First Shots with the Canon G10 of a Spectacular Sunset
I bought a Canon G10 about a month ago, with the intention of using it as a scouting camera and a go with me everywhere camera when I wasn’t going to carry my DSLR. I do a lot of hiking, biking, and exploring just for fun and every so often I see something cool when I don’t have my camera on me. Its impractical to lug my entire rig (even my “lightweight” version) around with me all the time, and if I did, it would quickly take the fun out of these mini adventures. The G10 is tiny (by comparison to the DSLR setup, but its pretty hefty for a point-and-shoot) and has excellent image quality packed into a much smaller, lighter, and compact package. It takes high quality images worthy of publication in any magazine and able to be blown up into a respectably sized print.
Admitedly, I haven’t played around with this camera much at all since it arrived on my doorstep. I did real through the manual quick and browse through all the menus and functions, I just haven’t really had the opportunity to take it out for a real test yet. I did take my first photographs with it though, and I can tell I’m going to be happy with this little thing.
Two days ago, I was treated to the most spectacular sunset I think I’ve ever seen at home. The colors stretched from one end of my house all the way around to the other, and the clouds kept changing, providing amazing shapes, colors, and textures throughout the whole sky. Had I been in an area with wide open sky and beautiful landscapes all around, I would have had hundreds of different shots to choose from, as you could face in any direction and see something spectacular, and the light and clouds were vastly different from one end of the horizon to the other. It was a feast for the eyes and soul! But alas, I was not any place beautiful – I was stuck in my ordinary house on a suburban street with well spaced oak trees, asphalt, and aluminum siding everywhere I turned. I thought about running to the school field in back of my house, but sunrises are usually so momentary and I was afraid the beautiful color would vanish before I got there. So I did what any good photographer would do and I attempted to photograph the sunset outside my bedroom window, which overlooks the driveway and therefore faces the only open area of sky viewable from my house.
Here it is! Wasn’t the sunset just beautiful? As you may have heard, I destroyed the shutter to my beloved 1D Mark II N, and, having just got the 5D Mark II, I hadn’t charged the battery yet. So I reached for my G10 and began composing shots out my window. Thanks to all the trees around, there was only a small area of sky that was really photographable, but lucky for me, the sunset was so spectacular that the clouds and colors stretched well into my field of view. I’m quite happy with this shot and definately glad I had the G10 ready to go in order to be able to capture this lovely sunset.
The G10 performed just fine, although I’ll admit I was really afraid I was going to drop it as it’s so small and doesn’t have a huge rubberized grip like my DSLRs do. It captured some awesome colors, and this file is big enough to be printed at 10×14 inches without any interpolation. Because of its much smaller sensor, the G10 is way noiser than a DSLR and this image, taken at ISO 80, is visibly noisy. In it, the noise shows up much more than it would on a more detailed shot because the subject is so smooth and the color transitions are so gradual. I ran two passes of Noise Ninja on this shot, one after converting the RAW file and another after tweaking the curves and contrast in PhotoShop, and it looks just fine now.
I’ll play around more with the G10 and publish a thorough review of this neat little camera once I have done so. I think it’s going to be good for what I’m hoping to use it for. Of course it has its limitations, among them visible noise, limited focal range, and a 3:4 ratio sensor that will take some getting used to, but there aren’t many cameras out there that offer such incredible image quality and robustness in such a small and portable package. I’ll keep you updated as to what I discover.
Canon G10, 1/30s, f/4.5, ISO 80, cropped slightly from 4:3 ratio to 5:7 ratio, handheld. To order this print, purchase stock rights, or view other photos I have for sale, please visit my website at www.karipost.com.
In: Product Reviews, Recent and Random Photos
on February 21, 2009 at 6:31 am
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That really is a beautiful sky…wonderful image Kari.