A choice of repercussions, which of these, the 3 BEST canon powershots to get?

[pauw]

I've narrowed it down to the g9, the s5 IS, and the SD870 IS. Which do you recommend?

[JTL]

I've narrowed it down to the g9, the s5 IS, and the SD870 IS. Which do you recommend?That's exactly like asking: "I've narrowed my choice down to a pick-up truck, a sedan and a two-seat converitble...which do you recommend?"

Only you know what you plan to use the camera for/what type of shooting you plan to do.

[ooverdrive]

G9=Raw
S5 IS=super zoom
SD870 IS=pockatable

[nutmac]

If you don't mind bigger size and higher price, G9. Otherwise, I would probably go for SD870 (I love wide angle) and eventually SLR. Not a fan of S5 due to so so image quality at 200 ISO or higher and extreme chroma aberrations.

[retrograde]

Imho, don't get the G9 unless you're certain you won't be moving into slr world anytime soon. You'd find the g9 an expensive redundancy.

If, however, you know SLRs are not for you, you'd probably be happiest with the G9 as it has so much manual control, allows for RAW shooting, and accepts accessories and speedlights. I know you probably know all this already.

Pocketability (the 870) is well worth remembering. You can't catch that great shot if your camera is back in the house/ apartment.

Watch for superzooms on p&s cameras. It's great in bright light, but the aperture gets real small at the long end of the zoom, and you're forced into using flash or high, noisy ISOs to get the shot. My last p&s had a long zoom and I regretted it.

But that's just my 2 cents.

[jonalta]

I would highly recommend the G9 (if some extra bucks is available) over the S5.
For my reasons, I posted the same response here:
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=313515&postcount=2

and of course, the SD870 is in a totally different world. If you dont want the manual controls and add-on accessories, then this is your camera.

[AndyfromVA]

There are some very good, low cost DSLR's available now for $500 (including lens). I'd get one of them before spending approximately the same amount on a G9.