Thursday, June 26, 2008

Canon Powershot G9 Coming Up

I have finally taken the plunge and purchased a Canon Powershot G9. It will be arriving later today. I have chosen this camera because it is compact, has an excellent 35-210mm equivalent Image Stabilized lens, and has the ability to save its images in RAW format. The latter quality is really an essential for me in any digital camera. In addition, the Canon G9 has a hot shoe and therefore the ability to use off-camera light. I have read reviews of the Canon G9 on the Luminous Landscape as well as on Strobist and The Digital Story. Also on Strobist is information on syncing the Canon G9 at a higher sync speed than normally allowed.

While the Canon G9 has admirable qualities on land, it even works great underwater. I very much enjoy SCUBA diving and have wanted to get an underwater housing for a digital SLR but I have found that they are exceedingly expensive. The Canon WP-DC21 underwater housing for the Canon G9 solves this problem. While the Canon G9 will not do as well with its 1/1.7" sensor as a digital SLR, it still takes striking photos underwater. If you are serious about this, you should also get the Canon WW-DC1 weights in order to properly weight the enclosure. SCUBA divers seem to enjoy using this camera as is shown by a product review of the WP-DC21 case by a Kona SCUBA diver. I also came across a post on a blog dedicated to the Canon G9 about how the Canon G9 works for underwater photos.

Some may also be interested in accessory lenses for the Canon G9 to give it more of a wide angle coverage or a more telephoto coverage. From Canon itself, you have the LA-DC58H lens adapter that allows you to use either the WC-DC58B wide converter lens which has a 0.75X conversion factor or the TC-DC58C tele converter lens which has a 2.0X conversion factor. Because I am only using this camera as a supplement and lightweight option to my digital SLR systems, I am not really interested in these items. You can see a video of the wide converter lens on YouTube to give you an idea of its size.

The other essential accessory is the Canon NB-2LH additional battery. One other item that I am awaiting is the Lensmate for the Canon G9. It is essentially a metal lens hood like the Canon lens adapter I already mentioned. It is sturdier and made out of metal where the Canon adapter is plastic. I also ordered the Custom G9 Grip which gives a little better grip on the camera. I will be posting more thoughts on this camera and accessories as I have a chance to test it out.

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