Canon A80 to Powershot G6 worth the upgrade?

[Richdog]

First off let me just say a great big hellooooo to the forums, just found this place and it looks tons better than some of the other forums I scanned (Vbulletin goodness and more posts), so expect to see me haning around now, heh.:D

I have recently started to get into photography (last year and a bit or so) ever since I got my dad "our" Canon A80 and am now wanting to step things up a bit. This is a slightly rhetorical question as i think I know the answer, I just want re-assurance.

I'm eyeing the Canon powershot G6 with lust as I have read a gazillion reviews saying how great it is in terms of picture quality (I don't care about movies) and how it rivals a DSLR in terms of features. The thing that puts me off a Digital Rebel is that I can in no way shape or form afford to lose the lovely little swivel-LCD that makes taking great shots of flowers/insects/neighbours cat/myself such a breeze. That simply ain'y an option. I also have heard things about the PRO 1 so i'm not considering that either.

I take pictures of anything that takes my fancy, mainly nice landscapes, flowers andanimals/insects and i'm looking for a camera that will be future-proof for a couple of years in terms of quality and MP requirements. I need good Macro too and the ability to add lenses etc.

Do you reckon this will be a good by for me and that i'll love the little blighter? :)

[Bluedog]

The G6 is an excellent camera but you might want a little while as Canon is suppose to be working on a newer version , G7???.

[Richdog]

Umm too late, just bought an Ebay refurb for £300... :D

[Bluedog]

LOL ... you didn't waste no time on that decision. Have fun as you'll enjoy.

[Richdog]

Well I figure there's ALWAYS something bigger and better around the corner so if you spend your life waiting you'll never get on with the picture-taking!

No but seriously is it a highly reccommended camera by you guys? Bear in mind i'll not need over 7MP and I am pretty damn amateur... :)

[Richdog]

Hmm the seller I bought it from has been known as a bit of a non-responder depite 98% good feedback so i'll see how it turns out.

But DSLR's don't have twisty LCD's or allow you to take pics using the LCD do they?

Does anyone know the rumoured specs of the G7?

[Balrog]

Nope, no twisty LCDs on DSLRs ... you use the viewfinder for the shot, and the LCD for review. OTOH, the viewfinder is far and away better than the ones on regular digital cameras...

[mkgago]

Hey Richdog,

people gave me a lot of good advice on a similar thread here: http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6450

good luck with the camera.

[JTL]

IMHO the best non-dSLR you can buy...

[EAP]

The G-6 is an excellent camera, consistently gets good comments and recommendations on this forum. You picked a winner!

[gary_hendricks]

Just some comments on the G6.

The lens on this camera is very good. Overall clarity is good and distortion is low. There is some barrel distortion at the wide angle setting, but it's not too objectionable. Plus the f/2.0 - f/3.0 speed is a boon to low-light shooting. The front-facing flash on this camera is the typical small kind of flash that's also close to the lens. I've always found this kind of lighting harsh and unflattering, so I like to shoot with ambient light if possible. Now that I don't have to use color correction filters and can have the white balance suited to the light color temperature, I can shoot indoors without flash! Finally!

Noise levels are pretty good, but not great compared with the high-end digital bodies. Again, not a fair comparison, so for the money, very good. Just not as good as is possible. I can dream, can't I?

The only thing that I would like is more zoom range. I guess I could've gotten the Pro 1 with a 10x zoom, but the 35-140 range is good for many things, from scenics to portraits. I also could get one or both of the wide angle/telephoto conversion lenses.

A great camera for the money.