Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PowerShot G9 Digital Camera - Black (12.1MP, 6x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

I`ve not had this camera for very long but even when I got it I could tell that this was a great camera. I use professional canon SLR`s (1D series) and wanted a compact that could be carried around on holidays, walks, partys etc when the SLR was not feasable. The build quality is fantastic, just the feel of the camera is enough to tell you that this is very well put together, capable of taking what you or I might throw at it.
Using SLR`s I found the menu`s and and dials well thought out and quite intuitive, even for someone new to photography they would not take to long to familiarise yourself with. When in the menus there are an abundance of features to keep you happy and to aid in the most difficult of circumstances. Don`t get me wrong I am not saying that anyone can take the camera and immediatly get the best results from it, but its guarenteed that if you take the time to learn how to use the exposure compensation, the ND filter, the white balance etc you can and will produce fantastic resuts.
And on to image quality, as others have said in terms of noise this camera does not fair as well as an SLR, this is unavoidable however as the sensors on SLR`s are bigger than those on compacts and so when enlarging the image on the sensor the larger sensor image will fair better because it has to be enlarged less than its compact counterpart. That said though this camera is no slouch in terms of noise giving good results up to and including ISO 400 (that isn`t to say that anything beyond this is unusable just that noise is more noticable).
The images that come out of the camera are fantastic add to that the ability to take your pictures in RAW and the therefore greater control over post proccessing makes this camera one of the leaders in image quality amongst compacts.
I really can`t recomend this enough.....if you are looking for something with SLR build quality, and the control normally associated with SLR`s and fantastic image quality..................then this is the camera for you.

Wow, I am going to have so much fun with my G9! It arrived 24 hours ago and I've barely had it switched off since. My new G9 is a companion to my dSLR; it's going to be great for taking more spontaneous, creative photographs in places where I simply wouldn't take my dSLR & equipment.

The first thing you notice when you take the G9 out of the box is its solid contruction. This is a very sturdy, well contructed camera. It's quite heavy (reassuringly so) and is too big to fit into a shirt or trouser pocket, but will easily slip into a jacket pocket. The G9 feels like it will last for years of pretty hardcore use.

I've been a Canon user for a few years, so I found the menu system and settings very easy even without reading the manual. If you're new to Canon, you'll see that the manual is very helpful and you'll be up to speed in no time.

The shots I've taken so far have been every bit what I hoped for: sharp where I want them to be sharp, with very good colour and contrast. Metering and exposure are mostly spot-on, with or without flash. Noise is a problem at ISO 800 and above, but no more so than with any other digital compact I've used; and with excellent image stabilisation, you can often keep the ISO to 400 or lower even in relatively low light. Focusing is fast and accurate, and I love the Face Detection!

I feel like I have much more control over how my images look than I've ever had with a digital compact before; this camera does precisely what you want it to do. But of course, if you're not in the mood for choosing all your own settings, it has some genuinely useful scene modes and automatic settings that do a lot of the hard work for you and still produce very good images.

The G9 is aimed at two types of photographer: SLR users who want a more portable alternative; and people who have already got to crips with the manual settings on their P&S camera who want a step-up without all the expense & fuss of lenses and other dSLR accessories. I strongly recommend the PowerShot G9 to both groups of consumers. Now I'm going back to play with mine!

I had previously had the canon G3 and had some wonderful photos with this camera but thought it was time for a change and an upgrade.
I purchased a canon G9 from Amazon in late February of this Year and found this camera to be absolutely amazing. I was only disappointed to see that the user instructions were in PDF format on the supplied CD. I needed them to take with me on holiday to explain how to use all the different functions without having to print the whole thing out. However I did find the different buttons easy to access and the menu system easy to follow. The picture quality was fabulous with macro at its very best, I took a photo on holiday in spain of a cricket on a twig in this format. You could see all the textures on its skin and markings in its eyes and wings which were unbelievable. The video function was easy to use and did excellent footage and play back. Overall the camera is stylish and compact and is much neater than the G3 but I miss the rotating LCD screen which the G3 had. The G9 has a larger and clearer LCD screen but gets marked easily because of its fixed position. The battery life is also good and I found having the automatic lense cover a great improvement on the lense cap of my previous model. The camera has a stabilising function especially useful when using the maximum zoom. There are many other advance functions which I am looking forward to using. Friends tried to talk me into buying another make but I am so glad I didn't and chose the canon G9; especially when I download my photos to see the amazing results.

I Purchased the camera from Amazon because I found on many occasions in the past they have been an excellent company and I was not disappointed as the camera arrived very quickly and was well packaged.

I own a Nikon DSLR and decided to get this for a walk around. It does what it says it does, though I do miss the smaller size of the excellent Casio exilim zoom series. You don't forget you have this camera in your pocket if you manage to get it in there.
The main purpose in leaving a review is to state that this camera is tough - within 4 hours of receiving it it fell about from about 1.5m out of my bag (don't ask) onto concrete, landing on a corner of the case. It left a small dent and scratch, but remained fully functional (as did my Nikon D80).

It's just a great camera. It has all the good features of the G7 plus a beautiful big screen and the essential RAW (I think RAW is even more important on a small-sensor camera than on a dslr). It's fast in operation, has every feature you could want, closes up to a small size (goes in the same bag as my old S50 and that was small)! The ONLY problem I have with the G9 is the lack of a proper wideangle, 35mm is just too narrow. Otherwise great value (I bought mine off ebay and wish I hadn't at £309 from Amazon, only saved a tenner), great image quality up to 400 ISO, RAW doesn't slow the camera to a crawl, live histogram is excellent, good macro. Don't bother if you're a complete novice but if you know your way round a camera this is excellent.