the Generic Asian

Canon G10

First of all, this is not a technical review of the Canon G10, but more of a user experience review with some non-technical review of the technical aspects of the camera.

One of the many challenges I have in having photography as a hobby is you would always want to be ready and you had to lug a bunch of stuff around.

In the past,  my primary gear was my Olympus OM1, the legendary Zuiko Prime Lenses (all 7 of the primes), my analog sekonic Light meter (no battries needed) and bag full of film.

Forward a little bit to the future in 2001.  I had my first endevour to the digital age with the Fuji 6900Z.  It had many issues as I began my move to digital age, but as a whole I loved this camera for what it can do.   It was small, it was light, it had all the bells and whistle and most of all it produced great images even printed well at A3 sized prints.   The main issue I had was that it was slow and it used lousy batteries.

The glorious Fuji 6900Z

I loved the Fuji for what it can do, but it still was lacking in many ways.

However, from then on, I was hooked in the digital era.  I got the Fuji S2, then the Canon 10d – 30D and now I use the 40D. 

Ok some of you probably know that in my real life work, I do travel.  A lot less these days, but when I did in the past I would lug around whatever DSLR I had at the time and then I would go about my business.  There were times that I would bring the camera around, but would never get a chance to even shoot a single frame.

It was either I was too rushed to bring the DSLR out or it was too dangerous for me to bring out a DSLR as it would just stick out too much.

I have been hearing a lot about the great new cameras such as the Canon G10 and The Panasonic Lumix L3.

Beautifully designed and highly regarded camera from Panasonic

A full review from 60 HZ productions was made comparing the Canon G10 and the Lumix LX3 was made on their website.  Please click link here for the article.

Furthermore, I follow a podcast called This Week in Photography or TWIP where one of the more interesting hosts had purchased both the LX3 and the G10 for his review and had said he had returned the G10 because the LX3 was much better.

On other, websites like Luminous Landscapes, they also had some mind boggling reviews of the Canon G10 and had great reviews on it.  Click here for the article.

Heck I was more confused than ever!

So, I did whatever sane person would do is for me to find out for myself.  I currently live in Bangkok and in Bangkok, there are very few places where you can buy cameras, let alone newly launched ones.

I headed for a mall called Panthip Plaza where everything from copy DVDs to rack servers are sold.  I had gone to the 4 or 5 shops that sell cameras. 

The best price I could get for the Canon G10 was around Baht 16,000 or around US$ 460.  Comes with the standard set with 2 gig SD card.  The Panasonic LX3 was also around US$ 460.   These products are most likely gray market products and would probably not have the usual warranties.

In terms of form factor, I liked the G10 better.  It just felt better on my hands.  The LX3 was just a bit too glossy for me.  And I also did not like the idea of having a lens cap which I can and will most probably lose in a heartbeat. 

There were many reasons and it took me about 3-4 hours of looking, playing around with the camera in various shops and to cut a long story short, I went with the Canon G10.

The main reasons are as follows:

1. It felt great on my Asian sized hands.  Not too small, not too big;

2. It was made by Canon.  And I have never had any issues with Canon and I trust them.  My consumer experience with Canon and their service is 1 billion percent positive;

3. It had a viewfinder and the LX3 did not have it.  From experience on shooting outdoors with just using an LCD screen as you main feedback I can tell you its not the easiest thing to use.  Or maybe its just me.

4. Nice video capture.

5. The layout of the dials and controls seem to be logical and felt like a photographers camera

6. My Canon flash works with it.  I have 3 Canon 550 EX.

7. Shoots raw

Great logical layout and I really like the exposure compensation dial

Big LCD screen with nice colors.

The main thing I disliked about the G10 was that the dial to move either the aperture or the shutter speed was too small for my taste.  I guess I am just used to the way it was layed out in the traditonal DSLR.

I chose the Canon G10 simply because I like Canon.  I like the workflow I have with the DSLR and I can use the same workflow with the  Canon G10.

I was thinking of doing a side by side comparison of the images, but really there are many of these out there who would be more competent than me.  Websites like DPReview, Ken Rockwell and many others would provide a more technical and a more comprehensive review of this camera.  I have linked them here for you to see.

Having said that I did a side by side vs. the 40D used the 28-80 F2.8 L lens. I had set up my studio strobes and did a quick setup.  Downloaded the files and did my pixel peeping….  and I really can’t tell the difference.   If at all the G10 was bit on the warm side but not much.

At the end of the day for me, the reason for my choice was simple.  It felt good on the hand and it is made by Canon.  I guess for normal consumers like me. 

My experience with the Canon brand has really won me over. 

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the Generic Asian