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

Six weeks. One point and shoot. Could I do it? That certainly was the question I was asking myself as I was stepping onto my flight to Bangkok. Of course, other thoughts crossed my mind too, like “Did I forget something?” and  ”Will that kilo of ham in my luggage go off before we get there?” Well, let’s find out if the G9 was up to the task.

Size

This is the main reason for choosing a point and shoot over a DSLR in the first place and I have to say, it’s a very welcome change. Bulky as it may be ( for a point and shoot ), it happens to be the smallest camera I’ve ever owned, and it was a pleasure to just throw it into a bag or just carry around with a wrist strap. It’s so nice not having to carry a dedicated camera bag.

Though it might look awkward in your gold lycra hotpants, it’s still quite compact and didn’t feel overly bulky to carry or use. It’s not light, but the weight combined with the solid build made it feel very secure in the hand. It’s also fantastic for candid shots since it’s size and the matte black body doesn’t draw any attention. When it wasn’t in use, the lens sits flush with the body and the whole thing became about the size of a large block of soap.

Battery

Battery life is important when you’re travelling. Unfortunately, not having owned other point and shoots, I can’t really say if the battery life was good or bad. I had always used my 5D bodies with battery grips which allowed me to use two batteries in each body, giving me about 1400 shots per charge. Having said that, for what I used it for, the G9 easily lasted a whole day on one charge and a spare battery is quite cheap and small.

Speed

I’m glad to say that I don’t think there was a shot I missed because the camera was too slow. From being off to being ready to shoot takes less than a second which, having used other peoples point and shoots, is quite nice. So, unless you need to zoom in, since it always defaults back to wide when you power it on, you shouldn’t worry about missing any shots if you keep it on auto/program or any of the priority modes. I never used the camera to fire off multiple exposures but at about one frame per second, I’m not sure there’s much use for it.

Screen

It felt solid enough that all I did was put on a screen protecter ( which is just a film of plastic ) over the screen and never had to worry about getting scratches or breaking the thing. Having only used 2.5″ screens on my 5D and a 2″ screen on my first digital camera ( Sony 717 ), the 3″ screen on the G9 was very refreshing. View-ability was good, even in sunlight, but I didn’t use it all that much to review shots since I’d download all the files to my 17″ MacBook Pro every night. I do believe the images seem a cooler temp on the G9 screen than on my Mac though.

Controls

Very well laid out controls made the G9 a joy to use. I don’t think I could ever use a camera without a control wheel on the back as it’s such a good method to quickly make changes ( like the iPod’s click wheel ). Exposure changes where easy and the menu was fairly intuitive. The built in neutral density filter was very welcome in sunny and contrasty Cambodia.

One thing I found a little redundant was the dedicated ISO wheel. While I would gladly welcome it on my 5D, I found it of limited use on the G9. The difference is that my 5D can take decent images from ISO 50-1600 whereas the G9 really only performs well at ISO 50-200. It even has Auto ISO mode and ISO compensation settings so most the time I never needed to change it myself.

Image

Ah, so, the big question. Having used the 5D with L lenses for 2 years, how does the image quality of this point and shoot compare? At ISO 50 – 100 and in the daytime, surprisingly good. There’s a huge amount of detail with good sharpness and colour in a well exposed shot. Pixel for pixel, the 5D wins, but for real usage ( such as on the web ) the G9 is quite outstanding. Though the 5D shoots in 3:2 aspect ratio and the G9 in 4:3, they are both effectively 12 megapixel cameras and on 6 x 4 and up to 8 x 12 prints, I found the quality of the G9 to be quite acceptable indeed.

Once you pump the ISO to 200 and up, however, the gap widens considerably. Colour information goes down as the level of noise comes up. Not being able to use the RAW mode at the time ( because it was too new and Apple didn’t support it ) didn’t help either. But I already knew this when I bought the camera and was prepared for it. I just didn’t shoot much at night. And in emergencies the built in flash did a decent job and lighting stuff 2 meters away. Not pretty, but it does the job.

Purple fringing is visible in high contrast areas but is minimal and isn’t really noticeable at 25%. If it does bother you, you can always turn the picture black and white like my photo above. I found the lens to be quite sharp from ƒ2.8-ƒ8 with slight distortion on the wide end.

Overall I’m very happy with the quality of the images that came out of this camera. I’m including a gallery in part 3 showing some of the pictures I took during my 6 weeks away. Most of them have been processed through Aperture while a few have just been resized. I don’t think an unprocessed image straight out of the camera is necessary for evaluation as it’s what you can do with the image that counts.

Video

Now here’s something I’ve been missing out on for a very long time. The video capabilities on the G9 are great and recording 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second captures quite a lot of detail. The exposure is good but you can’t zoom while recording which is a pity. Sound is typical of such a small device where motion capture is secondary to stills, which isn’t to say that it’s bad, just not fantastic. Another neat feature is a time lapse mode where it can record 1 frame every 1 or 2 seconds for up to 2 hours.

Here’s a short clip of some of my young cousins in Cambodia. It’s hosted at Vimeo and you can download the original AVI file from my Vimeo page.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you can see the G9 handles different lighting conditions fairly well and the sound is quite acceptable. Movement is captured at a decent rate and for web use, I would have no hesitation to use the video capabilities.

Overall

Very pleased. The G9 is portable, reliable, fast and makes nice images. It’s limitations were easy to live with and is overshadowed by the thing it does well: take pictures. I don’t regret for a moment not taking my DSLR. Sure, some of the pictures would have turned out better, but the fact that I could always take this camera with me probably resulted in me getting more pictures.

In part 3 I’ll have a gallery of some of the pictures I took during my 6 weeks in Cambodia and in part 4 I’ll talk about some of the things I’ll do differently next time I go on a trip. Stay tuned.

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

I thought it pretty funny that this episode of Top Gear ( UK ) that featured a race inside a shopping centre came out at about the same time as automotive websites published news that manufacturers weren’t happy with Top Gear Australia’s treatment of their cars.

Video and quotes after the jump.

Top Gear – Fiesta vs. Corvette inside a shopping centre

Click here to view the embedded video.

Probably the best Top Gear “Review” I’ve seen to date ( good thing too since I didn’t find the commie car segment very entertaining, having just 2 of the presenters never works for me ). Imagine the insurance they had to provide. After seeing that, I’ve absolutely no hope for Top Gear AUS. 

Car manufacturers speak out

“We have no appetite for automotive Jackass,” the spokesman for one of the damaged brands said.

“All we will say is that it turned out to be a very expensive test drive,” said Holden spokeswoman Kate Lonsdale of the Astra bowls stunt.

One manufacturer went so far as to suggest that the organisers of Top Gear Australia will “encounter a lot of shut doors” when filming begins for series two.

It seems that Top Gear AUS will be having a hard time getting cars for season 2, let alone permission to race them anywhere with obstacles. According to the reports, Top Gear Australia has inflicted around $200,000 worth of damages to the test cars that they “reviewed”. Damages ranged from stone chipping to full out destroyed bumpers. Was it worth it in the end? If it was supposed to entertain, it certainly failed for me.

After the stories came out, Top Gear AUS host Warren Brown attempted to defend their actions with a few comments of his own:

Newspaper reports have this week suggested that Top Gear Australia has racked up a significant figure in car repair bills as a result of “eager driving” and “wild and silly stunts”. 

Anyone who knows anything about either the UK or Australian versions of Top Gear knows the basic premise of these programs is pretty much about “eager driving and wild and silly stunts”.

Then again, anyone who knows anything about Top Gear will recognise that this is actually a program about a passion for motoring – and not about a suggested disregard, disrespect nor wilful destruction of motor vehicles.

But let’s get this straight. I’m a host on Top Gear Australia and can tell you that like its UK sibling, it is not the kind of cardigan-wearing motoring program that will simply embrace a car and go on to say what a lovely radio it has and what scrumptious colours it comes in and how it will reduce whatever hole in the ozone layer that happens to hover above it. 

If Top Gear Australia loves a car, then the presenters will say so. But if they don’t – well that’s how it goes.

And, one of the reasons the UK version has climbed toward the 500 million (yes, half a billion viewer mark) is because they pull no punches. The same for Top Gear Australia.

Certainly, car manufacturers and dealers in Australia might not have seen their products displayed on local television in such a manner before – like the example of using six Holden Astras in a lawn bowls segment. 

Watching the stunt on video screens during a studio filming, an astonished audience of 800 cheered the Astras, which meandered their way to an inflatable jack, ultimately receiving damage to their chin-spoilers, but accruing far less damage as compared to the UK version’s soccer challenge where two teams of cars belted a gigantic soccer ball around a paddock.

The Astras came out as terrific little cars, as Youtube favourites and as a great story for Top Gear fans. What more could a manufacturer want as an advertisement?

Okay, so what he’s saying is that they’re trying to be like Top Gear UK who sometimes they damage cars as well. Sure, manufacturers don’t mind if they’re being viewed by half a billion people. But the Top Gear AUS audience doesn’t even reach 1 million, so it’s understandable they’re not happy having to completely re-spray their cars for questionable marketing, since people watching 3 old dudes ( one even has a moustache!! ) damage their cars won’t necessarily mean a sale.

I must also point out his “YouTube Favourites” comment. I’m not sure what YouTube he’s talking about, but if you check out the clip, it doesn’t seem that too many people are impressed. With a three-and-a-half star rating and only around 7,000 views, it’s not exactly top dog. Gee, an Aussie-Asian girl just ranting gets more popularity than the Top Gear AUS videos. Maybe Holden should give her an Astra? It’s cheaper than the $30,000 worth of damages Top Gear AUS inflicted during that video.

One of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a while. Especially good if you’re interested in photography. In the same vein as this video but a whole lot less musical.

While I think the above video is totally cool, I’m really not sure what all the fuss is about concerning it’s price. It’s competing against the Canon 1Ds MkIII, not the Sony A900 or the Canon 5D MkII. If all you’re concerned with is resolution, then sure, the A900 or 5D MkII will fit the bill, but if you’re in need of the resolution and a rugged weatherproof body, you’re going to have to pay for it.

People have been buying the Canon 1Ds range for years because it’s had no competition. Now Nikon can compete with the 1Ds almost feature for feature, and if it’s better than the Canon ( which I think it will be ), then Canon will have to either improve their camera ( win for us! ) or they’ll have to drop the price to compete ( win for us! ).

Lenses, on the other hand, well, that’s why I still use Canon.

I was watching Top Gear today and I saw they were doing the High-Speed-Water-Balloon-Popping™ thing when they introduced one of the cars. It’s always pretty to look at but I’ve been seeing it used quite a lot lately. Awfully fun to do and certainly great to view if done well.

More examples, plus my own attempts at it from earlier this year, after the jump.

Top Gear Season 12 Episode 6

I love Top Gear’s use of slow motion / high speed cameras. For a show that’s mostly about speed, I think it’s very appropriate that they borrow some of David Attenborough’s toys. I’d love to get my hands on one of those cameras.

The Schweppes Ad

Click here to view the embedded video.

Beautifully made ad. Strong visuals combined with appropriate music and you’ve got a winner here. No purpose than to look good. I like.

Chase Jarvis on High Speed Photography

Click here to view the embedded video.

Good explanation of how to achieve the high speed shot but unfortunately it’s a bit slim on the Photoshop techniques used.

My Own Examples

These three shots were hand triggered ( yes, using my finger on the shutter ) at 1/8000 of a second with my Canon 5D. I prefer these shots to some of the more clinical shots that you find on Flickr as they’re mostly done the Chase Jarvis way using flash on a black background. I think the colour and composition of these shots make them more interesting because they feel more complete as opposed to just balloon popping on black/white background.