G6 vs S2IS

[Spirit]

I'm curious what your views are on this, and if the extra cost of the G6 is worth the loss of optical zoom on the S2.

[red_marine]

the g6 is a great camera and i am still amazed at how little noise it has when doing night photography. the s2 in my opinion wouldn't cut it as there is a fair bit of noise but remember you wont see most of this problem on a 4x6 print. you can also remove noise at the cost of sharpness in photoshop.

for general photography i think the s2 would probably be a better choice, the downside to the g6 was the lack of zoom but the aperature on it is still one of the best available.

for general friends/family and a bit of scenery every now and then i'd probably suggest getting the s2, it seems like a great camera, personalyl i would go with the g6 because i can't stand noise, and also with 7 megapixels you do have a greater amount to play with on the computer and also the option of croping a fair bit out of the picture

[S45_fornow...]

Originally Posted by Spirit

I'm curious what your views are on this, and if the extra cost of the G6 is worth the loss of optical zoom on the S2.

I had both the S2 & G6, and I just sold the G6 on eBay. Don't get me wrong, the G6 takes absolutely fantastic pics, but the S2 presently fills my needs better (mainly the curiosity of playing with a new model ). Besides, I bought the S2 from Dell at a steal for $354 shipped.

Sorry I don't time to post samples right now, but here is a short summary of my findings between the two:

Note that the G6 was set to the S2's max resolution and superfine. ISO 50, P-mode, AWB. BTW, I've only played with S2 for several days.

• Indoors, G6 has slightly better AWB. Flash on S2 is very good. Skin tones look excellent from S2 indoors and out.
• Outdoors, S2 tended to slightly oversaturate colors (especially foliage), but this can be adjusted in the settings.
• G6 has a little better DOF, but then again that is to my eyes.
• S2 had a tendancy to blow-out highlights a little more in heavily backlit situations. This again can be compensated for with settings.
• Images from both cams were equally sharp (to my eyes) with the S2 occasionally producing sharpening halos from in-camera processing. This also can be adjusted in camera settings.
• 12X MegaZoom with IS (set to "shoot only" mode) on S2 is great. Minimal corner softness and barrel distortion even at full zoom.
• I did encounter minor CA with the S2, but that was at wide apertures. I'm sure I could close the aperture down and minimize or eliminate the CA because it only happens in situations with heavy backlighting.
• Noise... I never used ISO above 100 on my G6 (I had no need to). The S2 at ISO 50 & ISO 100 is very good. People bitching about noise in the S2 sample images have obviously not had an S2 in their hands. I can see where the Auto mode might choose an ISO setting high enough to induce unwanted noise, but that is why I don't use Auto mode. I found ISO 200 to be usable, but at that point NeatImage needs to come into the scene (at least for my tastes).
• Ergonomics. Oddly enough, the smaller body of the S2 fit my hand better than the G6 (I have X-large hands too) and I like using the EVF which gives the cam a very stable feel. The handgrip of the S2 felt like an extension of my hand. The button layout on the S2 is damn near perfect for me, not that the G6's was bad, but I prefer the S2's. Very easy to navigate while even holding the camera to my eye. I never used the G6's OVF, because it doesn't give 100% view of the image, wheras the S2's EVF does. EVF is a little grainy in low light, but I think its still very usable.

Notice I used the words "slightly" and "little" a lot. With the G6 set to shoot at 5MP resolution, the differences were not important to me. BTW, The G6 at full 7MP resolution using RAW really ROCKS! G6 lens is cleaner with little to no purple-fringing and CA.

With the chance of a Pro2 or even a G7 coming out within 6 months, I decided to sell my G6 while it still had a very high resale value and putter around with the S2 for awhile. I can always buy another G6 or a new cam down the road if I find major problems with the S2.


Please note that this is MY review. If you want to argue, then go somewhere else. If you want to ask questions, then fire away!

[Spirit]

$354 When did you buy it? Would you mind posting a link? I can't find the S2 on their website, but I do see the S1 for $349 and so far the cheapest I've been able to find the S2 was $444.99.

Now someone correct me if I'm worng, but from the sounds of it though, there's not a huge difference in photo quality between the S2 and G6, unless you're planning to print large files. The G6 here (Canada), is STILL at $799 (and not a new camera), but the S2 (which JUST came out a few weeks ago) is $699, so naturally I'm wondering why. Especially since it has a 12x optical zoom (at 5mp).

I'll be buying the S2 hopefully before the end of the month as I think it's a camera better suited to my needs (I need a compact camera with a long zoom for hiking/backpacking purposes), but I'm deadly curious about the G6 as well.

[Spirit]

Well you lucky bum!! Thanks for your opinion/help on the G6/S2 btw. Is there anything bad you can say about it (S2)? How is it in low lighting (indoors, outdoor night, etc)?

[S45_fornow...]

Originally Posted by Spirit

Well you lucky bum!! Thanks for your opinion/help on the G6/S2 btw. Is there anything bad you can say about it (S2)? How is it in low lighting (indoors, outdoor night, etc)?

Low light focussing with S2 is actually pretty good, except sometimes at full zoom where it might hunt a little, but if you have the contrast for focussing it does well. The DigicII processor makes it focus a tad faster than the G6. The EVF on the S2 gains up in low light so you can still see your subject, although it is a bit grainy looking after gain up. There were times when I couldn't see a thing in the LCD on the G6 in low light. Also, the S2 has a fairly good AF illuminator light (green with squares) that is the best AF illuminator light I have seen on a Powershot to date (greater range). I haven't taken any outdoor night pics with the S2 except for a few shots of the moon 2 nites ago in M-mode and I have to say I was impressed with the images I got.

The G6 is a great camera and I highly recommend it, but if you like the long zoom then the S2 is great also. If you are the real anal-retentive type on the image quality without regard to feature set, then I have to say go for the G6, but you will be hard-pressed to find add-on lenses that give you the reach and image quality at that reach that the S2 offers.

S2 also has a great movie mode with good sound, but it does eat up memory fast (1sec = about 2MB).

One of the things I'll miss with the G6 is the F2.0/3.0 aperture which comes in handy in low light, but the IS on the S2 almost makes up for that. I say almost because you just can't beat a fast lens...

Although I got a great deal on the S2, can you tell I already miss my G6 a little, LOL?

The only thing I wish the S2 had is a proprietary Li-Ion battery (smaller than 4 AA's and easier to carry spares). The S2 uses AA's, but I have some Energizer 2500mah battteries. So far, the battetry life has been very impressive as I am still on the same first charge (I've been using the EVF and not the LCD though).

I thought I would hate the SD memory cards, but it really doesn't bother me now. Boy are those things small. Don't sneeze around one or you'll never find it.

I gotta get back to work now!

[MegaTrixel]

Originally Posted by S45_fornow...

I thought I would hate the SD memory cards, but it really doesn't bother me now. Boy are those things small. Don't sneeze around one or you'll never find it.

Has anyone seen SD cards larger than 1gb? It seems like this would be a problem... especially if you plan to take a lot of movie clips. Maybe they come in a larger size, I just haven't seen any.

[Spirit]

The 2gb compactflash cards in Canada are around $299. I've seen the 2gb SD cards, I forget the price, but I remember putting it back the second I saw it and grabbing the 1gb card instead.

Thanks for all your help, S45. Looks like there's no major difference between the two, aside from features (and the obvious mp/zoom).

[S45_fornow...]

In light of everything I've stated, my best advice would be to go out and get some hands-on with each camera.

G6-->Image quality
S2-->Feature Set

Even though they will be drastically downsized, I'll try and post a few samples a little later.

[S45_fornow...]

Originally Posted by MegaTrixel

Has anyone seen SD cards larger than 1gb? It seems like this would be a problem... especially if you plan to take a lot of movie clips. Maybe they come in a larger size, I just haven't seen any.

They do come in 2GB size as of a week or two ago.

FYI, the S2 can shoot video continuously up to 1GB. About 6-8 minutes (I haven't tried filling the card yet).

[S45_fornow...]

These are from the S2. I don't have G6 pics for comparison, sorry.Flower is resized
Moon (at full 12X zoom) is cropped original size
No other post-processing on either

[S45_fornow...]

again from S2

both resized only

[S45_fornow...]

2 more from S2, resized only. Please keep in mind that I just snapped off all the pics I'm posting in P-mode (except moon in M-mode) with little regard to composition or lighting....

[Spirit]

Great pics! I like the cat pic best.

Like I said in a reply above, I'm getting the S2 HOPEFULLY before this weekend (I bought and returned the S1 in May, and decided to wait for the S2), but I'm completely baffled by the cost of the G6 as I know very little about it. The G7 might be a future purchase though (if not a true SLR - I've been eyeing the rebels for a while).

[S45_fornow...]

BTW, that pic of the moon was shot handheld at 12X zoom with the IS set to "shoot only" mode. I have shaky frickin' hands too if that gives you an idea of how well the IS works...