Canon G9: a point and shoot equivalent to a leica M?

[plummerl]

has anyone made any flashless nighttime city street shots with the G9?
How would you set the camera up to do this?
a tripod would be used I supose.

Here are some shots I took just between Christmas and New Years. The shots were all with tripod, ISO 80 and auto exposure.

 

[xayraa33]

wow Larry, those shots look good and all on Auto.
would one of the settings on SCN, like the fireworks one be any better?
from what I see, Auto and a tripod work just fine.

 

[plummerl]

My approach is to at least keep control of a few of parameters. For these night shots (actually morning!), I usually use Av mode and set the aperture at around f5 and let the camera choose the exposure. If it is a challenging scene (contrast wise) I might do some bracketing exposures. Since I am always shooting RAW, quite a bit can be done in the "development" phase. This session was also paired with a medium format film setup.

 

[xayraa33]

thanks for the info Larry, I now see that the G9 allows for some manual control.

 

[DNN]

Such as Contax T3......?

T3...it's a film camera, isn't it? 😕

But yes, T3 and other T-series are good cameras as far as I heard. Have you used any of them? It's a shame nobody will repair them if they are broken 🙁

 

[galavanter]

I sure love what street photographer Tony Marciante does with the Canon G7 on Flickr. He's the main reason I'm asking this question here. His work sure looks as nice as many older Leica camera street photos I've seen.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyshots/

I just looked and this one immediately looked familiar. Check out his homage to Robert Frank's "covered car".

 

[tsarandoi]

G9's barrel distortion is awful.

Polaroid A520 is the way to go.
http://flickr.com/photos/sotome/tags/a520/page7/
To me this looks authentic:

G9 is a waste of money and time.

 

[Paul T.]

I needed a digital in a hurry (for document photography) once my old Minolta conked out, and the G9 seemed good enough.

Overall, I'm immensely disappointed. I've taken it out to places where I'd normally take my old Olympus Stylus. If only this £299 camera measured up to that £80 one. Yes, barrel distortion is bad, I seem to get unexpected problems with camera shake, I seem congenitally unable to hold the damn thing level. THe lens is slow, although I knew that before I bought it. But worst of all is the image quality and noise, even at 200 ASA. It seems especially poor for buildings, although seeing plummerll's shots I will plump for 50 ASA next time.

Yet, for all that, it has delivered one terrific sequence of photos. Taken by my son at Brick Lane in London on a blustery, snowy Easter Sunday. He's 7, obviously they're more down with the new technology (he even manages to hold the damn thing straight, too...

 

[kuzano]

Ah, the vastly overlooked G6

Ah, the vastly overlooked G6

With RAW included and the faster F2 lens, allbeit at 4X. The reduced resolution is not a problem as prints to 13X19 should be easy, and small sensors with huge (read 12Mp) pixel numbers are overkill for the sensor size. Strictly for the Pixel Peekers.

 

[Tuolumne]

I've heard good things about it but nothing to make it jump out of a three way tie (in my mind) with the Ricoh GX100 and the Panasonic Lumix LX2. Of the three, the Ricoh looks the most interesting to me - stepped zoom and viewfinder, good manual controls. Someone who actually has the G9 chime in.

Well, I have a GX-100 and am not very happy with it. Even at low ISOs the picture quality is very electronic to me. (Not noisy, electronic.) The add-on digital viewfinder has an image that is way too small to work with. Plus it has ergonomic quirks that are not to my liking. I find that I don't really enjoy using it much. I have just ordered a G9, thanks to the M8 on loan thread 😱, and will let you know how I like it after I use it for a while.

I did write an earlier post saying the GX-100 was not as bad as people were saying, but I am having second thoughts about this camera.
/T

 

[tsarandoi]

Olympus D-435 (C-180)

Olympus D-435 (C-180)

I found Polaroid A520 when Olympus D-435 was already on the way ($40 incl. shipping on eBay).

I think that rangefinder is all about quality wide angle lens with minimum barrel distortion. That's what contributes the most to that special look. D-435's barrel distortion is almost non-existent:

G9's built-in right rear view mirror effect is just rediculous:

Buildings are mostly straight -- the way D-435 shows them:

I'm still ordering Polaroid A520 because it's even better than D-435.

 

[kevin m]

Well, I have a GX-100 and am not very happy with it. Even at low ISOs the picture quality is very electronic to me. (Not noisy, electronic.)

Well, I have to disagree:

The add-on digital viewfinder has an image that is way too small to work with. Plus it has ergonomic quirks that are not to my liking.

I wouldn't have paid for the EVF myself, but it came with the camera and it's surprisingly useful. It's useful in bright light when the display washes out, and the fact that it flips up allows for ground level macro shots without getting your face in the mud.

Lastly, the controls, with a bit of practice, are seamless in use. Most importantly for an RF user, the camera has virtually no shutter lag when set up properly, as the above picture illustrates nicely, I think.

 

[joe r]

G9

G9

I had a G9 and replaced it with a Ricoh GRD II. The 35mm end on the G9 was not wide enough for me, and it's too big to be considered a pocket camera. The G9 looks great on paper, but when it comes down to it I'm better off with a smaller, simpler camera with a little bit more personality. YMMV.

 

[kevin m]

The GX100 not only has a 24mm wide end, but with an adapter you can go even wider. I've got a super-8 Canon lens on now that gives a 14mm wide angle, with a bit of vignetting, and a 17mm wide with no vignetting at all.

Pretty cool. 🙂

 

[Tuolumne]

If wide is your thing, then the GX-100 is a very interesting camera. I rarely shoot wider than 35mm. The 25mm on my GX-100 was interesting but not very useful to me. As a street nature photographer, I find the long end much preferable, hence I think the G9 will be more to my liking. I found the electronic finder on the GX-100 to be too small to use. YMMV. As for "electronic", I guess that image looks electronic to me, but I admit I may be biased by being told it came from the GX-100. As for shutter lag, the biggest shutter lag problem the GX-100 has is the length of time it takes to write a RAW file - forever. There are few modern digital cameras that suffer from true shutter lag once you know how to use them.

/T

 

[poohduck]

Hi. I have a powershot a650is. I photograph anything that appeals to me, so I need a camera that can do the lot. I preferred this to the g9, because it has the flip out lcd screen, which I use a lot for macro shots especially, and for getting the horizon straight when shooting low or high. I also like that it uses aa batteries, which I use for headlight etc, (great compatibility). I find the zoom range is really good. I like the manual controls and the ability to place focus point. Because it is portable I always have it with me, along with a tripod that fits in a daypack. The battery life is amazing. I have a photo site - most of the recent photos are with this camera - www.poohduck.com. One thing I have found is that most shots are too bright - so I have started knocking exposure down one click.

 

[wjlapier]

my .02...

I have the G9 and love just everything about it. Great macro mode. Video is excellent--don't use the HD mode. Images are great to good as you increase ISO. 800ISO and you see alot of NR artifacts, but that's what raw is for and it is another option. Use it when you need to.

I owned the Fujifilm F30 and it and the 31 were king of P+S when it came to IQ and high ISO. For the type of shooting I do--that's key here--I prefer the G9's IS to the F30's high ISO, if you get what I mean. One other neat thing about the G9--time lapse video. Kinda fun for parties and stuff like that, but also for cloudscape video. Neat stuff.

 

[Tuolumne]

my .02...

I have the G9 and love just everything about it. Great macro mode. Video is excellent--don't use the HD mode. Images are great to good as you increase ISO. 800ISO and you see alot of NR artifacts, but that's what raw is for and it is another option. Use it when you need to.

I owned the Fujifilm F30 and it and the 31 were king of P+S when it came to IQ and high ISO. For the type of shooting I do--that's key here--I prefer the G9's IS to the F30's high ISO, if you get what I mean. One other neat thing about the G9--time lapse video. Kinda fun for parties and stuff like that, but also for cloudscape video. Neat stuff.

How do you do time lapse video with it?

/T

 

[xayraa33]

like the Leica M8, the Canon G9 must have "the something" as it is a very popular subject for discussion in camera circles.

 

[Tuolumne]

It has that certain "je ne sais quoi" that makes it a real joy to use. Takes great accessories, too.

/T