Canon a650 vs g9

Hi all. New to WetPixel and am looking to purchase an UW camera. I have pretty much narrowed my choices to the Canon a650 or the powershot G9.

They seem similar in many/most respects--on paper. The main negative I read about the a650 was that the body construction felt flimsy, of light weight plastics. The upside is that it has a swivel LCD for use above the water.

The extra $150 to upgrade to the G9 seems like a steep increase and I am not sure how much more I am getting for the extra investment...

I am guessing someone has already covered this discussion, so feel free to point me to an existing thread.

Thanks in advance.

I think the biggest difference at the end of the day is that the G9 shoots RAW - which is a huge difference if you know what "shooting RAW" is and care ... but no difference at all if you have no idea what I am talking about.

RAW files are sensor data that can be interpreted by software to create an image file. The G9 can capture the RAW sensor data in a file to be "developed" later. I don't think the a650 can do this and only produces JPEG image files that are already "developed".

One has much more flexibility with a RAW file - you get to determine the white balance curve, the tone curve and other image parameters to create your own image whereas with a JPEG, you can only manipulate an existing image file.

The G9 also has a "hi def" (1024 x768 15fps) movie mode that I find very useful.

HTH!

You can load this firmware onto the A650 IS to enable RAW support:

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Having said that, I have a G7 and love it's build quality, it's rock solid. So I'd get a G9 if I were you.

G9, no contest!

Of course I'm guilty of justifying my ownership ...

A650 looks like a nice choice... if you put the RAW hack it gets than better closer to the g9... to shoot pictures from strange positions above the surface the display is very neat.

But what made me decide for the G9 was the dial control. I couldn't have anymore a manual focus that works by pushing buttons "tap, tap, tap, tap"

Of course, if you want to buy the G9 with the canon housing, better choose the A650; because someone in canon forgot to make a control on the housing for the dial control.

I know about the "shortcut" to operate the same funcitons from the dial control, but it is again "tap, tap, tap, tap" with an extra annoyance; you have to keep pressed the shortcut button.

What I don't know, it is if the A650 has the same nice post-processing options of the G9.

If you can get hold of the manuals to compare you can best see what camera has all you need (or more)

Comparing with the tool from canon. it shows this differences:

- G9 can use external strobes (if you use another housing and not the canon one). Which helps saving battery, not to speak of better colour in your pics and less money in your pocket.

- G9 lacks that flexible display which I don't miss underwater and above surface I am used to live without it (I don't even make much pictures while being dry).

- G9 forces you to use canon batteries. I hope it is enough for two consecutive dives

- A650 lacks "Continuous focusing"; nice feature if I may say so; it is battery consuming but helps keeping focus of a moving target.

- A650 lacks focus bracketing; I haven't yet manage to find that usefull with subjects close to the camera (I love macro).

- A650 can put the shutter speed down to 1/2000, the G9 gets 1/2500 (not sure if I ever will be able to enjoy that :-?

- G9 has dioptry correction for the viewfinder (again, another surface feature)

- G9 has more modes for while balancing

- G9 display is just bigger, has more dots and brightness can be adjusted (it helps to don't miss the moving display of the a650).

- G9 internal flash has more range than the A650, but in macro it makes a not so nice shadow of the objective over the subject.

- G9 photo effects, has more and the custom mode is not limited. Nice to play with, practical... who knows?

- G9 can be faster in continuos shooting (if the LiveView is off)

- A650 is 20g lighter :-D

- Last and most important: G9 is more cool

Hi!

I am working with the A620 at the moment, somewhat older model than the A650.

Whatever choice you make, I would not go for the Canon housing. I am not sure if there is an Ikelite housing for the A650, but if there is not go for the G9. There is only very limited flexibility when you want to extend your kit with macro and wide-angle with the Canon housing. That is why I am looking into a dSLR kit now to replace my A620.

If you only like to point&shoot, then I can recommend the A620 (and also the newver models) and maybe a Inon D2000 flash, works very well. Check out the pictures with my gear on www.wolfgang-mathis.at -> Diving -> Pictures. Exposure via the S-TTL of the Inon flash is excellent. But I feel the limitations of this gear, so I want to upgrade.

Cheers, Wolfgang

Hi all. New to WetPixel and am looking to purchase an UW camera. I have pretty much narrowed my choices to the Canon a650 or the powershot G9.

 

They seem similar in many/most respects--on paper. The main negative I read about the a650 was that the body construction felt flimsy, of light weight plastics. The upside is that it has a swivel LCD for use above the water.

 

The extra $150 to upgrade to the G9 seems like a steep increase and I am not sure how much more I am getting for the extra investment...

 

I am guessing someone has already covered this discussion, so feel free to point me to an existing thread.

 

Thanks in advance.

I purchased the G9, Ikelite housing and Ikelite DS 51 strobe a few months ago. While I'm not familiar with the a650, I can tell you that the G9 is great and the controls work well with the Ikelite housing. As for the RAW discussion, I have not gotten that far yet.