Newbie Question! S80 vs G9

Hi, I'm Rob.. I'm new to the forum.

I own an S80 which I upgraded to from an A40.. yeah, I was rather pleased with the upgrade!

Now though, a couple of years on I'm still have a little voice in my head telling me I wanna shoot in raw and find a sensor with less noise at higher ISO's.. the S80 isn't really usable past 200 (unless you want the noise, of course).. and 200 Isn't all that brilliant as it is.

So, the G9.. ISO 1600.. but also, bumped upto 12mp, ekk.. not a good combo? Raws there though..

Ok, so, thought's.. should I get a G9 to replace the S80? Is it a worthwhile upgrade or a bit pointless? most importantly.. does the G9 have the fantastic LCD preview of your exposure? I love that feature.. spin the dial and you can chnage ya apature and exposure and get a real time preview.. perfect!..

Rob

The S80 is a nice camera,, and it goes wider than the G9, which is nice... I would say the G9 is probably better overall, and having raw is certainly great. (maybe you can hack like a G7 to get raw added,, I don't know) But if I were you I would consider keeping what is a great compact and getting a DSLR with that money instead... Hell you can get a refurbed canon rebel or Nikon D40 for under $400 with a lens... Then you would have all sorts of options...

I'm with CJ. The G9 is definitely better than the S80, which was also a great camera. The G9 would be a great upgrade. It will have less shutter lag, takes great pix and the IS seems like it is better than my 30D/17-85mm IS combo. But while the high ISO is better than the S80, it is nowhere near as good as an XT or XTi or any dSLR. Just depends on what you want.

Hi Rob,
I been through a whole lot of powershots over the years and am currently using a G9. My last camera was the S80 which I still have but never use simply because the difference in photo quality is huge. I'm taking photos to sell products online and the S80 produces good quality photos whereas the G9 always delivers fantastic photos. Another point is that the G9 is a high quality built machine whereas the S80 feels like a typical powershot camera. Both cameras have similar facilities including the high resolution video (the G10 & G11 don't have this). The S80 has wide angle and is more compact but for quality of build and quality of photos the G9 is wins hands down.

This thread is 2-1/2 years old and the OP hasn't posted since starting this thread. He probably won't see this.

I'm BACK! lol.

Turns out I will see Wildsurfers comment afterall!

However.. I've been away and things have changed.. I did indeed end up getting the G9 in the end.. and at first I adored it.. It was everything I THOUGHT I wanted at the time but I passed my S80 on to my Girlfriend (that I live with) so it's always about the house.. and to be honest, I still prefer shooting with the S80. It has a flow the G9 just didn't and it could Simpy be down to the chunkiness of the G9's body. That, and the pictures I took on the G9 never really came up as well as they did from the S80. They may well have been technically superior but because I never "nip out" with the G9 I just don't get those shots. I guess you could say I didn't bond with the G9. Odd, really.. never had that with anything technical before but the G9 just never fitted me.

So, where does that leave us now?

Well, not to long after I got the G9 the S90 was announced DOH!

I never use a viewfinder..
I'd REALLY like to be able to put it in my pocket again..
Having the higher ISO was nice, but the S90 has the G9's capability's here.
I thought I Wanted Raw.. Turns out I didn't.

So I'm selling the G9 while it's still worth bothering, and S90 here I come...

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is really.. Something along the lines of you don't always know what you want until you get what you don't?

Just as a side line.. anyone heard anything on any specs for a S90 replacement, must be due soon?

reflex88 wrote in post #10605489
Just as a side line.. anyone heard anything on any specs for a S90 replacement, must be due soon?

It will probably be similar to the S90, with the addition of HD video and few ergonomic tweaks, but I'm just guessing.

Wellll...since Reflex is back. Here's my two cents worth.

I have both the S90 and the G9. I have both pimped out with lenses and adapters etc. I use both stock and pimped out. I also have an older S45 (not up to S80 standards).

Why both...the S90 is much much easier to stick in a pocket when your running around and shoots in low light like it's from a different planet and not earth bound. The G9 doesn't come close. However the G9 with or with out additional lenses literally comes way the _ell "closer" than the S90 with any additional add on lens. And sometimes...you don't have time or the energy or your composition demands that you want the closeup shot and the S90 won't cut it.

To me they are two very different animals. Maybe the G11 and the S90 are closer in bloodline but not the S90 and G9. If you are looking at one to be like the other with a few +'s...you may not be happy with the compromises unless you keep both.

-rang

Got the S90, sold the G9.

Got £170 for the G, I let it go a little under market value though due to a couple of minor scratches on the screen and an easy sale.

As for the S90? I'm happy again! As said above the thing is out of this world for low light shots.. and the f2.0 lens is fantastic.. I got it just in time for me holidays and I've got a couple of shots of bugs around a lake where the bugs the only things in focus!

I had to send it back to amazon though as a pixel got stuck in the 1st day and Amazon were happy enough to send a replacement.

I have only one complaint about the S90, and I'm sure I'm about to be corrected, infact, hoping I am corrected and it's just I didn't work this out yet.. but,

On the S80 & G9 you could move the fixed point of focus, say.. up and to the right to get a flower head in focus in the corner rather then the stem in the middle.. I got close enough using manual focus.. and even tried pointing it at the flower head to set the auto focus and then re-framing.. but that never really works once you've moved..

Is there any way to manually move the fixed focus point on the S90? The buttons not there like it was with the G9 and S80.. and the features not available as a shortcut. I can learn to live with out but used this all the time.

.. And just as a side note.. I'll move over to the S forum from now on.. The Transition is almost complete, lol

reflex88 wrote in post #10693604
Is there any way to manually move the fixed focus point on the S90? The buttons not there like it was with the G9 and S80.. and the features not available as a shortcut. I can learn to live with out but used this all the time.

Center point focus and face detect only, I'm afraid.