Canon PowerShot G9

Viewfinder (4.0)
The Canon G9 has a real image optical viewfinder that isn’t as comfortable as the one on the Canon S5. The G9’s viewfinder is small and framed in a small plastic panel that protrudes only slightly. It has two indicator LEDs to its right.

The viewfinder isn’t very pleasant to use. The lens is always visible in the bottom left corner. When zoomed out, the viewfinder cuts off the edges of the captured image; the view on the LCD shows more on all edges. The viewfinder is even more inaccurate when the lens is zoomed in; it should be avoided at all costs in this situation. In telephoto, the viewfinder sees above the recorded image so if users tightly crop a portrait the person’s head will likely be cut off.

In addition, the glass looks bent in the viewfinder; subjects are blurry around the edges of the frame. Avoid the viewfinder unless you’re trying to squeeze the last few shots out of a dying battery and opt to turn off the LCD.

LCD Screen (9.0)
The Canon G7 had a 2.5-inch LCD screen with subpar resolution, but the Canon PowerShot G9 upgrades to a 3-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD monitor. It has second generation Pure Color LCD technology and a new coating that resists glare, scratches, and fingerprints. It almost sounds like a superhero; if only it could resist fire and water and be virtually indestructible, perhaps it could survive a toddler.

It does well at resisting fingerprints, which didn’t seem to stick and obstruct the view. The viewing angle is incredibly wide, and it can be seen vertically and horizontally at the widest of angles.

The inaccurate and blurry viewfinder makes the view on the gigantic LCD screen even more appealing. The LCD has a 100 percent accurate view of the recorded image.

The LCD screen on the Canon PowerShot G9 is one of the best we’ve seen.

Flash (7.75)
A built-in flash is positioned to the upper right of the lens on the front of the camera body, right where the left fingers wrap around the camera and are likely to obstruct its illumination.

The flash can be set to on, off, or auto via the right side of the multi-selector. The rest of the flash control options are found in the Recording menu grouped under a "flash control" heading. The Flash mode can be changed from Auto to Manual. The flash exposure compensation can be adjusted on a +/- 2 scale in 1/3-stop steps; this can also be changed in the more easily accessible Function menu. The shutter sync can be set to first or second curtain, and slow sync and safety flash exposure functions can be turned on and off. For the safety flash to work the Flash mode must be set to Auto; the safety function only increases the shutter speed or shrinks the aperture to avoid overexposing images.

In the Recording menu, a few options down from the flash control, is a Red-Eye reduction feature that can be turned on and off to reduce the amount of red-eyes in photos. If a few red eyes still sneak into the image, the Playback mode has a red-eye fixing feature that does a decent job recognizing and correcting eyes.

The Canon G9’s flash isn’t very impressive. It can reach from 1 to 13 feet when the lens is zoomed out and 1.6 to 8.2 feet when the lens is zoomed in and the ISO is set to auto. The flash coverage looks good in already decent lighting, but doesn’t look impressive when photographing subjects in a dark room. The flash light doesn’t fill the entire frame: it leaves the edges and corners significantly darker.

Like the G7, the G9 has a hot shoe that accepts Canon Speedlite flash accessories. The Canon Speedlite 220EX, 430EX, and 580EX II can be mounted to the top of the camera directly above the lens. Canon designed the G9 like this with pros in mind: the G9 can act as a backup camera or a camera that can be easily carried along to non-professional events. Most pros agree that packing a DSLR, five lenses, and a few flash accessories isn’t practical when going for a stroll with the kids in the park.

Another digital camera competing in this high-end market is the Nikon P5100, which also has a hot shoe and is tailored to attract loyal Nikonians who already own a few Nikon Speedlite flashes. The P5100 also has 12.1 megapixels and a chunky body, and retails for less at $399.

The Canon PowerShot G9’s built-in flash component isn’t very impressive with its spotty coverage and weak range, but there are some redeeming qualities in the amount of manual control and flexibility with the hot shoe.

Zoom Lens (7.75)
The Canon PowerShot G9 has the same 6x optical zoom lens as the G7. It has an optical image stabilization system that is effective at steadying bumps in videos and tempering blur in pictures. It can be set to function continuously, when the shutter release button is pushed halfway, or only while panning. It can also be turned off, but it’s not recommended since it benefits image quality.

The view isn’t exceptionally wide with a 7.4-44.4mm range, equivalent to 35-210mm in the 35mm format. The range isn’t amazing when compared to the 12x Canon S5 IS, which sells for the same price. For consumers who are trying to decide between the G9 and the Canon S5, the S5 has the advantage in this area. The S5 has a 12x optically stabilized zoom lens that is functional while shooting videos. The G9, however, locks the optical zoom when recording movies.

The zoom is controlled by a tiny ring that surrounds the shutter release button. The knob on the ring provides something to hang onto, but it isn’t much. The control isn’t very sensitive; it stops at 13 focal lengths when zooming in and 12 when zooming out. In both directions, it seems to breathe and stutter a bit before settling on a focal length.

The aperture of the lens opens to f/2.8, letting plenty of light pass through to the image sensor. At the telephoto end of the 6x, the maximum aperture shrinks to f/4.8.

The G9 and S5 both accept wide and telephoto conversion lenses WC-DC58B and TC-DC58C, respectively. The G9’s lens ring screws off when the button to the lower right of the lens is pushed, exposing the threading where the conversion lenses can be attached.