Now we will take a look at the most expensive Canon Powershot G9, which completes the Powershot digital compact range. To Europe. The Audio and Video Association (EI-SA) named the previous model of the Kenon G7 line as the best compact camera of 2008.
Delivery set:
• camera KenonPowershot G9;
• Li-ion-battery NB-2-LH (730 Mah);
• charging;
• 32MB card of MMCHigh-Speed standard;
• hand strap;
• A-V-cable, USB-cable for connection to a home computer;
• user manuals, discs with manuals;
• disks with software.
Appearance
The first time you look at it and take it in your hand, the camera makes a very pleasant impression. It immediately becomes clear why it belongs to the most expensive price segment. The camera has an excellent assembly, there are no even small backlashes. The appearance of the camera is specific, reminiscent of "retro": a black chassis with rough "droplets" on the surfaces and chrome-plated metal inserts. Kenon Powershot G9 is made of a metal alloy, and only the upper part is made of ordinary plastic. A rubber strip is clearly visible on the front of the camera, which is fully suitable for holding the camera with one hand. In particular, when fully assembled with a battery and a memory card, the Powershot G9 weighs about 370 g, which can be heavy for some users (you definitely cannot put such a camera in your pocket).
Below are the compartments for the battery and the photo memory card. The rechargeable battery is the same as for the EOS 400d (fully charged from zero to full in 120 minutes). The battery capacity is enough for 260 shots, which is revealed by a fairly good result. There is also a metal mount for a tripod. Unlike the Canon Powershot 720 IS, it is located in the center, and even on a small tripod the camera stands confidently. It is unrealistic to replace the battery or memory card without removing the camera from the tripod.
I was delighted with a huge 3-inch screen with an anti-reflective coating and excellent viewing angles. It is of medium mark, but when it is turned on and even at half brightness, fingerprints are not visible. When buying a camera, you need to pay special attention to the display, since in our case it had 2 broken and 1 "hot" pixel. They, of course, do not interfere, but the aesthetes may not like it. Like the mass of Kenon compact cameras, the Powershot G9 has an optical viewfinder.
In this situation, there is a possibility of diopter correction (from -2 to +2) using the wheels located to the left of the viewfinder. When the photo lens is at the wide-angle position, the optical viewfinder captures part of the photo lens up to 2x magnification. After 2x photo lens, the viewfinder is no longer visible. The shutter release button is small, located inside the zoom ring. Next to it is a recessed power button and a metal drum for selecting modes, 2 of which are completely user-configurable.
On the top left, there is a unique solution: a metal drum for switching ISO sensitivity. In practice, this turned out to be very convenient. Good opportunities for working with a flash: auto-sync on the front and rear curtain, slow auto-sync, AE compensation and power adjustment - all this has become common for SLR cameras, but not for compact ones.
An important feature: the Powershot G9 has a hot shoe that can be fitted with any of the supported flash units from Kenon and independent manufacturers.
The lens extended to the wide-angle position takes 4 cm in length, at the long zoom position it is slightly more - 5 cm. The lens unfolds with a sandy characteristic rustling.This is probably due to the fact that it is new, but no scratches on its telescopic parts after a week. operation was not found by me.
The photographic lens is framed by black painted decorative metal rings, which also serve as "plugs" for the installation of additional optics (tele- or wide-angle converters).
On the back of the camera are the control keys and the familiar four-way joystick with the FUNC / SET button in the center. It will take some time to get used to it. it is very small (for people with huge fingers, it will be convenient to press only with their nails). Joysticks frame a scroll wheel. It is actually quite convenient: menu navigation, manual focusing, setting the photo aperture and shutter speed values - all this happens an order of magnitude faster than without the wheel.
It is possible to assign one of the functions to the data transfer button: exposure metering, stabilization functions, custom white balance, focus lock, ND photo filter (neutral density). The latter reduces the luminous flux falling on the matrix by a couple of times. In some situations, this is a very useful tool, making it possible, for example, to shoot portraits with a full aperture open in bright sunlight.
Menu
The main display only shows the focus point, AE compensation, shutter speed, or aperture. A very pleasant moment - the ability to customize the display modes of information on the screen, additional selection of grid lines and even display a histogram.
Half-pressing the shutter release button and the Powershot G9 will calculate the exposure, display the focus area, shutter speed and photo aperture values, ISO number and the camera shake icon, warning that photos may come out blurred. If in mode "P" you hold down the AE lock buttons (in playback mode it is responsible for turning on the recorder for recording) and press the shutter release button halfway, the bands for selecting combinations of shutter speed and aperture selection will open. In the functions of aperture priorities (AV mode) or shutter speeds (TV mode) by scrolling without complications and at high speeds, it is possible to set certain values.
The C / W menu, called by the FUNC / SET button, it is possible to set the white balance values (6 automatic and 2 user settings), adjust the colors (five levels of clarity, contrast, brightness, greenish, crimson, blue and skin tone). It is possible to apply one of the effects even after taking a photo, during viewing. In addition, you can select the size of the final file, the power of the flash and its power compensation, the type of autoexposure metering.
Another interesting possibility is bracketing, when the camera takes 3 stills with focus on the foreground, background and center. It is noteworthy that the choice of any item from the menu does not require additional pressing of the SET key, which seriously increases the work and allows you not to miss a rare photo frame.
Powershot G9 supports RAW photo data recording formats (CR-2). In this format, signals from the matrix are recorded without any additional processing, which makes it possible to use the most various software packages for photo processing after taking a photo. RAW recording is ideal for situations where photo distortion (caused by JPEG compression) is undesirable or when there is only 1 chance of capturing a valuable shot. The editor has the ability to set the correct exposure and correct white balance, "pull" details from the shadows, set the degree of clarity of the final file in JPEG. The average RAW file size for 12 megapixels of the Kenon Powershot G9 is 12.6 megapixels.
The camera has the ability to turn on in 2 ways: via the On / Off button with the subsequent extension of the photo lens and instant readiness for taking photos, or via the view button, without extending the photo lens.It is necessary to press the shutter release button halfway, and the Kenon Powershot G9 will switch to the photography modes.
The view modes are functional and provide ample opportunities for cataloging and sorting into different categories, and showing a slideshow with different transition effects. There is also an opportunity to set the time zone, remove the effect of scarlet eyes, resize pictures without connecting to a PC, customize sounds and backgrounds. There is a possibility to save the settings in the menu in 2 variants. This is convenient if the camera is used by a couple of people.
Then, as the photo is taken, the display shows a preview of the entire frame with the enlarged part (it is selected from the focus area). This makes it possible to instantly evaluate its clarity without long searches in the camera menu and enlarging images to maximums.
Except for still capturing video in 1024 x 768 resolutions, the camera has Time-Lapse video capabilities that can be useful for capturing slowly changing processes, such as night and day changes or flowers blooming. There is no way to use the zoom during video shooting, but no one bothers to adjust the photo lens to the required magnification before starting video recording.
Kenon Powershot G9 detects up to 36 human faces in one frame, focuses on them and adjusts autoexposure correctly. Macro is traditionally great for Kenon. Seeing the pixels on an LCD is easy. Sometimes it is possible to catch chromatic aberration in the most sudden places. The integrated flash unit has 3 power levels.
Optical image stabilizers with movable lens groups used in the Canon Powershot G9 models detect and compensate for camera vibrations that can cause blurred photos. Gyro sensors detect camera movements caused by shaking a person's hand. The signals from these are processed by the Photo Stabilizer Controller, which distinguishes hand-shake from intentional camera movement. Up to 3000 of these signals are processed at one time. The processed data is sent to the stabilizer, which shifts the lens elements accordingly to correct the light paths. So compensates for unwanted blur caused by hand shake.
At high ISO, the camera is, of course, quite noisy. Therefore, photographing above 400 ISO will inevitably affect the quality of the output photos. The work of interpolation and noise reduction filters is also visible: photographs lose their clarity and detail, they give the impression that they are written with ordinary paint.
In good sunlight, the Canon Powershot G9 camera gives the corresponding indicators of the quality of photographs, dark colors are deep, but noise is also visible, especially in brown and purple color transitions.
In low ambient light, autofocus often misses, and even a greenish focusing illumination does not save the day. The white balance is determined accurately, however, with small delays (from 1 to 2 seconds), there is a tendency to give the snow a yellowish tint.
Engineering parameters:
• 1 / 1.7 "CCD-photosensor (7.5 by 5.5 mm), 12 Megapixels;
• DIGIC processor of the 3rd series;
• 6x zoom-photo lens Kenon Lens 7.4-44.4 mm (35-210 mm in 35 mm equivalent), aperture 2.8-4.8;
• 4x digital zoom;
• photo resolution: 4000 by 3000, 3264 by 2448, 2592 by 1944, 1600 by 1200, 640 by 480;
• video with sound: 1024 by 768 pixels at 15 frames per second, 640 by 480 pixels by 240 or 160 by 120, 30 or 15 frames per second;
• optical stabilization (floating elements in the construction of a photographic lens);
• 9-point TTL AI-focusing (manual focusing point selection, manual focusing by 1 of 376 points FLEXI-ZONE, face detection);
• screen P-Si TFT-LCD PURECOLOR II with a diagonal of 3 inches, 430,000 points;
• focusing distance: 1 cm (macro mode) to infinity;
• exposure metering: spot, center-weighted, evaluative;
• autoexposure compensation: -2 to +2 EV, in steps of 1/3 EV;
• ISO sensitivity: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 (only in 1600 by 1200 resolution), AUTO, and HI mode (High ISO Auto);
• electronic-mechanical central photo shutter;
• exposure ranges: from 1/2500 to 15 s;
• optical viewfinder with zoom;
• built-in flash: auto, forced on / off, slow auto-sync, auto-sync on the second or first curtain, red-eye correction;
• flash range: up to 4 m (at wide angle) / and up to 2.5 m (at the long end of the zoom);
• white balance: automatic mode, 8 presets, 2 user modes;
• photography functions: automatic, program, shutter priorities, aperture priorities, manual, 2 custom functions, video recording;
• subject photography: portrait, general view, night photography, animals and children, night, foliage, beach, snow, replacement / accentuation of flowers, aquarium, fireworks, aquarium, underwater, ISO 3200, hot pink, bright greenish, panorama ,a party,;
• methods of photography: single-frame, sequential, sequential with constant focus, self-timer;
• YUSB 2. for connection to PC, audio and video outputs (NTSC and PAL), DC IN power connector;
• support for photo memory cards: standards MMC, SD, SDHC, HC MMC plus, MMC plus;
• photo file formats: JPEG (Exif 2.2, 2 compression rates), AVI clips (MotionJPEG) with sound (WAV 88 K / s, 11000 KHz), CR-2 (Canon RAW);
• 25 languages in the chamber menu (Ukrainian and Russian are present);
• powered by a Li-ion battery, type NB-2LH;
• metal chassis;
• dimensions 106 by 72 by 43 mm, 370 g.
Pros:
• excellent build quality;
• support for RAW formats;
• functionality at the level of a SLR camera;
• convenience in management;
• convenient viewing of photographs;
• excellent histogram;
• high quality screen;
• excellent photo quality.
Minuses:
• large dimensions and weight for a compact camera;
• high cost at the time of announcement.
Conclusion
This is the camera that you need to hold in your hands in order to understand what it is, to feel its essence. Convenience and functionality in managing and sorting images, the ability to customize the device for yourself - beyond expectations. After working with the Canon Powershot G9 for a while, you will definitely feel squeezed when using other cameras.
Only the high price of the camera makes the overall impression of the review worse. If the functionality somehow corresponds to it, then the quality of photos (which, of course, is much better than that of other cameras of the KenonPowershot series) does not reach such a cost.
F.ua.com.ua always offers a wide selection of Kenon cameras !!!
