Some sample pics of the badminton action i took with G11. The court is extremely dim.. but i guess the pics turn out not as bad as i would expect it to be..
crank the iso to 800 or 1600. shutter speed at least 1/320 or 1/500 to freeze some movements. spot meter player's face and you will know which combination of aperture and shutter speed in manual mode.
I have not tested the S90. One of my friend just got a S90. He told me G11 is still better in terms of pic quality. Lesser noise. But one good thing about S90 is that it is smaller and handy.
In my opinion, both the Canon G10 and G11 are now in no man's land. It is too big to be a true P&S camera. It is the same size as the micro four thirds, and that means trouble for the G10 or G11 because they are relatively primitive in this size territory. Perhaps, Canon should down-size the G10 and G11 to half its size, and it will then be king of the pack or at least one of the industry leaders.
If size really matters and the issue.. ..and if the G10 and G11 are too big and in "no man's land", then take a look @ the Canon SD880, if not be the Canon S90. Both of which do the same thing & have relatively equal specs as the G10, at a much smaller and faster package.
Yes, the Canon S90 is a late catch-up of the Leica LX3. But why does its lens goes from F/2.0 to close to f/5.0 over its zoom range? From an impressive F/2.0 to f/5.0 downgrades its credentials. Such a drastic drop in lens speed is always associated with low-end cameras. If it could only stay at f/2.0 all through its zoom range then it could kick the LX3 from its pedestal.
S90 downgrades its credentials??.. Compare the zoom range between the 2 cameras: the way i look at it, the Panasonic Lumix LX3 (if that's the same Leica LX3) only goes as far as 60mm in focal length. Imagine if the LX3 has the same focal range as the S90?? Making a 4x or 5x f/2.0 lens would be a difficult task, and probably make the camera larger, wouldn't it??..
i actually think the G11 is great. for those people who have a DSLR (esp Canon one) but don't want to haul a huge camera around all the time, the G11 is perfect for gathering and parties. it has a lot of controllability, the noise is only one stop worse than the avg. 4/3 sensor. and what is excellent is that it will talk to a full size Canon flash. all these at half the price of a 4/3 camera. and no Chris, i am not getting one. i do however, accept gifts, xmas is coming. *hint* *hint*.
Zoom range is not as important as lens speed. The LX3 lens speed is F/2.0 and at its worst is only F/2.8, a one stop drop. The S90 has a longer zoom range but it comes at a terrible price of a loss of close to 3 stops. Besides the S90's wide angle is only 28mm, the LX3's 24mm. Canon engineers obviously cannot find a place for that more constant lens speed zoom of between F/2.0 to F/2.8 and a wider wide angle in such a small package. Also pls remember a Canon G10 or G11 may be cheaper than a micro four thirds but it has a shorter service life, mainly due to its inability to have lens interchangeability. Lenses depreciate much less than bodies and a micro four thirds system can also use all the other DSLR lenses in the market, almost without exception. This alone enables one to get into the system on a modular basis.
Different photographer/photography requires different compromises. Believing in one-size fits all photography is just naive and ignorant. It's akin to saying that the LN N90 + BG65 @ 33lbs + 1/2 cloth grip is the only racket worth playing with. As a m4/3 owner, I have already recommended the G11 to several budding photographer friends. The service life of a camera is determined solely by the user (IMHO) and the price to pay for getting into an interchangeable lens system is just one of the many factors. I know of someone who will not bring his D200 on tour but uses his trusty f31fd instead and still makes very good pictures.
I got my gf a G10 a few months ago and we take it out on days where I don't lug around my D90. I think the cam is really good for its purpose but a faster lens would have been better.
That's not quite my point.. Mr. T, that's not quite my point. My point is, one can't compare both digital cameras as they each have different lens with different focal length.
Given a certain fixed size, let us say a P&S size, one has to choose zoom range vs lens speed. You cannot have both. Extreme zoom range comes at a tremendous price-it is silly having a zoom range with an F/5.6 lens speed just to strive for 5 to 10 times zoom. The pot of gold for P&S cameras is to go for F/2.0 constant if possible across the whole zoom range, or at least no worse than F/2.8 at its worst. Also much desired is a wider angle, down to 21mm (in FF terms). Zoom range is best restricted to 2 to 3 times. But how do you squeeze these requirements into such a small body? Plastics may be cheap but for the given thickness it lacks structural strength and integrity. More exotic materials have to be used so that the body structure can be kept to its minimum thickness to make more room for the other important "innards". This will mean higher costs. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
That's exactly the point and the question.. (See post #69) Of course, like already mentioned, it's almost impossible to "fit" everything in 1 body or 1 camera. And it'll cost a bundle if one could fit it all in a small body chassis. It's a no brainer. That's why, like i already mentioned, you can't compare your LX3 and the S90 or SD880. If Leica can come up with a pocket size digital camera, the same physical size as the LX3, which has the same focal length zoom lens capability like the S90 while still keeping a F/2.0 aperture, then i'd give it to Leica & you can talk and brag away. If not, then there's no point of picking on the S90.
The S90 is a lower class P&S than the LX3, with the F/2.0 to F/2.8 lens speed across the LX3's zoom many magnitudes higher than the S90's F/2.0 to F/4.9 lens speed, even with the LX3's larger sensor. Such a drastic drop in lens speed in the S90 across the zoom is typical of lower end zooms. You can see this in the zooms of almost all other manufacturers, the standard class having a zoom lens speed falling by as much a 3 stops whereas the higher class of zooms have a more constant lens speed zoom. I think Canon is not prepared to incur the higher cost of a more constant lens speed, and has wisely positioned the S90 as a lower alternative to the LX3.
Why stop at f/2.0 and 21mm? Why not have the zoom range 7mm - 900mm at a constant f/0.9? That will be testament to an celestial class zoom. Not all bridges are made of gold although it might look nice. Canon is not restricted by cost (although that celestial zoom might as well be) but how much their consumer is willing to pay.
It is physically impossible to design a zoom lens for a 1/1.7" size sensor with a lens speed of even F/2.0 to cover a zoom range from 7mm to 900mm on a P&S size camera, regardless of costs. Not even for a billion dollars. The LX3's aperture of F/2.0 to F/2.8 on a zoom range from 24mm to 60mm is already on the theoritical size limit of a P&S. If you push the zoom to say 100mm then something will have to be shrunked, and that is the lens speed from F/2.0 at 24mm to perhaps F/5.6 at 100mm. As a rough rule of thumb a big fat lens with a huge diameter is an indication of fast lens speed, even if the zoom range is limited. In contrast, a small and thin lens may indicate a large zoom range with pin-hole size apertures of perhaps F/5.6 to F/6.4. Give me a fat lens anytime. With fat lenses there is a lot of glass across and it means more light.
Perhaps not many owners of P&S cameras realize that the LX3 is an unrivalled flagship in the P&S field. Just look around you and see if there are other P&S cameras offering a 24mm wide angle plus an almost constant zoom aperture from a very fast F/2.0 to F/2.8 lens speed. This is quite extraordinary and incredible, but it seems it is lost on many. Its so called rival the Canon S90 has a very modest F/2.0 to F/4.9 aperture through its zoom. In fact that F/4.9 is a disgrace to its F/2.0 at its wide angle side. It brings disgrace to what a blue blood F/2.0 is. This type of extremes of lens speeds through its zoom range belongs to the lower tier of P&S cameras.
