The LCD is reasonably easy to see in bright sunlight and has a wide viewing angle but on playback, images tend to look a little softer with more blown-out highlights than they actually do. You may want to hold off deleting images until you view them on a full-size display.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Typical shot-to-shot time | |
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Time to first shot | |
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Shutter lag (dim) | |
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Shutter lag (typical) | |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Though the viewfinder remains larger and more usable than most, we think we were happier with the smaller LCD and bigger optical model on the G7. Despite its decent movie-capture quality, without the ability to zoom the lens during video, we find the feature less useful on the G9 than on other cameras.
Image quality
As it uses the same lens as the G7, its
similar distortion issues come as no surprise. But Canon probably
tweaked the image processing somewhat, because photos this go-round had
fewer artefacts.
Among the G9's good qualities you'll find an excellent noise profile -- photos hold detail well as high as ISO 400 -- and as usual Canon's exposure and white balance hold up quite well. It renders realistically saturated colours without going overboard. Despite the distortion, the lens holds sharpness from edge to edge. There's little purple fringing, though some magenta and cyan aberration does occur.
Conclusion
The Canon PowerShot G9 gets a leg up over
its predecessor by improving photo quality and restoring raw format
support while maintaining the same excellent performance and body
design. You probably can't miss with this model as a compact backup for
your SLR.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
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User reviews5
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wobbo 27 February 2009
Good: Image quality, range of options, Ease of use, option to use hood and filter attachments
Bad: Not the best looking gadget in the toy box
Comment: Outstanding quality images, build like a brick, easy to use, Puts some DSL’s to shame
mcppowe57 6 September 2008
Good: Retro syle and three inch LCD
Bad: No swivel LCD
Comment: The images are mind blowing, if you can better this camera then you must spend thousands
John Kelly 5 January 2008
Good: PSPP - Point Shoot Perfect Picture
Bad: Viewing screen doesn't detach & rotate
Comment: I run a high end luxury goods company in London & when we have events or pictures to take sometimes I hire a professional photographer. My backup solution for perfect pictures is the G9.
It is built like a tank, fast as hell & can be considered your trusted companion when you are in a live must perfectly capture moment. Set on automatic & you only need to concentrate on what you want to shoot. Then, push the button and have confidence the G9 will take care of the rest to give you that perfectly recorded moment.
I just returned from a skiing/snowboarding New Years trip to Verbier Switzerland with 40 Italians, the women were so excited by the quality of the photographs & replaying them on the bright viewing screen I didn't even need to take the pictures myself. They were snapping away at everything for almost a week capturing perfect facebook shots from the trip of all of us. The G9 was surely the most superior camera in the group I was with & its physical presence only reinforces the quality of its output.
I also shot a 2min snowboarding video while I was riding which was almost 300mb, so make sure you get a high gb card if you want to shoot any video. I have the SD 4gb extreme III. I will now also get the 8GB Extreme III as I have some more snow movies I want to shoot in the coming weeks in St Moritz.
If you own the G9 it will have been one of the best purchases you've ever made.
PS My Dad is still using my passed down G5 & loving it, if he only knew about the G9...
See all 5 user reviews