G7–> G15?

When the G6 was announced in 2004, I already had a G3 and, although tempted, decided not to upgrade to the G6. After a while, it seemed that the G6 was the end of the line for the G series but then the G7 was a surprise announcement in 2006. The G7 has been followed by a new G series every year from 2007 through 2010 when, once again, there was a two year gap and rumors of the G series coming to an end. Those rumors ended with the announcement of the G15 a few weeks ago.

(As a side note, the G4 and G8 model names were skipped in the past just as the G13 and G14 names have been skipped most recently. That is, there was no G4 or G8. Amusingly, the G4 and G8 are sometimes praised on Internet discussion forums for their quality and features. I expect the same praise to eventually be awarded to the G13 and G14.)

The G7 was a nice looking compact camera but did not have the articulated display screen featured in previous G series models. To my further disappointment, the G7 did not produce RAW image files.  To many people, these shortcomings meant that the G7 was not a “real G”.  All G models after the G7 have included RAW image capability but the articulated display screen did not return until the G11. I passed on the G7 but bought a G9, then a G12 and most recently a G1X.

My point (and yes, there is one) is that there was a two year gap between the G6 (which had an articulated display screen) and the G7 (which did not). There was also a two year gap between the G12 (which had an articulated display screen) and the new G15 (which does not). The G7 was viewed as a test of the compact camera enthusiast market. Is the G15 also a test of the market?

Fortunately, the G15 can produce RAW image files. In fact, the G15 seems to be more like a G12 that has been made more compact (by eliminating the articulated display) than it does an updated G7.

Will there be a G16? Who knows? My thinking is that Canon currently offers too many enthusiast compact cameras (G1X, G15, S110, EOS-M and an advanced EOS-M essentially announced). I expect that, depending on sales volume (of course), either the G1X or G15 will be dropped. But, as Canon has shown in the past, “dropping” a product may really mean a two year gap until the next model is announced.

Oh yes, I eventually bought a used G6 just to complete the “set” (G3, G6, G9, G12). Does that mean I’ll someday have a G15?

YN565EX and the G12

The G12 and any large flash become an ungainly, but sometimes useful, combination.  In my introductory remarks about the YN565EX, I noted that it was not purchased for use on the G12 and implied that there were problems. Indeed, the YN565EX should be considered as incompatible with the G12; however, it does work on the G12 in certain modes. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

The YN565EX does not work at all – that is, does not even flash – when the G12 is in manual flash mode. This was completely unexpected. I expected some kind of odd ball behavior but it never crossed my mind that the YN565EX would not fire at all when mounted on the G12. Curious, I tried the YN565EX on my G9 only to find the same behavior (after changing batteries in the G9). Next, I tried the YN565EX on the G6 and G3 and discovered that the YN565EX is completely incompatible with those older G series cameras.

On the positive side, the YN565EX does work on the G12 when the G12 is in P, Tv or Av mode. The YN565EX zooms with the G12 zoom and Flash Exposure Compensation can be controlled either by the YN565EX or by the G12. The YN565EX seems to work in either direct or bounce orientation (I say “seems” to work because I did not attempt to check the accuracy of the flash exposure). Again, I’ll comment that the YN565EX is noticeably louder than the 580EX II when flashing. Also, to my eye, the YN565EX produces a more noticeable pre-flash when used on the G12. I would not be confident in using the YN565EX mounted on the G12.

But I didn’t get the YN565EX for direct mounting on the G12; I got it for use in the Canon wireless system. The G12 does not have its own internal wireless controller as does the 7D but the 580EX II can act as the master, or controlling, flash. My first attempts to set the 580EX II as the master flash were unsuccessful and I was beginning to think that the 580EX II was itself incompatible with the G12. Then I discovered that the G12 requires a menu setting to enable the Canon wireless system. As soon as the wireless system was enabled in the G12 menu, the 580EX II immediately became the master flash. Alas, the YN565EX did not respond to the 580EX II as a master when the 580EX II was mounted on the G12.

In my frustration, I got out a Canon 420EX and set it to slave flash mode using the same settings as the YN565EX. Side-by-side with the YN565EX, the 420EX responded to the 580EX II as expected but the YN565EX did not. More frustrated, I removed the 580EX II from the G12 and placed it on the 7D, noting that the settings did not change. When triggered by the 7D, both the YN565EX and the 420EX fired as expected -- end of compatibility tests.

Well, almost the end of compatibility tests. In optical slave flash mode, the YN565EX does respond to the G12 internal flash and also to the 580EX II when mounted on the G12.  The YN565EX also responds to the simple Yongnuo RF-602 wireless trigger. These are very useful features.

My conclusion is that although the YN565EX is not totally incompatible with the G12, it is best to declare the YN565EX as being incompatible and therefore avoid the frustration of attempting to remember which settings and modes work and which do not. I won’t be using the YN565EX with my G series cameras except as an optical slave flash or with the RF-602 trigger.

… but I’m still OK with having purchased the YN565EX.

Fireworks Fiasco

Well, almost, anyway.  I wanted to photograph the neighborhood fireworks display and play with a handful of cameras in the process.  Here’s what I did:

G3 using the built-in intervalometer at 1 shot per minute for 100 shots.  ISO 50, 2 second exposure, f4, manual focus at infinity.

G6 set up the same as the G3 but pointed in a different direction.

The G9 doesn’t have an intervalometer and no external connections to use one so the G9 was set in its “HD” movie mode (1024x768 at 15 fps).

G12 connected to a cheap no-name external intervalometer (worked fine).  ISO 80, 2 second exposure, f4, 1 shot every 4 seconds, manual focus at infinity.

7D triggered manually using wired remote, ISO 400, 2 seconds at f8. 

I knew I was trusting to luck on the G3 and G6 but it never occurred to me that my luck would be so bad.  Nothing.

The G9 movies were pretty bad and had lots of noise. 

Of the 298 G12 shots, a handful were OK.  That is, when the intervalometer got lucky, the photo was OK. 

I got by far the most keepers by triggering the 7D myself.  I used the old tried and true method of watching for a rocket launch and pressing the remote button – or just taking a random guess that it was about time for another launch.

The picture above is a composite of five shots that were combined in Photoshop.  Not bad but not what I hoped for.

G12: Hot Shoe Cover –> No Flash

From time to time there are reports of the G12 internal flash absolutely refusing to work in spite of (almost) every possible corrective action – including resetting – that could be imagined. Frequently the problem is related to a small micro switch located in the hot shoe, see the above image. The purpose of the micro switch is to inform the G12 that an external flash has been attached but if the micro switch has become stuck or unintentionally depressed then the G12 is misinformed. Result: no flash.

The problem is not confined to the G12; the micro switch is used on all the G series Powershots. The photos in this post are of the Powershot G9. The image above shows the G9 hot shoe with a cover designed by Richard Franiec. Notice that Richard cleverly engraved his design with “G” for “Gordon” (although some believe there were other reasons).

Knowing that the G series hot shoe has a micro switch, the Franiec cover is relieved along one side so that the micro switch is not activated when the cover is in place. There are other hot shoe covers available but all are not compatible with the Powershot micro switch. The G series internal flash will not work if an incompatible hot shoe cover is placed in the hot shoe.

I bought my G9 hot shoe cover directly from Richard and the G12 hot shoe cover from Lensmate. The same cover is used for G7 through G12.  My G3 and G6 also have the micro switch but the Franiec cover is just a bit too wide to fit.

There have also been reports of a stuck micro switch but more often the “flash doesn’t work” problem seems to be an incompatible hot shoe cover.

Light Description in 2010

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Seems hard to believe, but this blog is about to enter its fifth year of "publication".  I initiated Light Description as a means to learn about blogging and to force myself to be more disciplined and organized in my thinking about photography.  Along the way, I found that participants in photography discussion forums often ask the same questions over and over.  This blog has become a convenient way to answer those repetitive forum questions in more detail with less typing.  Of course, Light Description is also a platform for showing the occasional good picture that I get as well as griping when things or equipment are not to my liking.  For all these reasons, I like my blog.

Light Description really picked up when I got my Canon G9; in fact, to some viewers, Light Description is the "G9 Blog".  Now that I have a G12, I suppose Light Description will become the "G12 Blog".  Actually, my best camera is the Canon 7D but I take the most pictures and have the most fun with the G9 and G12.  In fact, I bought a G6 not long ago just to see how it filled in those gaps between my G3 and G9.

A few statistics:  Last year, Light Description has 46974 visits from 35407 unique visitors for an average of 129 daily visits.  Visits typically run between 100 and 200; the peak was 337 visits in one day.  Visitors average reading two posts before exiting. Most visitors are from the USA, UK, Canada and Australia but the list includes 156 countries!  Most traffic to Light Description is generated by search engines but nearly the same amount is generated by direct referrals from other sites. 

The most popular posts on Light Description are:
1.  Yongnuo Speedlite YN460-II
2.  G12 and G9 in Noise Modes
3.  G12 Lens Adapters
4.  G12:  Going Wide

Plans for the future include, well, more of the same.  I'm still learning the ins and outs of the G12 and have a few new gadgets to report on as well.  I'm anxious to learn more about video on both the G12 and 7D; frankly, video is a bit intimidating. 

Light Description is completely non-commercial and almost certain to remain so.  The various cameras, accessories and gadgets that I report on have been purchased with my own funds for my own use.  Obviously, I am not a professional photographer or blogger.

Thanks for reading Light Description.  Stay tuned in 2011 but don't forget to use the labels and search function to find useful information from previous posts.
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G Series: 1 Second Av

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The longest shutter speed available for a Powershot G in Av mode is 1 second.  There, I've said it.  OK, so I'm not 100% sure about this.  The G1 or G2 might be different but my G3, G6, G9 and G12 all have this problem -- or feature, depending on how you look at it -- and I've read enough questions and complaints to feel sure that the G5, G7, G10 and G11 are programmed with the same limit.  The 1 second limit is not a bug because all the G series have it.  Although not a particularly serious problem, the 1 second exposure limit is unexpected -- especially since I typically forget!

Perhaps the 1 second limit is Canon's attempt to save us from ourselves because, of course, we could not hand hold the camera for that duration.  But we also could not hand hold the camera for 1/2 second or, after several coffees, even 1/30 second.  Plus, the little jiggly camera icon comes on to warn us at slow shutter speeds.  Besides, the shutter speed can be set for more than 1 second in Tv or, or course, M modes.  Therefore, I suspect that the 1 second limit is an arbitrary one or perhaps a programming convenience.

The vast majority of the time that the 1 second limit in Av mode becomes a problem to me is when I'm making a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo.   To make an HDR photo, I typically mount the camera on a tripod, set the lowest ISO, select Av mode and set a mid-range f-stop.  I then use the auto bracketing feature of the camera.  The G series auto bracking can be set for 3 shots at +/- 2 stops.  When the camera is in Av mode, the "stops" are adjusted by changing shutter speed.  As an example, if the "correct" exposure is f5 at 1/60 second then the auto bracketing process produces an underexposed shot at f5, 1/240 and an overexposed shot at f5, 1/15 second.  Most of the time, this works out fine; however, if the base case exposure is, say 1/2 second, then the overexposed shot is at 1 second instead of the expected 2 seconds.  If the base case exposure is at 1 second then the "overexposed" shot is also taken at 1 second which is not useful.

For purposes of bracketing in Tv mode, remember that the (most recent) G series really has only 4 stops of aperture exposure bracketing:  f2.8, f4, f5.6 and f8.  Not all of those apertures are available at all zoom settings.  Also, for purposes of creating an HDR image, variations in aperture produce variations in focus and depth of field.  

As a result of the 1 second exposure limit in Av mode, long exposure HDR sets must be done in manual mode.

Now I can use this post as a reference for anticipated future complaints and explanations.
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G6 and G12: RAW Noise and Reduction

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Based on the in-camera JPEGs, it seems to me that the G12 is about two stops better than the G6 with respect to noise. But then I began to wonder if this apparent difference was actually due to noise reduction software in the G12. To test this hypothesis, I took another look at those images but this time from the RAW image files.

The above 100% crops (click to see full size) were processed from the RAW files using Adobe Camera Raw. The G12 profile for ACR is still a “beta” but is probably representative. Processing for both the G6 and G12 was as follows:

... as shot auto white balance
... auto toning
... medium contrast curve
... ACR sharpening at 80%, 1 radius, 30 detail, 60 mask
... 0 noise reduction in ACR
... default noise processing in Noiseware Pro.

This time I skipped the G12 ISO 800 and used ISO 1600 and 3200. The G6 ISO 400 image cleaned up nicely but the G12 still has less noise – I think about two stops improvement but perhaps only 1-1/2 stops.

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G6 vs G12: Noise

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As noted previously, there seems to be little difference between the in-camera JPEGs produced by the G6 and G12 when the images are seen on screen (without pixel peeking) or viewed as an 8x10 print.  But those images were made at the lowest ISO settings.  What about comparing higher ISO results?

Fortunately, my low light test scene had remained relatively untouched since the comparisons between the G9 and G12 at high ISO settings.  The above shot was taken with the G6 at ISO 400, f4 and 0.6 seconds.  (Apparently about 2 stops less available light from the previous tests -- don't know why.)  Not too bad at first glance (click for enlarged view). I also re-tested the G12 under the same lighting conditions.

Next, we yield again to temptation and take a peek at the pixels.  The assembled comparison below shows various 100% crops from both the G6 and G12 (click for enlarged view).

Based on pixel peeping, one might say that the G6 is not usable at ISO 400 but as seen in the opening image, small image sizes could still be OK.  It appears to me that the G12 is about 2 stops better than the G6 with respect to noise.  That is, I'd prefer to use the G12 at ISO 1600 than to use the G6 at ISO 400.

Of course, the G6 has a one stop aperture advantage over the G12 but then the G12 has image stabilization for which is claimed a two stop improvement in shutter speed.

My conclusion is that, in spite of having fewer pixels, the G6 is "noisier" than the G12.  Whether the G12 noise reduction is due to improvements in sensor technology or noise reduction processing in-camera, I couldn't say (probably both).  Obviously, there is more to noise than pixel count or pixel density.
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G6 vs G12 JPEGs

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Although not exactly a shoot out, here are a couple of similar shots taken with the G6 and the G12. All shots are uncropped in-camera JPEGs but reduced in size for blog use. All shots were taken handheld in Av mode at the lowest ISO setting and without any exposure compensation. In other words, a "trust the camera" mode.

First, the G6:




Then the G12 (slightly zoomed in to produce roughly the same scene);

Next the G6 at full telephoto:

Then the G12 at full telephoto:

You might well wonder "What's the point?" and that is the point:  At these reduced image sizes from automatically processed files and translated by the Internet, there is little difference between these -- and many other -- cameras.  Perhaps, better said, somewhat similar cameras, especially from the same manufacturer, produce similarly good results for general use on the Internet.

More generally, how should images be compared?  In my mind, the comparison should be made with respect to how the images will be used.  I have no problem with limiting some cameras to small displays onscreen and reaching for a larger format when the objective is a large print.  In the case of this G6 and G12 comparison, my next step was to make 8x10 inch prints from the in-camera JPEGs.  Both the G6 and G12 prints looked fine; in fact, almost indistinguishable.  Whereas an 8x10 from my 4MP G3 was sometimes a bit of a push, I conclude that 7MP is "enough" for an 8x10 (provided, of course, that those seven million pixels are "good" pixels").

(I've taken pictures of this same scene and made comparisons between other cameras as well.)
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G6: Pictures

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Here are some pictures of my "new" G6.  As could be better seen in the comparison to the G3, G9 and G12, the G6 is relatively large.

Although some must like it, I don't care for the mode dial being on the back of the G6.  I very much prefer that it be on top as it is in the G3, G9 and G12.

The articulated display screen was not included in the G9 and I missed it very much.  The articulated display on the G12 is significantly larger, brighter and higher resolution.

The hand grip on the G6 was larger than the one on the G3.  The G9 had no grip at all which led to Richard Franiec creating and marketing an add-on grip.  Canon must have been listening because the grip returned -- albeit in a much smaller size.

The G3 and G6 have informational displays on top whereas the G9 and G12 do not; however, I have to admit that I quickly became accustomed to the control dials on top and informational display on the back LCD of the G9 and G12. 
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G: 3, 6, 9, 12

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Canon introduced the PowerShot G series with the G1 in September 2000. Since then, there have been ten G series cameras; the current version is the G12. For various reasons, usually said to be “bad luck”, there was no G4 or G8. This means that the G12 could have been marketed as the “Tenth Anniversary Edition”; however, it was not. Strange.

I began my G experience with the G3, still have it and use it on occasion. I learned a lot about photography in general and digital photography in particular by using the G3. This blog was begun a few years after getting the G3 but does include posts about the G3.



Although greatly tempted by the G6, my next G was the G9 and I've written about it extensively. In fact, counting the labels, there are 132 posts in this blog that are labeled G9. I still have my G9 (as you might guess, I tend to keep cameras!). It is a fun camera and my goal – nearly achieved – was to squeeze every bit of performance from it that I possibly could. I've now transferred that goal to the G12.




I've not regretted skipping the G5 and, without RAW, did not consider the G7. But that skipped G6 remained a missing link until last week when I was able to find a good one. Now that I have a working G6, I'll play with it alongside the G12 for a few weeks. Meanwhile, here's a summary comparison of the main features of the G3, G6, G9, G12.

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Comparison of all Powershot G Cameras

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In this very interesting article, the author conducted tests of every Powershot G camera: G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, G7, G9, G10. Cropped versions of both uprezzed and downrezzed images are shown for all ISO sensitivities. Prints were made and three people evaluated and ranked those prints. Very interesting!
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G9 Wiki!

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The G9 has a Wiki! In fact, the entire Powershot G series of cameras has a Wiki.

A Wiki is a collaborative informative article. You’ve probably heard of “Wikipedia” – the free, online encyclopedia. Well, Wikipedia now includes a Powershot G article. Check it out; in fact, contribute to it!
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