A companion for my dSLR
Much as I love my dSLR, there are times and places where it isn’t practical to bring it along. I bought a Canon iXUS i7 a while back but while it was a decent camera for outdoor daytime photography, it didn’t perform well indoors and under low light conditions. I still have it and my daughters have used it on many occasions too. But I need something more powerful — something that can output photographs that won’t look shameful beside those taken with my Canon EOS 40D.
I waited a long time to buy another small cam because none satisfied my requirements. Then, along came the Canon Powershot G10. Not that I didn’t procrastinate for weeks. I did my homework. I read up about its features, I read credible reviews (never mind reviews by users who don’t even known what ISO settings mean) and I compared the features and reviews of the G10 with those of the Panasonic Lumix LX3. In the end, I still chose the G10 over the LX3 partly because I am not familiar with the availability of after sales support and service for Panasonic cameras.
One of the features of the G10 that attracted me — and, to be fair, it is also a feature boasted by the LX3 — is the 1 cm minimum focusing distance. A distance of one centimeter between the camera lens and the object being photographed? Amazing claim but I wondered if it was for real. Yesterday, the moment I had the G10 in my hands, it was the first test I made. Right there in the store.
And it is true — 1 cm minimum focusing distance indeed. The photo above is unedited except for the resizing and the addition of my signature. It is not a cropped photo. No digital zoom employed either.
I redid the test again after I got home and it was no fluke. That’s not a cropped photo of my Apple mouse above — I just set the default size to “W” (wide). The digital zoom function of the cam wasn’t used either.
One of the issues against the G10 is the supposed lousy performance under low light conditions. So, I took photos under low light conditions. How did it fare? See for yourself.
The flash was NOT fired in the photos above and below.
The trick is NOT to be tempted to set the ISO settings above 400. Otherwise, you get visible noise, i.e., the photos become grainy.
If you’re looking for a feature-rich point-and-shoot camera, you might want to check out the Canon Powershot G10 (I’m not a mouthpiece for Canon, for the record). It’s small and light enough to bring just about everywhere. Aside from the full auto functions, there are manual settings in the Creative Zone that allow you more control over your photos. It is by no means a substitute for a dSLR but in situations where bringing a dSLR isn’t a good idea, it’s a nifty tool for people who can’t resist taking photos anywhere they go.
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I’m the spokesman AND the mouthpiece for the Fujifilm point and shoots, Sass, and although the G10 is a great camera, no other manufacturer still holds a literal candle to the Fujifilm digitals for low-light color fidelity and macro capability (check out the Finepix F60fd and the F100fd models in particular). And they’re less expensive in price compared to the Canon point and shoots especially the G10.
LOL That’s a great piece of info considering how Speedy and the girls are egging me on to UPGRADE so that one of them can have the G10.
Timely post. I am planning to buy another P&S. G10 surely sounds a lot better than Sony’s.
WOW!!! how much? how much?
P31,950 @ 12 months zero interest. In eBay, the cash price is around P26,000.
I’m also up for an upgrade but still not sure yet which one until I saw this one that will become available in April pa:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=18301
The SX1 is already available. Saw one yesterday at Canon DZone at Trinoma.
So what can you say about SX1. Have you tested it?
No I haven’t handled one. But my daughter had the older version, the S3 IS so I’m familiar with the model. The SX 10 looks like a great cam but is too large for a point and shoot (it’s almost the same size as the EOS 350D). For me, at least.
What happened to the site? I thought it was corporate firewall that’s blocking it, but when I asked my sister in the states, she told me she can’t access this site as well.
There was a Data Center transfer, I was told. I didn’t know (felt sick all day) until I got alerts in my email. Just needed a manual reboot.
I’m also in the states but never had problems accessing Connie’s sites, except during maintenance period.
Connie, I did the gravatar so now I have a face! yeeeeey!
Great to see who I’m chatting with.
Hmmm, eto na lang kaya ang ipapabili kong graduation gift?
Sa saya na magulang mo sa pagpasa mo sa med school, I don’t think that would be a problem.
now i’m all the more convinced to buy the G10. like you, i have two options when it comes to buying a new P&S: a Lumix or a Canon. i’m leaning towards the Lumix until the husband showed me the G10 two weeks ago and I really like it.
while other people are hoping to buy a DSLR, I on the other hand I’m wanting to buy a P&S…nakakapagod ding magdala ng DSLR, and that’s true, minsan hindi naman practical magdala ng DSLR.
how is g10 better than powershot sx10is which is 10mp, 20x optical zoom and cheaper?
What is “better” depends on the user’s preferences. In my case, I wanted one small enough to carry around with 1) real macro capacity and 2) high resolution output.