Do you want to switch from Canon SD series to G9?

I have been a Canon PowerShot enthusiast for years now. Started from S100, went through S200, S320, S400, SD200, SD550, and my favorite SD700 which I left in India during one of my trips.

Anyways, after SD700 I started looking at G-series and was extremely excited when G9 came out. I got it during the first 2 weeks it came out, October 2007 and have been using it up until now (for 6 months).

Having used S/SD series for years, G9 came out to be a feature packed device for me. It took me a while to figure out how to use Av/Tv option, as well as configure different flash levels and use other embedded features such as Face Detection, Manual Focus, and Program and Manual modes.

The truth is I am still not fully used to G9 after hundreds of shots taken in South America, New York and California. There are many things I am missing about SD series, but many things I don't know how to be without (from G9). I am going to divide this review into PRos and Cons of both.


PROs of G9 over SD series

- Crisp

I love shooting scenaries. I love to climb on some hill and shoot the panoramic view of the city, mountains, forests, houses. G9 produced some amazingly clear images of many scenaries. One thing I love about shooting scenaries with G9, is that the colors are so crisp that you can see in details the houses/churches contrasting mountains and green. Beautiful colors, trully. I remember shooting scenaries with SD series and it was not as crisp and sharp as G9.

- RAW

I didn't know what RAW was until I actually bought G9. I am still not very much familiar with using RAW, but know that many professional photographers do. RAW function lets you save your image with many more details than .JPG format. When shooting in RAW, you can later blow up your images to big posters, or modify your images with more details enabled. When shooting RAW format with G9 prepare to get a bigger memory card (especially if you are planning to shoot using the largest 12.1 resolution) as images come out to be huge in size! In addition, you have to use Canon's software to work with those images, not every software lets you do work with the RAW images you get via G9.

With SD series you cannot shoot in RAW, jpeg files only.


- Resolution

Although now you can get SD series (SD950 for example) in 12.1 megapixels, G9 is still beating many smaller sized cameras featuring 12.1 megapixels.

- Manual controls


Although some later SD series cameras allow Face Detention, Flash control, color swap and other advanced manual settings, G9 beats them all in the amount of features packed in one compact body. You can explore the features forever. Manual Focus is great to play with if you want to make your object more focused and have surroundings blurrier. Av/Tv functions are similar to those on other advanced Canon camera. There are also quite a few options for Flash. Here is some stats from canon's page:
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Flash output compensation (±3.0 stops in 1/3-stop increments), flash output settings (19 levels), FE Lock, Slow Synchro, 2nd-curtain Synchro and Safety FE are available
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- Sturdiness

G9 appears so much sturdier than any SD series. The body is made of black sturdy plastics almost impossible to scratch. I remember my SD series would scratch so easily from almost anything (from laying around the table, to being in the purse without the case). G9 looks brand new even after rugged 6 month usage. Seriously.


- Optical Zoom

Currently SD series do not offer a good optical zoom option. The only SD comes close to comparison is the newly announced SD890 featuring 5x optical zoom. G9 features 6x optical zoom, which works GREAT!


- Screen

And of course, one of my favorite parts of G9 is a huge 3 inch screen. It is simply awesome for viewing pictures and videos. Some SD series (for example: SD770)offer 3 inch screen, but no viewfinder. G9 offers both a viewfinder and the 3 inch screen.

- Battery Life

I noticed that battery lasts a lot longer on G9 than on any S/SD series I have previously owned. Good job Canon!


CONs of G9 (compared to SD series)


- Size

Sorry to say but the size of G9 is simply repelling. The camera is a lot bigger than any SD series. It fits somewhere between SD series and dSLRs in terms of weight and size. It is very inconvenient to carry around, especially to dance clubs and parties. This a good camera to take on a trip where you carry it around with dedication to take pics at some historic site / place. It is not a camera for quick out of the pocket shots, for the reason being G9 is not a pocket camera.

- Heavy

G9 is a light camera. It adds up to the total weight of your purse, believe me! And, as I mentioned earlier, this is not a camera to fit in the jeans pocket.


- Ease of use

For those who simply want to point-shoot camera, G9 would be a very bad choice. In most situations, camera controls need to be adjusted, which is quite a learning curve for people like me :). I would say the number of packed features and configurations is downside of having G9 only for those who don't want to understand all the mechanics. For photographers enthusiasts, G9 might work out just fine. They probably would love a sack of useful/and useless features.

- Performance

Because G9 is intended for a bit more advanced photo enthusiasts, it does not focus in less than a second as SD series do. I noticed that many shots I took with G9 are not as focused as shots I took with SD series right out of the pocket. Shots with G9 were more focused if couple additional seconds were spend on half way pressing the focus/shoot button.


Overall, G9 is brilliant in terms of true colors, features and screen. I am, however, switching back to SD series. After weighing all the things I like / dislike about both G9 and SD series, I realize that portability of camera is more important for me as I am kind of on the go person, although I do want to try Canon latest SD890 which is rich on features and has 5x optical zoom, no wide lens though :(