with a 40D or whatever because their sensors are nearly 10 times the area of that on the G9. It got mine because if I'd got a DSLR I'd never have taken it anywhere. The G9 fits in a coat pocket.

My main complaint is the poor performance above ISO 200. The picture gets very noisy. You can see that in the picture below, which was taken at ISO 800.



Here's a crop at full resolution.



It does good shots where you can stay at ISO 200 or lower though. Some more examples.







It's pretty tough too. When I was skiing I quite often had it hanging round my neck, just tucked inside my coat, and it withstood a couple of hard falls.

If you want to see some pictures by some people far better than me to see what the camera can really do then click on this link here: Linky. This seems to be the largest collection of users of this camera and it's what helped my decision to get one along.

Edited to fix the bottom picture and to say that the top picture doesn't look too noisy there. If it was any bigger it would be. I'll just knock up a crop of it to demonstrate.

And again to add the crop.

Edited by gingerpaul on Wednesday 30th July 11:52

Edited by gingerpaul on Wednesday 30th July 12:00

[bad_roo]

A Canon A720IS and a waterproof housing make a pretty cool combination.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

I'm in the same boat as my Pentax Optio compact expired just after the Goodwood FOS! I did some research into a replacement compact and the Panasonic Lumix TZ5 looks like the dogs danglies with 9.1 megapixels and it's 10x zoom:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0016CNOH...

However, I'm now considering getting a refurbed Canon DSLR as per thekirbyfake's recent purchase, along with a much cheaper compact for nights out etc...

[Gillet]

I've just got a G9, and love it. I knew a DSLR would be lost on me, and i didnt want to have to carry around loads of different lenses etc. I just wanted something that was dam good, tough, small, and would help me learn so i can upgrade to a DSLR in the future.

so far i'm well impressed, Macro mode is incredible, and i'm just using Auto modes at the moment so can't wait till i figure out how to play around with it properly.

[DIW35]

For what it's worth, I'm still using a G2 (ancient ancestor of the G9) as my backup camera, and it's still taking great photos. I imagine the G9 should be as good if not better.

[riwiho]

Thanks for all the responses.

I plan to visit my local shop and have a grope of the G9 and see if it takes me. I also plan to have a fondle of a DSLR like a D50 and see if that floats my boat.

My only worry with a DSLR is that I will get fed up of poor results and carrying a large camera round but I am sure with a little staying power and some interesting results I would be hooked.

Headed to Mexico in 5 weeks and will have lots of opportunity for taking images.

[Simpo Two]

riwiho said:

My only worry with a DSLR is that I will get fed up of poor results and carrying a large camera round but I am sure with a little staying power and some interesting results I would be hooked.

Well, you will get better results but you'll have to do some learning to get them. For a long time (both film and digital) I've had an SLR for serious stuff and a compact for handy snaps.

[urban_alchemist]

Ricoh GX-200.

Best controls of any camera (like an SLR). Ultra-wide zoom (24-70 IIRC).

1cm Macro.

12MP (although everyone knows its the sensor, not the megapixels)

Great little beast...

http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/gx/gx200/

[riwiho]

Simpo Two said:

riwiho said:

My only worry with a DSLR is that I will get fed up of poor results and carrying a large camera round but I am sure with a little staying power and some interesting results I would be hooked.

Well, you will get better results but you'll have to do some learning to get them. For a long time (both film and digital) I've had an SLR for serious stuff and a compact for handy snaps.

I believe I need a square kick up the arse and find some motivation. Get the DSLR and go from there, as you say if I want P&S then I can go out and pick one of these up easily.

[gingerpaul]

The only reason I went for the G9 over an entry level DSLR is portability. If that's not a big deal then get a DSLR and get learning.

[Rude Girl]

Simpo Two said:

For a long time I've had an SLR for serious stuff and a compact for handy snaps.

Me too. The SLR is the weapon of choice for when we're going to 'do photography', and I have a Canon A720 which lives in my handbag all the time for everything else.

Simpo - I believe I'll be seeing you on 19 September

[davidd]

Get yourself a dslr, get a decent bag so it is easy to take about.

You won't regret it (although you will need to buy a decent zoom).

D

[Rude Girl]

davidd said:

Get yourself a dslr, get a decent bag so it is easy to take about.

You won't regret it (although you will need to buy a decent zoom).

D

He won't do that for £300!

I'm sure he wouldn't regret it, but he has a budget and he could get a lot of pleasure and some great images out of his photography whilst working up to DSLR. Look at the photographs Mrs Fish takes - that's not a DSLR!