Travel Photography - My new obsession, the Canon G10

I used to shoot a Nikon D200 with a bunch of lenses and flashes. Trying to simplify my life and reduce the clutter led me to the amazing Canon G10. The camera is an absolute joy to taking pictures with. From the manual controls to the image quality and ability to use an external flash I absolutely love working with it.

Here are some of my pictures from my last business trip to Japan from my G10:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blaircook/sets/72157618599608525/

The only photo related items I brought were the G10, a GorillaPod, and the battery charger.

Nice. I recently got a hold of one myself and can't wait to take it on my next MR to give it a workout.

Wasnt it hard to 'throw out' all your Nikon lenses...???

I have the G9. I used to have a G8 until I left it (and a memory card with 200 good pix) in an NYC taxi. :mad:

Great cameras. The dynamic range isn't as good as I'd like, and it's not so good inside dark European churches, but still great cameras, especially for travellers.

Check out the Canon G series forums (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17). Lots of good discussion, suggestions and support there.

I too have the G9 and love it. In addition to the quality pictures and the flexibility is the size. Having larger hands, it's nice to have a larger camera that I can still put into a pocket (that isn't one of the typical tiny P&S).

Good luck with the G10.

...Great cameras. The dynamic range isn't as good as I'd like, and it's not so good inside dark European churches, but still great cameras, especially for travellers.
...
Wow, 34MP/CM2. Increased resolution to 14MP. Probably everything other than bright day light has to be shot at ISO100 and below.

is there a delay between hitting the shutter button and exposure? that was one of the features that caused me to switch from using superzooms to SLRs (using a canon 30D now)

is there a delay between hitting the shutter button and exposure? that was one of the features that caused me to switch from using superzooms to SLRs (using a canon 30D now)

less so than other compact and P&S Digital Cameras but still slightly noticeable over Digital SLRs

ymmv

sdcarver

less so than other compact and P&S Digital Cameras but still slightly noticeable over Digital SLRs

ymmv

sdcarver

Unfortunately, that's still not good enough. I shoot a lot of wildlife and action, and I need the nonexistent latency of an SLR. That's the reason I stopped using a good Olympus Point and Shoot as my travel camera, and went back to my DLSR. Try capturing whales breaching with a P&S that has about 4 tenths of a second shutter lag. It's frustrating beyond belief. Nowadays, the Canon G10 is just about the ONLY really full featured point and shoot out there, but they still need to get rid of that last bit of shutter latency. With a DSLR, you can pre-focus, or set into continuous focus mode, and shutter lag goes to effectively zero. You can't really do that with any Point and Shoot.

Unfortunately, that's still not good enough. I shoot a lot of wildlife and action, and I need the nonexistent latency of an SLR.

You're never going to be able to get away from lag on a P&S. Even the MKIIns that I use for work have lag...not a huge lag, but when you're using the camera as a remote for basketball and it's linked to the arena strobes, it can be noticeable.

As for the G10, I have one and I absolutely love the thing. I've more or less stopped hauling my work gear around with me and just keep the G10 in my bag. Great battery life, too.

I had a G1 and then a G7. I havent updated to the G10 yet. The one feature that it has that I miss in the G7 is being able to shoot RAW. But the G7 is still great, as is the whole series.

At one point in my life, when I was about 30 years younger, I would carry a 4x5 view camera, lenses, handheld light meter and tripod with me when I traveled. Oh, and film packs, changing bag and so forth. And yes, if I got a good shot it was stunning to see what you could do with 4x5 Fujichrome 50 or 100 ASA B&W but man, was it a pain in the ....

A digital SLR is a big simplification but I really do enjoy just a single, smallish camera like the G series. I have considered going to something even smaller, and still may as well, but the G series is a great compromise in terms of features and image quality combined with ease of carrying. There was thread on photo.net linking to an article about a professional war photographer that decided to try using point and shoots rather than SLR gear in Iraq. He found it changed the way he took photos and decided to stick with the point and shoots.

So Im inspired to spend more time with the G7 now. I probably dont carry it with me enough when I travel. Have to make a note to self to change that.

...
At one point in my life, when I was about 30 years younger, I would carry a 4x5 view camera, lenses, handheld light meter and tripod with me when I traveled. Oh, and film packs, changing bag and so forth. And yes, if I got a good shot it was stunning to see what you could do with 4x5 Fujichrome 50 or 100 ASA B&W but man, was it a pain in the ....

A digital SLR is a big simplification but I really do enjoy just a single, smallish camera like the G series. I have considered going to something even smaller, and still may as well, but the G series is a great compromise in terms of features and image quality combined with ease of carrying.....

Yes, my Speedgraphics have not been used in more than twenty years. Now even the Polaroid back is useless. But the same tripod is still being used even on digital cameras.

The camera that stays in my briefcase is a Nikon P5000. It is small enough that I carry it everywhere. The Nikon S7c before it was even smaller.

Now even the Polaroid back is useless.

Actually FujiFilm makes a range of color and b&w instant films for both their own and generic 4x5 backs.

Yes, my Speedgraphics have not been used in more than twenty years.
Still alive, still have their following.
http://graflex.org/speed-graphic/

Still alive, still have their following.
http://graflex.org/speed-graphic/

Yep, that is what I have. One of my lenses was a Schneider-Krueznach that took just stunning pictures.

Interesting discussion. has anyone seen a comparison between the Canon G10 and Nikon P6000?

thank you.


Yes, my Speedgraphics have not been used in more than twenty years. Now even the Polaroid back is useless. But the same tripod is still being used even on digital cameras.

The camera that stays in my briefcase is a Nikon P5000. It is small enough that I carry it everywhere. The Nikon S7c before it was even smaller.

Interesting discussion. has anyone seen a comparison between the Canon G10 and Nikon P6000?

thank you.
Be careful what you ask for. You think Mac vs PC is a religious war? It's nothing compared to Canon vs Nikon!

:D

kidding aside, you'll get a good comparison on any of these sites:
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com

Be careful what you ask for. You think Mac vs PC is a religious war? It's nothing compared to Canon vs Nikon!

Not really. While I am in the Nikon camp with my DSLRs and lenses, and will surely remain there due to the level of investment that I have already made, I have no problem acknowledging that Canon's cameras and lenses are also highly capable, and their Point and Shoot offerings have been, generally speaking, much more comprehensive than Nikon's, and more feature rich at the high end. In general, folks who think that using Nikons or Canons instead of the other brand will make them a better photographer, are they themselves much more the limiting factor in their photography. Either brand makes a whole range of cameras that are more than sufficient to deliver the highest quality results when in capable hands.

...In general, folks who think that using Nikons or Canons instead of the other brand will make them a better photographer, are they themselves much more the limiting factor in their photography....

Sure, my colleague and I were at a dinner function with a celebrity pro golfer. He with a LX3 and I P5000. We both got reasonably good shots and of course we were non-pro's. You would find different conclusions reading reviews.

yes, i thought of that...but thought I'd go for it anyway.

thanks for the links.

like others, I have my preferences...using Nikon SLRs dig and film...and Lumix P&S. I've not gone over to Canon for anything...yet...but always curious about tech advances, expecially on high-end P&S equipment (not slr)


Be careful what you ask for. You think Mac vs PC is a religious war? It's nothing compared to Canon vs Nikon!

:D

kidding aside, you'll get a good comparison on any of these sites:
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com

I have the G9 and it's my carry-around camera for personal snapshots. It's no SLR but it's still a powerful little camera. I'm sure the G10 is just as solid.

. . . Try capturing whales breaching with a P&S that has about 4 tenths of a second shutter lag . . . but they still need to get rid of that last bit of shutter latency.

Oh I don't know, the technical limitations will always be what they are between P&S & D-SLR because they're aimed at different users & the manufactures have finite time and resources to tweak things. I think that what one photographs and how important that is to them is the decisive factor in choosing between a D-SLR or a full-featured P&S like the G9 or G10 and the satisfaction one will or will not receive ( I'm a G9 owner myself ).

Like Bitbgr and others here, many choose a P&S for the in-pocket convenience -- in my case "spoiled" ;) is a good way to put it as I've gotten used to traveling light sans larger camera kit. But we swim upstream to a full-featured P&S which gives which us more control, flexibility & hopefully, better shots. It's not perfect, but one's satisfaction derives from what they are trying to photograph in the first place. I really love my G9 and I'm sure that the G10 with the new Digic4 technology can satisfy most who elect to stay P&S but also want something robust.

That said, I'm slowly succumbing to the reality that a D-SLR is on my own horizon, not because I'm dissatisfied with the G9, but rather because my needs and capability are pushing me there along with the sort of photography I want to do. Not trying to be an infidel here who breaks the Canon catechism as I too like Canon, but I'm sort of leaning Nikon after doing some research. The good news is that I'm likely to wait until next year to pull the trigger.

BTW, thanks for the G9 link Gargoyle, looks like an interesting community so I've signed on to see what it's all about.

Barry

i bought a g7 the day it came out because i was tired of lugging around a nikon d70s. I used it happily for years---but did go back to Nikon for the D90, which I just took to China. There were times I did miss a dslr, mainly the longer lens and speed. That said, I'd love to add a g10 to the bag!