Canon PowerShot G9 Digital Camera

The G9 was bought as a 'take-it-anywhere' compact which would give the same sort of quality as my normal Canon 40D SLR. The major attractions were:

The provision of RAW image files.
The opportunity to manually control nearly all functions of the camera.
A sturdy body which is not TOO small.
A large clearly viewed LCD screen - 3 ins.
Image Stabilisation.
Flash contacts for an external flash unit.

The camera has been used now for a few weeks - mainly during cloudy overcast weather out of doors. The rest of this review really describes how well the camera has handled.

The camera is solid and the extending lens assembly is sturdily built with NO detectable slack/movement when fully extended.

USABILITY
Controls
The camera does support a large number of control buttons - by memory 9 excluding the shutter release and the zoom lever. It really is difficult to get used to functioning of these buttons. There are also separate dials for ISO speed and 'camera mode' some of the buttons open up display menus on the large LCD screen rather than in themselves performing a single function. This can be confusing as the contents of these menus can depend upon the camera mode that has been chosen. Overall just about any setting can be changed but the number of buttons with different functions and the number of options in some of the menus can be confusing. AT LEAST THERE IS A PROGRAMMED OR AUTOMATIC CAMERA SETTING WHICH WILL AVOID THE USE OF SOME OF THE CONTROLS. DEFINITELY ONLY BUY IF YOU WANT ALL THESE FEATURES OR THE QUALITY OF THE RAW IMAGE FILES.

Viewfinder
A typical rangefinder type of viewfinder but not one which I like on this camera. No difficulty viewing the whole frame but a small image - I prefer to use the large LCD for framing the picture which is unusual - in general I prefer to use a viewfinder.

LCD
Very large and bright - shows the shot images very clearly even out of doors. Also the items on the set-up menus are large and clearly visible - easy to set up - once you know what they do!!!!

IMAGE QUALITY
I really cannot find much fault with the images taken by the camera. I have been using RAW image files so I cannot comment on the quality of the jpg files. All I can say is the quality compares very favourably with those taken by the Canon 40D that I own at the lower ISO settings. The colour rendition and exposure is extremely good even under some very poor cloudy winter conditions.

OVERALL
A camera which has in general met the high expectations that I had for it. In general I like the feel of it. My previous digital cameras - Sony Cybershot compact, Olympus C2500 TTL viewfinder,Canon 10D SLR and Canon 40D SLR.
Downside
The complexity of the menus.
Increased image noise as the ISO settings are turned up.
Lowish power of the built in flash - really need an external flash.

Would only really recommend the camera if control is required over most of the camera settings or RAW image files - otherwise many other cheaper cameras could do a similar job.

UPDATE: June 09. The camera will not focus correctly. Apparently the focussing mechanism is not as robust as most people would wish and can be damaged by small knocks/dropping. This camera has not been mistreated. The G range of cameras is apparently prone to this fault which requires replacement of the whole focussing mechanism at cost of £120. A group court action against Canon was planned against Canon at one time.