Canon PowerShot G9

I have spent much of my career looking for the affordable old style journalist camera which could be brought up to the face to snap a shot without drawing attention or spooking the subject. The Leica of yesteryear was perfect but too expensive. Over the years I have abandoned the search and gradually become a digital photographer. I have carried all sorts of cameras, but still sought a pro quality, small rangefinder which would not limit me technically or artistically and would not be so expensive that I couldnt afford to replace it if dropped or soaked. The G9 is my champion. It is retro in styling, similar to the old rangefinders, small, unobtrusive, and very fast. The quality of the photographs are excellent and there are essentially no creative limitations. It has a super zoom, is easy to learn, and most people of caught off guard by the beauty of the prints I produce. It is substantial in feel, easy to hide, quiet and smooth, and is not intimidating to even my most timid models. Overall, this is the most useful gerneral purpose fine art and nude travel camera I have ever used. I take mostly candid nudes of my wife and her friends, and for this genre it is more than able to meet the need.

Top quality.
Easy to handle.
Superior feel.
Lens cover is self contained.
Viewfinder.
Large image monitor.
Software and electronics are second to none.
Substantial in feel.
Good value for a professional quality camera.
Excellent composition traits.
Autofocus is fast and very accurate.
Colors are superior.
Easy to hold.
Hot shoe plud built in flash.

Slow to ready from boot up.
Moderately difficult to learn for the novice.
Usual flash limitations.
Not many weaknesses noted.

Minolta Diamage
Olympus C2100UZ
Olympus C5050UZ
Panasonic Lumix various.

I have had no issues with this camera yet.
Cannot comment.

I picked out this delight the day after Christmas as a present for me. A recent photo trip to Kauai disabled my casio ex-850 point and shoot pocket camera (I sat on it 1 too many times) it won't zoom out now without shutting down. I was looking for a replacement to fall in between my trusty old Dimage A2 and the pocket cameras. While also raising the mega-pixel level to 12. This camera takes me back to my range finder carrying days. Around my neck the Canon G9 has the approximate feel of carrying my Yashica Electro 35 GTN. Too big for my back pocket, but the G9 fits well in a jacket pocket. A bit retro looking and very solid. No plastic here.
Having a view finder is a must for me. I don't like standing around looking at the LCD instead of concentrating on the subject. Although it is a great LCD. Bright even in strong light as well as adjustable brightness. My photos have been very sharp even at long focal lengths. The G9's stabilizer seems to work better than than the Dimage A2's.
Working with the G9 is a joy. The menu is intuitive and setting the last shot replay to 4 seconds or more gives me a chance to push the picture dump button and keep shooting. Pushing the on button to the first shot is less than 1 second (fast!). The camera is shoot oriented and will change quickly back to shoot mode even in review, or menu.
This camera is a joy to carry and is well priced for the features, shooting modes, easy of use, and quality of the photos. I have already Ebayed the LA-DC58H extension for filters along with a 58mm IR filter.
I just wish I had found the G9 sooner.

12 megs, 6x optical zoom with digital hyper zoom.

The G9 can be set to shoot the same shot in Fine JPEG compression as well as recording a RAW image at the same time.

TV, AV, Manual, Program, auto, SCN, Stitch, Movie, and two custom settable modes. 16:9 format.

Manual focus, and a tight macro mode.

Flash level control, and works with my Canon Speedlight.

Wonderful retro look and feel. Not at all out of place in the best of company.

Big bright LCD and an optical view finder with Doppler adjustment.

Designed with the advanced photographer in mind, but simple enough for the person who wants more than a simple point and shoot digital camera.

The G9 is a quick, intuitive, strong, sleek, powerful, and beautiful, camera.

Keeping my LCD protector film from peeling off while sliding the camera back in its pouch bag. No frame around the LCD to protect the film's edges.

Minolta Dimage A2

Nothing so far...

This little guy does not leave much to be desired, I started digital with a 20D and this has better image quality, and file size. I have all ready had 3 images accepted into Stock from it. I have always wanted a point and shoot that was around 10 megapixels and could shoot raw, but this goes above and beyond, the flash shoe that can handle off camera TTL flash is awesome, it can shoot underwater with a inexpensive housing, it is compact and has a good zoom range. Another great thing about is it how rugged it is, I shoot while riding or running and the camera tends to end up on the ground sometimes but it has held up. O yeah the image stabilization is good for riding too! Another great thing is the HD video, this camera is like a swiss army knife, or a leathermen.

The only things I would would like to see is a faster shutter response, maybe a 16 or 24-210mm zoom, a 3-4 FPS, and a index finger wheel so the controls are like my EOS, but they have a amazing product here.

12 megapixels!
Shoots RAW!
Underwater!
TTL Wireless Flash!
RUGGED
Image stabilization
HD Video

Needs wider zoom
Could use faster shutter response
Would be nice to see faster FPS
I would like to see an index finger wheel

To many to list

Always great

I've had my G9 for approximately 3 weeks now and I like it a lot. This is my first Canon camera but I have Sony point-and-shoots and a Nikon DSLR.
My wish list for a small camera was -
1.) take good pictures
2.) have an optical viewfinder
3.) have RAW capability
4.) be black (seriously - I wanted a black camera)
When the Canon announcement came out I studied the specifications and preview information and decided that this was a good choice for me. I was a little concerned about the 12 mg on such a small chip but I finally decided that if anybody could handle that many pixels Canon could.
So - how do I like it? Well, it's a pretty good little camera. Things I like -
1.) it takes good pictures - not as good as an SLR but very good photos
2.) it is just the right size for me - not too little and not heavy to carry around. I find that I take it everywhere and shoot a lot!
3.) It is pretty easy to use. The scene modes work very well as does the panorama and the macro. I haven't tried the movies yet.
4.) It offers an incredible amount of flexibility even including a neutral density filter (setting). I'm still learning to use some of the DSLR like functions on this camera but I'm pretty happy with the results.
5.) the three inch LCD is fantastic.
And - what do I not like...
1.) the camera's on/off button is little and fumbly ( couldn't be my fingers!)
2.) the menu/function system was hard to figure out and is hard to remember. I'm still having to think hard to get to certain functions that involve pushing special buttons etc. Part of this may be because it's my first Canon camera but I didn't have this much trouble with my Sony's or my Nikon. Too me, the layout is not intuitive.
3.) the little flash works like little flashes do but you must turn it off every time you turn the camera on. It would be nice to have the ablity to leave it off until you want it.
4.) the optical viewfinder shows you the extended lens and you have to just imagine that it isn't there. This is really a moot point because after making a big deal about having to have this functionality, I find I don't use it. I bought a Delkin LCD screen protector (yeah, I know Canon says you don't need one because the screen is 'protected' but I don't believe 'em. I'm pretty sure I'd get it scratched)
Sooo, all in all, I love this my little black brick. I'm still learning how to use it but I really do like it.

Good pictures
Flexibility
Capabilities

Menu system combined with function buttons and combinations of the two - hard to learn and remember. Not intuitive

2 Sony Point and Shoots

I did ask Canon how to do something (couldn't figure it out from the manual) and they got right back to me via e-mail with the clue I needed.

Nice feature laden camera (no surprise!), but I found color accuracy to be poor w/ it's inability to accurately render the deep green of a shirt (it turned bluish/green w/ gray tones). Purples became dark blues, and lighter purples were pink. WB was on auto, and then I tried florescent. Both yielded the same off color results. We ran a print to verify the accuracy of the LCD and the print matched the LCD - unfortunately. It also has difficulty in low light.