I'm considering very seriously buying a Canon G9 Would like to hear comments on it from friends that own this camera. I shoot only RAW so that is why I'll be buying this 12.? Megapixel beauty. Today I went to the island of St. Thomas to photograph some fine art artist for my show and stoped by the camera store and it is a very nice looking toy. Would like to know how it work on the field, image quality and funcionality. Thanks in advance for your help.

Don, I'm very happy with my G9. The pictures I've posted this week were taken with that little camera, which accompanies me pretty much everywhere I go - work, business trips, and just wandering around. It's small enough to be placed in a small belt bag or large pocket, yet it has most of the adjustability of my DSLR. Yes, the images are noisy, but that's manageable with low ISO's and perhaps a noise reduction plug-in (I haven't gone that route yet). The RAW images are handled very well with Lightroom and CS3, although they're pretty large (12 megapixels translate to a 14 MB RAW file!).

I have no regrets; it's a perfect camera to bring along when the big gear is just too much of a hassle to deal with.

Chuck, how much noisy? How will it compare noise wise to a 10.Mpixel DSLR?
That it is very interesting point you have bring up.

Don, it will be substantially noisier than any DSLR; the sensor is so small compared to a DSLR and all those pixels just don't fit well in such a small space. The area of the Canon 40D sensor is 22.2 mm by 14.9 mm or 329 sq. mm. The Canon G9 has a sensor that's 7.6 mm by 5.7 mm, or 43 sq. mm. The 40 D puts 10 megapixels on its sensor, the G9 does 12.1 megapixels. So.....there's some real crowding going on in the G9.

But.....for images shot at ISO 80 or ISO 100, noise doesn't really have a noticeable negative effect. It will never replace a DSLR for image quality, but for portability it can't be beat.

Hope that helps...

Don the big PMA show is going to be this weekend - you might want to take a look at what is being introduced right now and what will be introduced at the show. http://www.popphoto.com does daily webcasts from there on all the new stuff.

Thank's Chuck and Jane, I'll check it out may be there is something new in the horizon. I know Canon is introducing a new entry level DSLR with 12. Mpixels so I waite and see.

Chuck, Canon has giving you another choice to pick from.
The D40 or the Rebel XSi? That's the question.

Don, you may find this interesting -- the longer posts from a Nikon D80 user
http://www.flickr.com/groups/g9/discuss ... 813373471/

I always wonder about some of these posts -- no way of knowing if these people know what they are talking about

I was specifically looking for one I read recently that went into great detail on pixels & sensor size. Can't find it. His conclusion, supported by tons of statistics, was that for P&S or even the advanced digital such as the G9, ideal pixel count should not exceed 6mp due to the physical size of the sensor.

Rusty

Rusty, thank you for the info. my friend.

I like my G9 allot but in no way can it match my DSLR. It has incredible quality for a compact but like most compacts allot of the adjustments are buried in the menu and are a difficult to access quickly. RAW of course is a huge advantage with this compact and also having an optical viewfinder helps although the one on the G9 is not the greatest. Getting the exposures right on really helps with digital noise. I find no noise problem with ISO up to 400. At 400 there is some noticable noise but it can be easily eliminated with a program like Neat Image. ISI 800 and 1600 are pretty useless on the camera. I think that 12 megs on a sensor of this size is a mistake. The IS saves many photos. All in all it is a fine camera for what it is but it wont be replacing any DSLR anytime soon