G6 focus faster?

[jasperm]

Hi -

I have a G3 which I have mixed feelings about... often love it, except for the cursed focus delay at not always predictable times - definitely low light, but sometimes in bright light. Miss too many shots.

Supposedly G6 has improved autofocus - anyone have any real life experience yet?

I'm considering:
a) dumping G3, getting G6
b) keeping G3, getting 300D (already have canon lenses from film days)
c) Upgrading to G6, and waiting for 20D to be more affordable, but still keeping G6 as semi-lightweight camera.

My main reason for going to the G6 would be the focus speed, and the no-longer-visible lens barrel, as well as better bright sun performance of screen. Don't really care that much about increased pixels.

Thanks,
Michael

[Andy_T]

Definitely #2!

At the moment, there is speculation about the AF performance of the G6, at most.

However, the results from the Pro1's AF performance were sobering ... no big improvement.

They're based on the same techical concept, for radical improvement you'll have to go DSLR.

Best regards,
Andy

[Chris1le]

Go with a DSLR. You can thank me later. :wink:

[vfilby]

I agree with the 2 reponses above me. I moved from g3 to dSLR and I am much happier!

[Alnath]

Yeah but only if you wanted to go DSLR! Not much use if you still want a relatively compact camera is it?

[vfilby]

Yeah but only if you wanted to go DSLR! Not much use if you still want a relatively compact camera is it?

True, but if you want compact I think you are stuck with crappy focus. At least that is my opinion.

[Andy_T]

Yeah but only if you wanted to go DSLR! Not much use if you still want a relatively compact camera is it?

True, but if you want compact I think you are stuck with crappy focus. At least that is my opinion.

I would say it's more a fact than an opinion. :wink:

Best regards,
Andy

[twl845]

:wink: I wouldn't get all giddy over the G6 yet. If you remember when the PRO 1 was announced we read all these same opinions about how it was all we ever wanted in a camera. Like "I can't wait to get my hands on one". Now 6 monthe later most people are bad mouthing the Pro 1.
I would wait until the G6 has been on the street a few months before I ran out to get one. At first glance, it looks like a winner.

[Deckyon]

It's funny how much expectation we put on these cameras.

I was recently forced to upgrade from my G3 after a power problem. My replacement was a Pro 1. I have no complaints on this camera at all, except I have to now sell my G3 lenses.

You will NOT get the focus performance you are expecting on anything but a FAST SLR lens (2.8L in the Canon Line). The old addage - "You get what you pay for" comes to mind. This is NOT an inexpensive hobby, and $1000 is not a lot when looking at high quality equipment.

You can't get SLR performance from a point and shoot, which the G and Pro series are. Granted, they are high-end P&S. No matter what you get, there will always be a better version in a few months.

You need to weigh what you want out of your camera. If you want light and portable that fits in your pocket, go with the Digital Elf series, but if you want fast focus and supior image quality, go with the 1D Mark II or 1Ds with 2.8L lenses. Even if you take the middle of the road 300d, buy a better lens that is faster. It won't be cheap, but it may meet your expectations.

[dbump]

Anyone have an explanation for why focus speed is slower in digicams than DSLR's? I completely understand why you can get high ISO/low noise with a larger sensor, but I don't see how that would affect auto-focus speed. Seems like that is an algorithm/processing speed/mechanical issue that could be resolved in any format camera (given an increase in cost, granted).

Or are we talking apples and oranges--I haven't played with a DSLR, but I'm assuming they would generally offer both auto-focus and manual (non motorized) focus. Obviously in manual focus, there's no delay, just as with an SLR, but is there lag with auto-focus on the big boys?

[ScottK]

I'm not up to speed enough to recall the exact difference, but my understanding is that DSLRs (and SLRs in general) use a completely different method of focusing than P&S cameras. The SLR method is more "mechanical" (my word, maybe not right), in that it relies on mirrors and optics; P&Ss use "contrast detection", adjusting focus until the most contrast is detected. I presume this means more time is involved in capturing the scene, evaluating the contrast, guessing whether to focus one direction of the other, changing the focus, then doing it all over again.

Here's one brief explanation:
http://www.cs.duke.edu/~parr/photography/faq.html#focus

[dbump]

Thanks, Scott, that's exactly what I was looking for!
The linked Scientific American article was excellent.

So it comes down to cost, basically. I'm still hoping there's sufficient demand for someone to make a G-sized camera with high-end features like this phase detection AF, and a much, much larger (physical dimensions, not pixels) sensor.