part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4

The 6 weeks I had in Cambodia were an amazing experience, and since I only took a single point and shoot camera with me, I was able to experience it without the burden of having to lug around large DSLR equipment or worry about theft. If I were to travel with just a point and shoot camera again though, there would be a few things I’d do differently.

Tripod

I did take a tripod, but it was one of those crappy tripods you get for free with your eBay purchase, considered a “gift” and not really meant to support anything heavier than Richard Hammond. I did have a Manfrotto 055 aluminium tripod but it was too bulky and heavy to take with me. It actually broke on me recently during a shoot which wasn’t nice, but I think the legs may have become brittle from exposure to sea water. Anyways, good reason for me to get that carbon fibre 055 I’ve been wanting.

Anywho, a tripod would have been useful in a few situations and would have helped to counteract the G9’s weak high ISO performance by allowing me to use a lower ISO and longer exposure during low light. Next time I’ll consider getting either a table top tripod such as the Manfrotto Table Top Tripod which would be very useful as long as I had something to stand it on, or the considerably more flexible, but only marginally more expensive, Manfrotto 725B Digi Tripod. Both come with a ball head which, compared to most pan and tilt heads, is very fast to move into the right position.

The table top tripod is smaller and lighter than the 725B, but I think I’ll get the 725B for it’s flexibility since there’s no point carrying a tripod if it’s not going to do what you need it to do. Besides, I probably won’t be taking it everywhere and at just over 1.4kg it’s not hugely inconvenient to carry.

Flash

The built in flash on the G9 is really only good if you like that overblown, arm length, self portrait MySpace/Facebook look that so many teenage girls fancy nowadays. I probably wouldn’t take a flash trigger and more than one flash as that would totally defeat the point of travelling light ( no pun intended ), even if it would totally awesome-ize the photos. What I’d take is a single Canon Speedlite 580EX as that would give me the flexibility to have an on-camera-fill during the day time and a nice ceiling/wall bounce light for interiors. It’s fairly small, about twice the size of the camera itself, and weighs less than a kilo with batteries.

Does look ridiculously big on the G9 though.

Camera

Would I take the G9 again? Sure would! But unfortunately for those among us who have not got a G9, you can’t get one anymore unless it’s second hand. That’s because the Canon Powershot G10 is out. I would recommend the G10 just as much as the G9 as I believe it’s pretty much the same camera. The upgrades aren’t really substantial, like going in for a boob job and all they do is add an extra nipple. Some may find the upgrades pleasing, but performance will be pretty much the same. The wider lens ( 28mm as opposed to 35mm ) is the only reason I would choose the G10 over the G9 and really that’s just personal taste.

Another camera I would consider getting is the Panasonic DMC-LX3 which in my personal opinion is a better camera. I do prefer the body of the G10 ( that control dial at the back is unbeatable ) but the sensor and the lens on LX3 is better ( again, in my opinion ). Canon played the numbers game by upping the G10 sensor to 14 megapixels and in so doing worsened the high ISO performance while Panasonic stuck with a 10 megapixel sensor with larger photosites which results in much better performance in low light.

Another feature of the LX3 that helps low light shooting is it’s image stabilised ƒ2.0-2.8 lens, a full stop faster than the G10 lens. Sure, the maximum zoom on the LX3 is only 60mm while the G10 can do 140mm, but I very rarely will zoom in fully with a point and shoot. Also, the LX3 has a wider 24mm lens which I find more useful than longer zoom. The only downside to the LX3 in my opinion is the control layout. It just isn’t as intuitive and fast like the G10. But then again, I usually keep the camera in aperture priority so it might not be such a big deal.

Summary

That’s pretty much it. I fully enjoyed all the benefits of the G9 on my trip and would recommend anyone not on assignment to consider a G10 or an LX3 for their next trip in place of a DSLR. I hope this was of some help and insight to anyone who may be asking “should I take a point and shoot camera for travelling instead of my $10k DSLR kit?”

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4

A gallery containing some images from my 6 week trip to Cambodia taken with the Canon G9. You might not be able to see them in your RSS reader.

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part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4

When you’re an avid photographer, you always like to be prepared. It’s hard to leave home without a camera and a lens or two, let alone go on a long trip without all your gear. And being an avid photographer, you probably have accumulated quite a lot of gear. So, when you find yourself going on holidays to some other part of the world, you’re going to have to ask yourself: “What the hell do I take and what do I leave behind?”

I had to make that very decision at the end of 2007, when I was headed off to Cambodia with some friends. What I was considering taking was my Canon 5D body with a 24-70 ƒ2.8 and a 70-200 ƒ2.8 so I would have a nice range from 24-200 that should pretty much cover anything I needed. Oh, and maybe a flash or two. And maybe my Manfrotto tripod, since I was going to see the temples of Angkor.

Then I realised what I had become: a photo freak. That’s over 10 kg worth of gear. Am I really going to spend 6 weeks lugging around all that in a country where the only weather report you need is a small card with 32˚C and sunny written on it? Sure, if I was getting paid for it. But this was supposed to be a holiday, not an assignment. So I did a full about face, sold all my gear and bought a Canon Powershot G9.

Canon G9

I’m actually kidding about the selling all my gear, but I really did go out and buy the Canon G9. So, why did I choose the Canon G9 above other point and shoots? After doing the research, but not having actually used the camera, these were the things at attracted me to the G9:

Control – When you use DSLRs all the time, you come to rely on the control that they offer. Some things I could live without, but I had to have full control over exposure. This meant having full and easy control of the basic trinity of photography: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Lens – The G9 has a lens with the 35mm equivalent of 35-210, which to be honest, I didn’t really care about much. What was important to me, however, was the maximum aperture of 2.8-4.8 for it’s zoom range. I like bokeh, and it’s important to have the largest aperture when you’re dealing with reduced sensor sizes to achieve decent bokeh. Image stabilisation was a bonus.

RAW – In this matter, I probably should have done my research a little more carefully. You see, I shoot pretty much exclusively in RAW, and I use Apple Aperture exclusively to manage my RAW files. I was quite excited that the G9 had brought back RAW capabilities that were lacking in previous models. What I didn’t realise was that Apple hadn’t yet brought out support for the G9 RAW files. So the whole trip, it was JPEG all the way.

Body – It looked rugged. Metal body, good weight, solid controls. I wanted a camera that I could chuck around and the G9 certainly looked the deal. The 3″ screen was also a nice change from the 2.5″ one I was used to on the 5D.

So, those were the reasons I chose the G9.

In part 2 I’ll talk about whether those features were actually useful once I was on the trip, what I liked and didn’t like about the camera, and how it performed as an only camera. Stay tuned.

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4