Saving my American Express Rewards points finally paid off with the Canon Powershot G9 digital camera...and boy am I lovin it! For years I have been 'tolerating' my five megapixel Sony Cybershot. Although I enjoyed using this camera, there were clear signs, from the broken LCD screen to the loose latch that protects the lens, that finding a replacement was long overdue!
My husband told me that since I waited all this time, I might as well consider a really nice dSLR (digital Single Lens Reflex) since most camera manufacturers like Canon and Nikon were selling these far below their normal price range. However, the features offered by the dSLRs are still too advance for someone like myself, who I would not even consider an amateur photographer. I think the perfect term to describe me is a ‘photography enthusiast’, and being such, I still preferred the advantages offered by the compact point and shoot cameras with tons of automatic features!
But which one? There are dozens of compact cameras out there! Should I buy another Sony (I’ve had a total of 4 so far), or should I try a different brand? At a dinner with my friend Isabel, I noticed her Canon and played around with it. One particular feature that caught my eye is called ‘Color Accent’. This means you can pre-select a color in a scene and once you take the picture, the outcome is a black and white photo except for the color you pre-selected.
The picture of the tree is an example. This is tool is amazing! If I were to receive the same effect I would need to spend hours in Photoshop editing the picture. Canon instantly became my manufacturer of choice!
It didn’t take too long for the internet browser to point me to several sites that had the words ‘best point and shoot camera’…and yes, the Canon Powershot G9, for the most part, received the consensus of both amateur and experts in the digital camera forums.
There are ten very important features that sold me on this unit:
1. Easy to use point and shoot camera.
2. 12.1 Megapixels that can record to JPG and RAW (the latter means you can edit the photos and make the corrections then save it to either a JPG or TIFF).
3. Practically no shutter lag – this means you can take a picture one after the other and you don’t have to wait.
4. Shooting Action scenes are great! There is stabilization and face recognition in each shot. During Ken's basketball practice, I took a picture from 300 feet away. The result was amazing! There was no blur at all! Stabilization was so good Ken thought I was using a tripod.
5. The colors are vibrant…some of the reviews even said they are shocked the photos didn’t come from a dSLR!
6. There are so many different photo effects and shooting modes. Besides Color Accent, other examples would be Fireworks and Aquarium (Fireworks means you can capture fireworks display and not have to worry about shooting at direct light. Aquarium means you can take pictures of fishes and not worry about the light reflecting on the glass).
There's also an option to shoot at wide frame (As an example I took a shot of the dainty looking homes overlooking a park).
7. The quality of the video recording is excellent! There is a built-in Microphone and Speaker
8. With the AV IN/OUT, you can plug your camera to your TV and displays your photos or video using a Slideshow. Imagine how great this would be at parties or get-togethers when you want to see the photos right away!
9. There’s an optional underwater/snow case that allows me to use this camera in all types of weather conditions.
10. And if I decide to expand my abilities in photography, I can get a ring lens adapter and attach a wide-angle or telephoto lens.
Just recently my Uncle Edmund, who is a professional photographer, showed me his G9 during a family gathering. The mere fact that he owns one is a clear indication that I made the right choice. So expect me to be a lot more trigger-happy…and why wouldn’t I? I have a new toy and I can’t wait to play!
ya very nice , photos , i like it .