Canon G Series - Here's Some Love

[semilog]

There's only .2 or .3 percent separating the 3 of the top 4 - I don't think thats really enough to condemn canon.

In the high-end (>$300) P&S category it's worse than that. Canons failed three times more frequently than Panasonics (6.2% vs. 1.9%). But what really torqued me was the awfulness of dealing with Canon's warranty dep't., particularly on what is apparently a well-known issue.

By saving themselves a couple of bucks, they've already lost hundreds of dollars in sales, and in the future it may be thousands -- I won't even consider one of their FF DSLRs, now. The G9 is pitched as a prosumer compact, and it was my first experience with Canon gear. They managed to convert a very good customer experience (it was a great little camera, for a year) into an awful one.

Too bad. I was seriously considering a Canon DSLR, and if it weren't for this I certainly would have bought my wife an S90.

 

[gavinlg]

In the high-end (>$300) P&S category it's worse than that. Canons failed three times more frequently than Panasonics (6.2% vs. 1.9%). But what really torqued me was the awfulness of dealing with Canon's warranty dep't., particularly on what is apparently a well-known issue.

By saving themselves a couple of bucks, they've already lost hundreds of dollars in sales, and in the future it may be thousands -- I won't even consider one of their FF DSLRs, now. The G9 is pitched as a prosumer compact, and it was my first experience with Canon gear. They managed to convert a very good customer experience (it was a great little camera, for a year) into an awful one.

Too bad. I was seriously considering a Canon DSLR, and if it weren't for this I certainly would have bought my wife an S90.

I'm still not convinced on the relevance of that paper - of all the high end compacts, canon would sell significantly more than panasonic or any of the other brands - are the percentages relative or outright for cameras sold? In other words is the data comparable?

I've had different experience with canon - I've had 4 canon DSLRs and 2 canon point and shoots over the last 5-6 years, and none of them has ever given me a problem, despite being taken all over the world and used hard. On the contrary, I had an olympus point and shoot stop working and warrantee wouldn't fix it, I had a nikon d300 intermittently stop AF'ing for no reason, and I had an Olympus e-3 which had the tripod socket fall out, and olympus wouldn't cover it under warrantee - I had to pay $27 for 3 tiny little screws to tighten up the tripod socket.

Just saying!

 

[semilog]

I'm still not convinced on the relevance of that paper - of all the high end compacts, canon would sell significantly more than panasonic or any of the other brands - are the percentages relative or outright for cameras sold? In other words is the data comparable?

Seems to be normalized to sales, yes. It's failure per unit.

I've had different experience with canon...

A completely fair assessment. I've had good luck with Nikon warranty service, and so far I have not had to test Olympus or Panasonic. If I do, and their response is comparable to Canon's I'll take my business elsewhere, tell my friends, and tell the company. Just as I have with Canon.

That's the only way to encourage these companies to do better.

 

[rpsawin]

My G9 is in my laptop bag and I always have it with me throught the week. I am very impressed with the camera. The menu system took awhile for me to get used to. I've had no quality issues with it. I find it to be a very capable camera and fun to use as well.

Best regards,

Bob

 

[peterm1]

I recently purchased a low milage G11 from someone who obviously did not like it much, (It was only a couple of months old) but I find it to be excellent. Great IQ, very functional and nice to handle (conventional twisty dials etc) and nice to shoot. Its only sins that I have found so far is that the optical finder is not really useful at closer distances - OK at infinity although covering only 77% of the field of view but with horrible parallax up close and secondly, that there is much more shutter delay in some situations than I find tenable for a Leica M / DSLR shooter. Never the less it is excellent for a pocketable camera and so long as you use it for subjects that are not dashing about at speed, its pretty good. I especially like the results and as I said IQ is great, especially at lower ISO settings but I have taken quite usable (and surprisingly good - little chroma noise ) shots in low light at 1600 ISO. So I can reccomend this camera. To be sure I would like an M4/3 to use with my Leica M glass and will no doubt buy one eventually but at half the going price the G series are a bargain.

 

[newspaperguy]

FWIW Department - My G-5 was purchased used, and performs flawlessly despite having spent the past two years bouncing about on the floor of my old car. On the same vein, my Canon A590IS PnS survived a fall from the back of my moving truck to the highway (don't ask) and still works fine.

 

[camera.bear]

The G series is a great series of cameras. I do agree that there is some shutter lag, however it is much better than where digitals P&S cameras started out. I remeber shooting my A70; there was some shutter lag.

I had the G6 for 4 years and I really enjoyed the camera, but after awhile the limitations caught up with it and I found myself leaving it behind more and more ofter. Too blucky and too slow. I ended up with an A590IS which was super convenient, but lacked the IQ I was looking for. I was thrilled when Canon retrofied the G10 into the G11 and unstuffed the sensor back to 10 MP. I have had a great time using the G11, but I do agree about the OVF. Most of the time, I just pretend that it is not there.

 

[tom_f77]

I bought a G10 a year or two ago to see if it would work for me.

Never really got into it.

Gave it to my dad. It wasn't better enough than the G6 for him to make up for the non-swivel-screen.

In the end found it a good home with my friend Louise who took it to Cuba and now can't put it down:

tom

 

[sfaust]

I've had a G7, then G9, once the G9 was stolen I bought a G10. I've liked the G9 and G10 very much, and carried it with me daily. Its a very capable P&S for those that want better control of the camera than a typical P&S. The only thing I really wish it was better at was better image quality at high ISO's (usable to 640, 800 in a pinch).

I was going to replace it with a G11, but then got interested in the m4/3 bodies with M mount lenses. I just purchased a E-P1 with a couple lenses, and the beloved G10 will be going on eBay. The m4/3 gives me better IQ at high ISO, shallower DOF, and lens choice. A little bigger, but the trade off is worth it in the end for me.

 

[sfaust]

Here are a couple shots from the E-P1 I replaced the beloved G10 with. All shot with available light using the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 lens either wide open or nearly so. I wouldn't have been able to get the same shallow DOF with the slower lens and smaller senor on the G10, nor have them be as noise free as they are. I find the shutter lag about even on E-P1 with the G10, although I've found ways on both to minimize it to a very acceptable level for street shooting by using various camera settings. The lack of a built in flash hasn't been an issue so far because of the great low light performance, but I fear I will miss that from the G10 at some point.

E-P1, 20mm, 1/40th, f1.7, ISO 400

E-P1, 20mm, 1/40th, f2.0, ISO 1000

E-P1, 20mm, 1/40th, f1.7, ISO 640

 

[januaryman]

Wow, that lens is razor sharp!

 

[sfaust]

Yes, it is, and very fast, a great match for how I like to shoot. A lot of E-P1 owners are selling the kit 17mm 2.8 and picking up the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 because of its optical quality and size. The other 'kit' lens (the 14-42) is not as sharp as the 20mm but on par with the G10, with the G10 having the added advantage of being a tad faster as well.

 

[januaryman]

Damn. I thought I was done spending money on gear for a while... Now you've done it!

 

[sfaust]

You've been around long enough to know it never ends! 🙂 🙂

 

[januaryman]

{sigh} Yes, I know. I know.

 

[sfaust]

Keep in mind Jim that you also gave it right back to me with your discussion on the advantages of the EVF. I'm considering selling the E-P1 to upgrade to an E-P2 with an EVF, but am wrestling with the value of the upgrade vs the benefits. Essentially a $400-600 uplift for the EVF and added features.

Not quite sure its worth it, but YOU are responsible for setting me down that path!

 

[januaryman]

Oh. I guess we're even, then. And "broker" after reading each other's posts. The EVF is excellent, but one gripe -- the damn dioptor is not click-stopped so I'm often spending a LOT of unsuccessful time trying to focus with a + or - dioptor setting focusing on an image that will never become clear. I need to white mark that bump to make sure it's set to zero.

But I'll wait till I've accumulated more Amazon gift certificates before I plunk down almost $400... At least I think I can wait. Those cat photos blew me away. Excellent work, Stephen.

 

[sfaust]

Can I just use YOUR Amazon gift certificates? I'd have no problem spending your money on it since you in fact started it 🙂

Thanks for the compliments on the cat photos. Just to be fair to my other buddy, I should throw in a dog photo of her!

And to get back on track with the G10, here is one shot recently of her on the G10. Fill flash was used around -1stop or so. I still need to give the G10 some love since its a great little camera. Mine got sent off yesterday to the winning bid on eBay and I already miss it. I should have kept it as well as the E-P1 just because.

 

[racoll]

I bought the G11 along with the S90. The S90 is great when I want to have something to take along that can easily pocket. Awesome performance! The G11 gets a lot of use when I don't want to carry around a lot of gear but want more capability than the S90. I love the G11 and find myself becoming more and more hooked on it everyday. The performance at ISO800 and 1600 is pretty impressive for compact cameras.

Andy