Canon P&S questions?

[Wilbur]

Last week I went to local zoo and used my old Sony cypershot. I've never been happy w it really.

I've been interest in dslr's but too much camera for me. So that being said canon got my attention with s90 and g11. I played with both other night at best buy. I feel the g11 offers more for same price but is it too much camera.

I'm planning to use it for travel mostly (never more than hobby based pics), maybe some sports from a distance.
I know g series can be little bulky but that's ok.

You might as well say this is first camera lol. So what would be the better camera fitting what I'd use it for?

 

[Wander]

Where do you want to take your photography? The Cannon G's are well liked and do have a lot of function that all levels can be happy with. The G9 gets great reviews and it seems to me is preferred more than the G11. If the price tag gives you pause checked out BH Photo and Adorama as they have used and refurbished models that will save you some $$. I am many others have had great experiences with both.

It al boils down to glass-even with P&S. Get the camera that offers the best optics, go for optical over digital zooms even if that means less zoom range.

There are also 4/3rds systems that are about the size of a P&S but allow interchanging lenses-they are basically a DSLR with out the mirror shutter. Sony just released a similar camera that is the same size image plane as their DSLR's.

 

[Wilbur]

Where do you want to take your photography? The Cannon G's are well liked and do have a lot of function that all levels can be happy with. The G9 gets great reviews and it seems to me is preferred more than the G11. If the price tag gives you pause checked out BH Photo and Adorama as they have used and refurbished models that will save you some $$. I am many others have had great experiences with both.

It al boils down to glass-even with P&S. Get the camera that offers the best optics, go for optical over digital zooms even if that means less zoom range.

There are also 4/3rds systems that are about the size of a P&S but allow interchanging lenses-they are basically a DSLR with out the mirror shutter. Sony just released a similar camera that is the same size image plane as their DSLR's.

Are you asking location or do I want to do more professional?

 

[Wander]

No, I meant do you want to expand your knowledge and skills, would you like to be able to have manual controls of your exposures, that kind of stuff. i was leading to not looking at a camera as way above your ability now but more like it allows you a lot of room to grow. Since your in the photography section I'm guessing you'd like to advance so maybe something that you can grow with wold be better than something that would work now but not offer manual functions or the like.

I don't have half the knowledge of a lot of people here and I'm more of a Nikon fan so I don't know a lot about these models but the G series have always been well reviewed. Is there a reason you've limited the search to Cannon? There are A LOT of choices in P&S cameras which can make it overwhelming. Take some time and learn what features you would like to have to take the pictures you have in mind and that will help you narrow down the options.

 

[Wilbur]

No, I meant do you want to expand your knowledge and skills, would you like to be able to have manual controls of your exposures, that kind of stuff. i was leading to not looking at a camera as way above your ability now but more like it allows you a lot of room to grow. Since your in the photography section I'm guessing you'd like to advance so maybe something that you can grow with wold be better than something that would work now but not offer manual functions or the like.

I don't have half the knowledge of a lot of people here and I'm more of a Nikon fan so I don't know a lot about these models but the G series have always been well reviewed. Is there a reason you've limited the search to Cannon? There are A LOT of choices in P&S cameras which can make it overwhelming. Take some time and learn what features you would like to have to take the pictures you have in mind and that will help you narrow down the options.

I'd love to expand my knowledge, but also not have to go buy a camera in a year because i've out grown the one I bought.

No I'm not limited to Canon, just basically first one that caught my eye with good reviews. I went and played with a couple camera's at best buy, and just from picking up it was fairly easy in my hands to use and figure out.

 

[ISOlation]

Last week I went to local zoo and used my old Sony cypershot. I've never been happy w it really.

I've been interest in dslr's but too much camera for me. So that being said canon got my attention with s90 and g11. I played with both other night at best buy. I feel the g11 offers more for same price but is it too much camera.

I'm planning to use it for travel mostly (never more than hobby based pics), maybe some sports from a distance.
I know g series can be little bulky but that's ok.

You might as well say this is first camera lol. So what would be the better camera fitting what I'd use it for?

If you are going to be shooting some sports form a distance than the G11 may be limited with it's 5x Optical zoom. But if you decide to get a "G" series camera you may want to wait for the G12 which is supposed to have HD video and a CMOS sensor which may or may not mean anything to you.

 

[Photog]

G9 is a good camera

G11 is a better camera
- Better sensor with fewer mega pixels
- Flip/Swivel screen
- RAW file format
- More knobs

If the G12 has this and CMOS, then it will be even better.

I don't know which Nikon cameras have the sophistication of the Canon G-Series. Nikon usually competes well, so they must have something.

 

[tdesanto]

G9 is a good camera

G11 is a better camera
- Better sensor with fewer mega pixels
- Flip/Swivel screen
- RAW file format
- More knobs

If the G12 has this and CMOS, then it will be even better.

I don't know which Nikon cameras have the sophistication of the Canon G-Series. Nikon usually competes well, so they must have something.

I'm a big fan of Nikon, but earlier this year when I checked, I couldn't find anything they made that compared to the diversity of the G11. They make great point and shoots if what you want is a compact camera and you will take whatever the camera gives you. They get decent results and have great optics, but you don't have manual control over the process.

 

[Lost Canadian]

Wilber, I'd look at the Samsung TL500 as well. I know Samsung isn't a major player in the camera market but they have a real winner with the TL500.

As far as CCD vs CMOS, don't even worry about it. CCD's sensors have traditionally offered superior image quality but CMOS is cheaper to build thus most DSLR makers have gone that route and people think that means it's the better technology. All medium format cameras, those $15000-20000+ monsters, are still CCD so take that for what it is. People often confuse matters by assuming the more popular technology used (CMOS), must be better, which just isn't the case. The sensor type is really irrelevant though because the technology between CCD and CMOS is so close now there's very little trade off between the two so don't even let that be a deciding factor in your purchasing.

Good luck.

 

[Wander]

The closest to the G11 from Nikon is the P100 coolpix. It has more range optically, a slightly larger screen I'm not sure if the manual functions are more or less and I am pretty sure it doesn't shoot in RAW. It's also larger than the G11 but it's well shaped to fit your hand.

 

[sross]

I really like my S90 which just came in the mail a few days ago. I like that when I don't feel like messing around I just put it on P and shoot or I can easily mess with exposure, apeture etc. In fact, I took a bunch this morning!

All of these were taken in P mode but I did run them through Lightroom. It is kind of a pain to hold onto, but I ordered the add on grip as recomended by dpreview and hopefully that will help. Is it a replacement for the DSLR? No, but it gives you a lot of freedom to play without having to mess around with menus. The control rings are great. The G-11 doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. It can't fit in your pocket so why not just buy a more capable DSLR?

 

[ISOlation]

Don't forget brands like Panasonic, Olympus, and Ricoh. They have some good P & S cameras along with their micro four-thirds line.