G11 Review by the Strobist

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The Strobist, David Hobby, has been a fan of the G Series Powershots since the G7 in spite of his otherwise devotion to Nikon DSLRs. Now he has replaced his G10 with a G11 and writes about it here. He also explains the concept of overpowering the sun and tricking the G11 into high speed sync with non-Canon flashes. I learned to do this with my G9 by following his examples (and am missing that ability with my new 7D).
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Strobist Boot Camp II

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The Strobist, (see my "Blogs I like" list) David Hobby, is challenging his followers with a series of assignments in his second "Boot Camp". His current assignment, the third in this series, is to light and shoot a single room for a real estate sale. Although I follow the Strobist regularly, I've not been an active participant in the Boot Camps; however, I did take on this assignment with the picture below.

A bathroom – even a large one – can be difficult to capture with a single shot. This picture was stitched from 12 shots taken with a Canon G9 fitted with a wide angle adapter (DC-58B) to make a 26mm (equivalent) focal length. The lighting was quite a mix: sunlight, tungsten bulb and flash. In fact, the closet had fluorescent lighting but it was turned off to avoid additional complications. The flashes were a conglomeration of Nikon SB-24 (2), SB-26, SB-28, Vivitar 285, and even an old Vivitar 2600. All flashes were gelled with a full CTO to match the tungsten bulbs over the vanity. The (nearly) tungsten white balance rendered the sunlit window a nice blue. The SB-26 was triggered by its own optical slave; all others were triggered by Cactus PT-4 wireless triggers.

At ISO 80, the ambient exposure was 1/3 second at f5.6. Of course, this ambient lighting was very uneven and the tungsten lights were completely overexposed. By adding Stofen diffused full power flashes in the shower and tub areas as well as a bounced full power flash in the room the lighting was made more even. Half power flashes in the toilet and closet areas lighten those shadowed areas. The final exposure was 1/125 second at f5.6.

Stitching those 12 shots was actually the easy part and was handled automatically, albeit a bit slowly, by Photoshop CS4. Most of my time on this project was spent in cleaning the bathroom, moving items from the vanity, setting up lights and then removing and storing those lights and, finally, replacing vanity items.
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Visual Science Lab

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I just added Kirk Tuck's "Visual Science Lab" blog to my list of favorite blogs. Kirk Tuck is a professional photographer -- among other things -- and the author of "Minimalist Lighting" which I found helpful and a good read as well for flash photography. Not to mention that he enjoys using a G9 and G10 as needed or just for the challenge of compact camera photography. His blog is a bit different and thought provoking as well.
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Self Portrait

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Self Portraiture can be quite a learning experience. In the past two years, I’ve experimented with making self portraits several times. I don’t particularly need the pictures of myself – just need a model and want the learning experience. In these situations, I find that I’m quite patient, understanding and willing to sign a model release for a very reasonable fee.

To get this photo, I followed some tips from the Strobist. It seems that almost any exposure is “right” for a sunset. I began this shoot with exposures of 1/500 at f5.6 and ended with exposures of 1/160 and f5.

The equipment was my G9 mounted on a tripod, a Nikon SB-28 and a Nikon SB-24 each fitted with a ¼ CTO gen and Stofen diffuser, one light stand and one Canon EOS Elan 7. Both flashes were triggered with a Cactus wireless trigger with the transmitter mounted on the G9. The Elan 7 was turned off; it was used only as a prop to hold the SB-28.

In this particular picture, the G9 was set for 1/250 and f5 at ISO 80. The SB-24 backlight was set for 1/16 power and the SB-28 was set for 1/4 power (I think – forgot to write it down!). These settings probably seem a little higher than suggested at the Strobist site but remember that the G9 was set for ISO 80 and a diffuser eats light. On top of all this, diffusers aren’t normally used outdoors because there’s nothing to bounce the light. Actually, I wanted a diffuser on the main light simply because it would be in the photo. For the first several shots, I had the diffuser pointed upward as though indoors. In the diffuser up position, the SB-28 was set for ½ power (I think).

With the G9 set for a 10 second delay and camera bag on the ground to mark my modeling spot, I made – well, quite a few -- trips back and forth. Elan 7 and flash high, low, wide, front, etc. Take a picture, chimp, critique myself, increase exposure as the sun set, repeat – you get the idea.

This was a fun shoot; try a self portrait.

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G9 as a Polaroid?

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Here's an interesting post by the Strobist about large format film photographers using the G9 instead of Polaroid film to plan and check lighting layouts.
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Strobist Lighting DVD

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The Strobist, David Hobby, has released a set of eight DVDs illustrating his equipment and techniques for off-camera flash photography. David primarily uses Nikon DSLR cameras and flashes but also uses a Canon G9 with those same flash units. If you are at all interested in learning off-camera flash techniques, you should check out the Strobist blog.

My own set of DVDs is on order.
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G9 with Cactus Wireless Flash Triggers

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The Canon G9 has a hot shoe for external flash but the camera is so small and some flash units so large that the combination can look ridiculous. Even so, an external flash is quite a nice accessory for the G9. Naturally, recent Canon flashes work well with the G9 but other flash units can also be used.

External flash is not only more powerful but more versatile than small internal flash units. For example, the Canon 580EX shown here is pointed upward so that the light bounces off the ceiling to provide a softer lighting effect. Even more lighting effects and variations are made possible by removing the flash from the camera. But how can the flash be triggered if it is not on the camera?

Canon offers a number of flash accessories and connectors but these can be quite pricey for the hobbist. A relatively straightforward method of connecting an off-camera flash is to put one adapter on the hotshoe, another adapter on the flash and connect the two adapters with a wire/cable. Rather than deal with wires, many photographers prefer a wireless flash trigger. Triggers such as the Pocket Wizard are legendary for performance and reliability but, again, are expensive for the hobbyist.

Last year, shortly before getting my G9, I became aware of a cheap wireless flash trigger, the Cactus V2s – sometimes called the “eBay trigger”. After reading everything I could find – pro and con -- about this cheap flash trigger, I decided to try a set. Mine work fine more than 90% of the time and have been very useful in learning off-camera flash techniques. In fact, now I have several units and all of them work fine.


Cowardly Disclaimer: My Cactus wireless triggers work OK. Yours may not -- so don’t blame me if they don’t!

Some photographers swear by the Cactus triggers and some swear at them! Problems include: just won’t work, flimsy construction, batteries loose, battery connection loose, PC (wire) connection bad, incompatible with some flash units (said to be fixed with the V2s), short range, etc., etc. Lots of successes, lots of failures.

Some inventive users have taken up the challenge of modifying their Cactus wireless triggers but since mine worked OK, I’ve not modified them at all. Even if the photographic results were not improved, the handling of the G9 is much, much improved by mounting the small Cactus trigger instead of a huge flash.

At the same time, the Cactus receiver is even smaller than the G9 and mounting a flash unit on the receiver creates a very flimsy combination. My solution is to use lots of gaffer tape. I suspect (no data) that the Cactus units are more reliable when the flash is mounted directly on the receiver. That’s certainly been my experience. This Nikon SB-28 was triggered by the Cactus V2s system from my G9 about six feet away.

On a good day, my Cactus system works outdoors at a line-of-sight range of 150 feet. Indoors, it usually works well through hollow dry walls into the next room. It synchronizes with the G9 at shutter speeds up to 1/640 second and sometimes faster. I’ve used it with Canon 580EX and 420EX, Vivitar 285HV and 2600, Nikon SB-28, SB-24, and SB-23 – even a Holga 120.

Off-camera flash is a powerful tool and I’m trying to learn to use it. For off-camera flash techniques, I rely on “The Strobist”, David Hobby, and study his tutorials.

David has written about the Cactus units as well as other triggering methods. He even owna a G9 and has written about it as well. The Strobist blog is updated regularly so I check in almost every day – you should too!
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Strobist and the G9

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The Strobist is also a G9 fan. In the latest post, he goes into more detail about how to get very high sync speeds -- up to 1/2500 sec -- from the G9 when using flash. There will be more such posts and details so be sure to stay tuned.

Here's my own post about high sync speeds with a Nikon flash on the G9 (OK, so I learned it from the Strobist) and a reference to other posts on using G9 flash.
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My G9 Kit

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From time to time, it is a good idea to clean out the old camera bag, take inventory and try squeeze in a few more accessories. While at it, I grabbed a quick shot of my G9 kit using my old G3. Actually, the G9 kit began life as the G3 kit. So here’s what I’m packing and how I’m packing it.




There’s really nothing particularly special about my G9 kit. I do prefer to keep all the G9 accessories together so that the kit can be scooped up on a moments notice. I almost always have this kit with me.

The bag is a Lowepro Nova Mini that I bought for the G3 about five years ago. It really does hold all the stuff shown. Notice the strips of gaffer tape across the inside of the top; gaffer tape is reusable (sort of). Sticking out of the front pocket are the connecting cables that came with the G9 as well as the G9 neck strap. I prefer to use a wrist strap (in front of the G9) adapted from a Canon camcorder.

My G9 is dressed up with Richard Franiec’s grip, thumb rest, hot shoe cover and black ring. To the left of the G9 is the Lensmate adapter with cover, a polarizing filter, graduated neutral density filter and a lens coupler.

Just barely noticeable, looping around the bag is a mechanical cable release and Richard Franiec’s cable release adapter. I use this adapter and cable quite a bit, especially when the G9 is mounted on a flimsy tripod like the little one in my kit. Just to the left of the tripod is the end of a small flashlight; it sure has come in handy on occasion.

To the right of the G9 is the charger and a stack of G9 batteries. More batteries, AA rechargeables for the flashes, are on the right hand side.

I’m studying Strobist techniques for off-camera flash so my G9 kit includes three strobes: A Nikon SB-28 , an old Quantaray MS-1 slave flash and a Holga 120. I don’t mount the Holga on the G9; it is triggered by the Cactus PT-04 wireless remote trigger. There are two Cactus receivers in front of the SB-28; the transmitter is in front of the G9 on top of the packing pouch that protects the G9 inside the bag. To the right of the Holga are two Nikon flash stands. To the right of the SB-28 is a diffuser with a bounce card propped inside. Just in front of the diffuser is a bag containing a slave trigger and connecting cord – just in case.

So that’s my G9 kit and, yes, all those goodies did go back into the bag.

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G9 on Assignment

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The "Strobist", David Hobby, has an interesting and useful post about using the G9 with Nikon flashes and high shutter speeds on a photojournalism assignment.

I regularly use my own G9 with the Nikon SB-24, SB-28 and the inexpensive (OK, cheap) Cactus wireless units. Here are some postings about G9 and external flash.

Compatibility List for G9 Flashes (please contribute your own recommendations)
Simple slave flash triggered by the G9
Flash attachments on the G9 external flash
Sync speed for G9 and non-Canon flash
LCD display with various flash setups
Using multiple Canon flashes with the G9


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G9: Flash Sync Speed

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How did Elmo get stuck in that tree at night? Well, actually it was mid-day. This photo is an example of overpowering the sun with flash. The day was slightly cloudy but the G9 was set for ISO 80, 1/2500 second, f5.6 in manual exposure mode. Therefore Elmo, the tree and even the sky were significantly underexposed. A Nikon SB-28 was then mounted in the G9 hotshoe and also placed in manual mode at full power to provide “fill” flash. A bit of cloud in the background is still visible.

The G9 is officially described as limited to 1/250 second with external flash; however, it turns out that, if the G9 does not know about the external flash then it will work at higher sync speeds. In fact, the EXIF data for this shot indicates that flash is “off”!

The G9 recognizes Canon flashes but apparently gets confused if non-Canon equipment is attached to the hot shoe. With a Nikon SB-24 or 28 (and probably others, see the compatibility posting) in the hotshoe, the flash is fired regardless of the sync speed. This posting at Strobist explains the details in general.

Prior to photographing Elmo, I did a few experiments with a Nikon SB-28, SB-24 and Vivitar 285HV by shooting in a nearly dark room with the flash in the hot shoe and the G9 in manual mode. The G9 will sync with all these at 1/2500; however, it seems that the SB-28 and SB-24 “lose” the equivalent of about 1-1/2 stops at 1/2500. The Vivitar loses 2 stops. It also seems that this loss of flash efficiency is roughly proportional to shutter speed; that is, the Vivitar loses about 1 stop at 1/1000 second. The light from the flashes seemed evenly distributed even at the high shutter speeds – there was no mechanical obstruction of the light. So these flash units can be used at very high sync speeds but they will appear to be somewhat less powerful.

Note that the G9 does not permit shutter speeds faster than 1/1600 if the aperture is larger than f4.

With a Canon flash (580EX, 420EX or 380EX were tested) mounted in the hotshoe, the G9 resets from 1/500 to 1/250 when in manual exposure mode. The shutter speed is changed whether the flash is in ETTL or manual mode (580EX) unless the Canon flash itself is set to high speed sync mode. (Canon high speed sync is accomplished by pulsing the flash.)

… and I did get Elmo down from the tree after snapping his picture.

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G9 and Flash

With winter coming on, we’re all likely to be taking more indoor pictures. Here’s a scenario that will be repeated many times this winter: Someone comes upon a nice indoor scene and decides to take a photo. Up comes the digicam, the shutter button is pressed, the camera decides that flash is necessary and the resulting picture is not at all what was expected. In the days of film, the photographer would not have known how the picture turned out until it was too late!

There are several things to be learned from the photo above. First of all, don’t stand directly in front of a reflective surface when using on-camera flash. Second, try not to even use on-camera flash. Third, don’t overpower the existing light with the flash. The G9 provides several ways to work around these difficulties.

The G9 has a hot shoe for external flash and works well with the Canon ETTL flash system except that ETTL does not work in the G9 Manual mode. Some Canon flashes and accessories cost nearly as much as the G9! Fortunately, the G9 also works with other flashes – even very inexpensive flashes.

Cowardly Disclaimer: Recent Canon cameras can be damaged by high flash trigger voltage. This is also true of many cameras. Before using older flashes with your new G9, check for compatibility. Here’s one reference: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

I have personally used the Canon 380EX, 420EX, 580EX, a Nikon SB-24 and a Nikon SB-28 on my Canon G3 and Canon G9.

To capture this particular fireplace scene, moving to one side was easy enough. but how to turn down the flash and how to get the flash off of the camera? More importantly, how to do this without spending a lot of money?

To more accurately record the fireplace scene, I placed my G9 in manual mode at ISO 80, 1/30 second, f4 with the in-camera flash turned on but with flash power minimized. I moved slightly to one side so that the in-camera flash would not reflect from the fireplace. A small auxiliary flash with optical trigger was placed on a near-by table and the table moved closer to the fireplace. A sheet of common copy paper was placed between the flash and the small statue to reduce and diffuse its light. These and other techniques are explained at http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/.

My auxiliary flash, a Quantaray MS-1, cost about $15 several years ago and is still available. The MS-1 is not very powerful, is slow to recycle and does not trigger well in sunlight; however, it has served me well on many occasions. It is small and fits neatly in the small bag with my G9 equipment.

With optically triggered auxiliary flashes, it is important to know that Canon main flashes emit a "pre-flash" as part of the Canon ETTL system. Most auxiliary flashes are highly likely to be triggered by the pre-flash; this includes the in-camera flash of the G9. Therefore, it is essential to set the G9 for manual flash in order to properly trigger the auxiliary flash. My Quantaray MS-1 falls victim to the Canon pre-flash in every mode except for Manual.

Now, I have to confess that those manual flash settings, flash location and even the placement of the copy paper diffuser did not all come together on the first attempt (but with practice I’m getting faster). The point is, the G9 is a very versatile camera for learning to use manual flash. Also, it is not essential to purchase expensive external flash equipment to improve your G9 pictures with flash.

Here is an excellent reference for learning the Canon flash system and other flashes on Canon cameras. Much of this information applies to the G9 as well.

Canon G9

Only a few months ago, I realized that, with the possible exception of flash, my equipment was not the limiting factor in my photographic efforts. I do have quite a bit of equipment and although much of it is old and none of it is “high end”, equipment is not my problem. I resolved to study lighting, especially with small strobe flashes, and to somehow become more creative.

The Strobist is helping me a lot with lighting and flash; he’s even helped with creativity in the process. I’ve added some flash equipment and it’s fun to experiment with lighting. The camera doesn’t particularly matter as long as it can shoot in manual mode and link somehow with a couple of external flashes. I’ve used both a Canon 20D and G3 to study and experiment with lighting.

On the other hand, my Canon G3 was a bit long in the tooth. In the five years since I got it, Canon’s G Series of cameras had progressed from the G3 (there was also a G1 and G2) to the G5, G6 and G7. The G7 was completely unexpected because Canon was said to have dropped the G Series entirely. When the G7 came along, I was interested but then discovered that the G7 did not have RAW capture. The G7 is a very nice looking camera with many devotees (see MyCanonG7.com) but omitting RAW capture actually caused an uproar within the Internet crowd. I was among those who signed petitions of complaint.

Canon responded with the G9. (There are various stories about why Canon skipped G4 and G8 but who really knows?) The G9 has RAW! My bluff was called and I responded. I’ve had a G9 for about a week now and am really enjoying learning to use it. Much of the logic and use are somewhat familiar to me from my experience with the G3 and 20D. The G9 is very similar in appearance to the G7 and has essentially the same features.

So for the next several weeks I plan to tinker with and write about my G9.