Canon PowerShot G6

Just had this for a week or so now, and it's my first digital, though I do wedding photography (on film and rented high-end digital cams) and I'm pretty experienced with photography.

My wife and I were with some friends in Flagstaff, AZ, and in addition to kicking around town, we hiked Humphrey's Peak (at 12,633', the highest peak in AZ). For night shots, portraits, panoramas (with Stitch Assist-- see below), scenics, and candids, this is a great camera.

It's not as fast and responsive as my film camera, but no point-and-shoot digital is at this point. The only cameras that are that quick in focusing and processing are the high-end digital SLR bodies. So for the price, this is a very responsive and able camera.

The Stitch Assist feature is very impressive. With the included software, I just downloaded the photos to Zoom Browser EX, selected the folder where the photos shot with the Stitch Assist mode resided (one folder for each panorama), and the external stitching program automatically put the photos together. There's a little manual control if you like, but it was so easy that I left it alone. I'm normally a tweaker, but it was great without my help. :) I have some great panoramas of the summit of Humphrey's as we were getting to the top.

The Macro mode is great as well, as I got a really nice shot of some of the ice pellets that had fallen on the ground. I have a macro setup for my film body, but it's a pain.

Vertical and horizontal photos are automatically rotated if you prefer-- a very nice feature. I would prefer not to have to go through hundreds of photos and do post-rotation. I've done it with wedding photos, and it's a pain.

The lens on this camera is very good. Overall clarity is good and distortion is low. There is some barrel distortion at the wide angle setting, but it's not too objectionable. Plus the f/2.0 - f/3.0 speed is a boon to low-light shooting. The front-facing flash on this camera is the typical small kind of flash that's also close to the lens. I've always found this kind of lighting harsh and unflattering, so I like to shoot with ambient light if possible. Now that I don't have to use color correction filters and can have the white balance suited to the light color temperature, I can shoot indoors without flash! Finally!

Noise levels are pretty good, but not great compared with the high-end digital bodies. Again, not a fair comparison, so for the money, very good. Just not as good as is possible. I can dream, can't I?

The only thing that I would like is more zoom range. I guess I could've gotten the Pro 1 with a 10x zoom, but the 35-140 range is good for many things, from scenics to portraits. I also could get one or both of the wide angle/telephoto conversion lenses.

A great camera for the money.

The Canon G6 is a great camera. I upgraded from a Canon Powershot A80 to the G6. The A80 showed me that Canon makes a good camera, but was lacking a few features I really wanted.

To me, this camera is a perfect collection of compromises. I want a small camera for family snapshots, that's easy to use. I want a large, capable camera for art work like portraits and landscape, and action shots like sports and recreation.

When I'm on vacation, and want some snaps of the kids goofing around or of dinner or something, I don't need a camera that makes me jump through hoops to get a decent shot, I just want to point and shoot. In full auto, or aperature priority, or shutter speed priority, the pictures are usually sharp and crisp. Set the image size to one of the medium or small settings and you can use the high speed multi-shot feature to get a series of action shots that guarantee that you'll get at least a few good ones.

I have no qualms about setting this camera to auto, handing this camera to a person with little or no photgraphic experience, and letting them click away. It's easy enough to learn that most folks can be taking nice pictures in less than an hour, and pros can be taking great pictures in no time at all.

On the other hand, a lot of the work I do is very artistic, and involves using manual settings. When going for the perfect picture, it is often necessary to adjust the focus, aperature, and shutter speed to get the exact picture you want. This camera has manual focus, a feature I sorely missed on my older Powershot A80.

Another thing that bothers me on most other cameras, is that you have to wade through a bewilderingly large collection of menu options to make the smallest changes. While I can understand using a layer or two of menus for things like basic settings (time, format a CF card) I can't see it for something as basic as film speed or white balance.

Which is why I love this camera. The following items are one button away:

Flash
Flash Output Level
Multi-image
Time delay photo
Autofocus area
Macro mode
Manual Focus
White Balance
Zoom in / out
Film Speed (50 to 400)
Picture mode (auto, Manual, Manual preset 1 and 2, Av, Tv, Portratit, Landscape, Backlit, Panorama, movie)

My favorite things about this camera:

Battery life is excellent. I bought a spare battery, but I've never actually use the one that came with it in less than a day. It charges fast too.

Picture quality: The larger lens allows for better pictures in low light conditions, and it is very clear. The large CCD allows you to get pictures in a large enough resolution to print out fairly large copies and have them look very good.

Ergonomic. This is a very comfortable camera to hold for a long time. It's not quite in the same range as some much more expensive units, but I've never gotten tired from holding it. Plus, all the buttons you need to hit while running it are right there under your fingertips. The scroll wheel under your right index finger is very intuitive to operate. Push it to change modes, roll it to change the settings. The fold out screen allows you to take pictures from odd angles without ever having to lay down on your back for a picture. Plus, the fold out screen feels very solidly built, not like it'll snap off in your hands. I was always worried about my Powershot A80, as it didn't feel very solid.

It works well with my computer, which runs Linux. I use gtkam, a great camera program

It has an infrared remote that can be used to take pictures without worrying about camera shake. This is very useful for group pictures you'd like to be in yourself.

User savable white balance settings.

Real flash shoe. This camera takes a standard Canon flash unit.

Manual focus mode puts a close up of the center of the screen right in the middle of the picture for you to check the focus with. This would be really bothsome for composing pictures, except that when you half depress the shutter button, the small zoomed square in the center disappears and leaves you with the whole picture.

The rapid fire photo option is very useful for action shots, and some candid stuff, like subway pictures.

The mechanical view finder is more than just an adornment on this camera. It's quite good, and it changes its field of view according to the current zoom setting. It also has a focus adjustment on it. This is very nice if you wear glasses, as it lets you adjust the view finder to your eye, and you can get your eye right up to it, and not keep bumping your glasses into the back of the camera.

Very wide open Fstop of 2.0 to very closed off 8.0.

And lastly, it remembers virtually everything you setup the last time it was on or in a certain mode, and reverts to those settings the next time you turn it on or switch modes. This includes things like white balance, settings that were NOT remembered by my Powershot A80.

Now for the negatives:

The door that covers the USB port / DC input, and AV output is very easy to catch in the swivelling / revolving fold out screen, and as the screen takes a fare bit of effort to revolve, it's quite likely you'll have snapped the door in half before you notice it's gone and gotten itself caught in the spinning LCD screen that's passing by. If it's gotten a little bent, it will get caught every time by the fold out screen until you snap it off or bend it back in place.

The flash is way too close to the lens, which makes for some pretty obvious shadows in the bottom right hand corner of some photos. Luckily, I'm not much for flash usage, and if I was, I'd probably spring for a real flash that sat in the hot shoe. Still, if you're looking for a great built in flash, this is NOT the camera for you.

Slow focus, and the autofocus can become confused by objects within a few yards, and never really focus. Plus, focusing is pretty slow. If you are looking for a camera with a very fast, nearly perfect autofocus, you might do better with another camera.

Movies are limited to 3 minutes maximum, which seems rather arbitrary. Even 5 minutes would be a big step up, as it would allow me to catch the average musical performance in one step.

Final Word:

This is a great compromise camera for someone who really wants two separate cameras but can't afford them. It's a good snap shot camera, and a good big lense, big body, big CCD machine capable of creating art.

It's not the best at either of those categories when compared to other cameras, but for one that does both, it represents a a perfect compromise at a pretty reasonable price.

I had been researching digital cameras for some time before making my purchase of my G6 a few weeks ago. For a few years, I've been shooting with my Minolta Maxxum 5 SLR, because it was lightweight and gave me all the things I needed in a camera. I broke into digital slowly (as most people did given that just a few years ago, a 2.0MP digital camera ran about $300). I had a meager Fuji A340 and then moved up to a Canon SD100 which I loved-small with decent images. I looked around at the digital SLR's, but for what I do, I didn't like two things about them: price and size. Often when I travel, I tote my camcorder and a camera with me. Last year, I went to Europe and brought along my Maxxum 5 (for quality shots), my Canon SD100 (for quick, easy shots) and my camcorder, a JVC GR-DV500u for video. I thought my arm was going to fall off a week into the trip. The solution: Combine the cameras, i.e. the Canon G6.

The G6 offers the easy of a point and shoot digital with the image quality of a digital SLR. The ergonomics are the best I've ever felt in a camera--the grip is even better than on my Maxxum giving every shot a confident, steady feel. The lens is fantasticly bright and the colors are accurate. Whenever possible, I shoot without a flash because I've always found that flash lighting from a camera's on-board flash is often harsh, but Canon has an answer for that too with its adjustable flash output and tight gain control on higher ISO settings. They included all the nice little extras like the included remote control and lighted top LCD read-out. Surprisingly, I find myself using the Intravolometer feature quite often to do timelapse photography. It is a perfect balance of size, price and features. This is a camera you won't mind taking to a party or taking on a weekend photo-excursion. The optical viewfinder is quite generous for a camera in this range also. The ability to shoot RAW images is greatly appreciated, and the fact it uses CompactFlash is excellent. I got a 1GB card from Sandisk at BestBuy for a measly $68 after rebate. Hitachi also makes microdrives for CompactFlash slots at very resonable prices too- 4GB is only going to set you back $199--I can remember when the 512Mb cards cost that.

[...]

I can't say enough about this camera!

This is my third digital camera, but it's been a few years since the second and it was definitely obsolete. I was tempted to go top of the line, because I've two excellent SLRs (Nikon and Minolta) with all the trimmings, but the prices made that unfeasible right now.

I'm very satisfied with the features of the Canon G6 however; I've taken about 400 shots so far, plus one movie, tried out all the software for stitching panoramas together, etc. I still mainly use PhotoShop, but the Canon software is quite good.

The photo quality is excellent, including color and the optical
zoom and wideangle range is good for most purposes. The macro setting also does a nice job.

The controls are easy to use for the most part for anyone at all familiar with full featured SLRs, and better than most. I've made very few mistakes in the field as a result of control confusion.

What I'm less thrilled about (nitpicking):
Like most electronics these days, even if you've got very small hands like me, it is hard to keep from getting a finger in the wrong place, just about every square inch is covered with a control. I would have liked to have an insert (like Nikon supplies) to cover the flash hotshoe contacts. And every time I remove the battery or memory card, I have to watch out to grab the camera by the few areas that don't have a control on them. Also, the cable input has a typical tiny plastic door that would be all too easy to break off, and the neck strap attachment is too close to the memory card door, and tends to interfere with it opening all the way.

Also, in preview mode it tells you how many shots you have taken but not how many left, and in shooting mode, vice versa. It is annoying to have to switch to shooting mode to see how many left, especially if you are using the lens cover, because then the lens deploys out, and you have to remember to take the lens cover off first (deploying the lens with the cover on is a no-no.)

I also got the camera case designed for the G6. Again like all too many "cases" it is a tight fit, only has a single inside pocket that you can only get an extra card in and still get the camera in too. And the case would not really be good dust protection and it zips up the sides but the top opening is just covered by a flap. And because of the tight and awkward fit, it is easy to accidentally turn the camera on, deploying the lens, while putting the camera into the case. The case comes with a belt loop, but you have to supply your own belt, and it has no other strap or handle except a tiny loop located at the top end of on side zipper, where it just gets in the way. Not a good design.

I also checked out some of the accessories available, like additional lens and flash, but they're very expensive, like the macro lights are more than the camera! So I don't know if I'll get any of the add-ons later on.

But overall, the G6 is already my next favorite camera to my Nikon SLR, powerful yet easy to use, and even fun! Definitely 5 stars for the camera, 1 star for the case.

I had been using a Powershot A20 (2 megapixel) camera for several years and decided to upgrade to a digital camera that gave me the ability to learn and use shutter speeds, lenses, etc. I didn't want to spend $1,000 or more on a camera that required instant knowledge of basic photography (it's been many years since I tried to manually focus). The G6 has provided everything I wanted. By using the various modes (Auto, P, Tv, Av and M), I can take point & shoot shots for general use and still have the option to use manual controls to learn the best shutter speed for water shots, etc. The 4x optical zoom is fine for most shots, and with the 1.75x teleconverter you increase that to 7x. The macro and supermacro setings are absolutely fantastic - I've got shots of dew drops on flowers that are amazing. There are many other settings in the menu and function areas worth looking at. The vivid setting punches up colors (perfect for flowers, etc. but be careful to change it back when shooting people), the ND filter is great when you want to use slow shutter speeds, and the flash sync allows you to change when the flash goes off. One of the coolest abilities of this camera is the ability to shoot in Jpeg and, during the review period right after taking the shot, push the flash button and your shot is converted into RAW. This means that you don't need to take all your shots in RAW (just in case you get that one special shot). As RAW reduces your storage capacity by more than half, this is wonderful. The battery life is one of the best - I can get about 3-5 days of average use (50-80 photos/day) on one battery charge. I bought one extra battery and I haven't found myself without power yet. I use one til it dies, pop in the other and finish my day, then that night I charge the first (it only takes 90 minutes) and the next day I'm ready to go again. No more pockets filled with disposable batteries.
In respect to the included 32mb card, you definitely want more (512mb minimum) - however, in the world of digital cameras, 32mb included is pretty good. Many still include an 8mb card only.
Memory storage at the Large/Superfine (3072 x 2304) setting are as follows:

32mb - 9 shots
64mb - 19
128mb - 40
256mb - 81
512mb - 163
1gb - 327
2gb - 645

Note that these numbers are affected by additional settings such as landscape, wide angle, zoom, macro and supermacro, in addition to the complexity of the shot composition (landscape vs. single flower). However, in my usage, I have found them to be accurate enough to bank on.
All in all, this camera has provided me with a great "point and shoot" camera with great advancement potential. In addition, it actually assists me in learning photographic techniques (use the Tv mode and manually set your shutter speed, the camera automatically sets the best matching aperture setting - after a while you start to get a feel for what combinations work best).