Folks, I've been thinking of purchasing the newly released Canon G12.
I was initially thinking about purchasing m4/3 due to the larger sensors (I'd opened a thread about it some time back below)
http://www.techenclave.com/general-portables/panasonic-g1-a-good-buy-177536.html
but on reading more about m4/3, I've come to believe that m4/3 is probably not a good buy for the following reasons.
i> m4/3 seems to be in it's initial stage of development and adoption. All the lenses developed so far for m4/3 seem to be slow. It should probably not matter to me as I'm no enthusiast but I do not want to regret my purchase decision when better cameras and faster lenses are released later.
ii> m4/3 is expensive. After checking the pricing of m4/3 cameras online I wonder what the extra price is for. Given what is currently available in the market, existing m4/3 cameras aren't exactly compact in dimension when compared to compacts. In fact, many of them are still more SLR like. Add to that the fact that the lenses available are few and are slower than DSLR lenses. Add to that the cost of buying a costly adapter to fit DSLR lenses. Add to that the cost of buying an expensive optical viewfinder for some of the more compact m4/3 cameras without a viewfinder. Am I the only one not seeing the advantage here?
iii> There seems to be a lack of commitment in bringing m4/3 to India. As BF1983 pointed out in the previous thread, m4/3 lenses are not available. But I note that many of the good m4/3 cameras itself are not available here. I don't know if others have felt this but Panasonic is doing a horrible job of bringing and making their products available in India through authorized channels unlike Canon, Sony and even Nikon. They are exhorbitantly priced and the dealers have a don't-give-a-damn attitude. Given that many potential enhancements are possible for m4/3 in the near future, I would like to see more commitment from Panasonic and Olympus in providing both m4/3 cameras and lenses to India. Otherwise, folks will simply prefer to pick up entry level DSLRs it they can ignore the bulk, lack of live view and movie mode in entry level DSLRs.
iv> Unlike m4/3, the G12 probably represents the pinnacle in compact point and shoot camera development. I say this because of the following.
- It has a 1/1.7" sensor. Megapixels are capped at 10M thereby resulting in larger pixels and reduced noise at higher ISOs.
- It seems to have a very good viewfinder (show me a compact camera with an optical viewfinder with diopter adjustment).
- As compared to the LX3 or LX5, there is no lens cap i.e. the lens is covered when the power is switched off. Also, the flash is integrated and won't get in the way of one's hand unlike the popup on the LX3 or the LX5 (maybe Panasonic should reconsider placing the popup flash on top of the lens in their next iterations of the LX series).
- The LCD screen on the G12 can be folded inward for protection when not in use(unlike the useless up-down tilt mechanism that Sony LCDs have on some of their cameras that offer no such protection).
- The LCD screen size is 2.8" which is a step up from the 2.5" or 2.7" screens on offer in regular compacts and is of 460K resolution.
- The body seems to be very rugged.
- Most important for me(but maybe not for others), it finally...finally supports 3:2 aspect for images (along with the Canon S95) which means no cropping when I give images for 4X6 printing. Though it is larger than other compacts, it's still more pocketable than m4/3.
All in all, it seems like a camera which can serve me for years as I don't think I would need to replace this with another compact camera. It's very costly @ 31.5K I know but it seems like a worthy investment and I can wait for a while until prices drop and then pick it up.
As always, I look to the wisdom of the collective. Please let me know if my reasoning is correct or if I need to consider something else.
I was initially thinking about purchasing m4/3 due to the larger sensors (I'd opened a thread about it some time back below)
http://www.techenclave.com/general-portables/panasonic-g1-a-good-buy-177536.html
but on reading more about m4/3, I've come to believe that m4/3 is probably not a good buy for the following reasons.
i> m4/3 seems to be in it's initial stage of development and adoption. All the lenses developed so far for m4/3 seem to be slow. It should probably not matter to me as I'm no enthusiast but I do not want to regret my purchase decision when better cameras and faster lenses are released later.
ii> m4/3 is expensive. After checking the pricing of m4/3 cameras online I wonder what the extra price is for. Given what is currently available in the market, existing m4/3 cameras aren't exactly compact in dimension when compared to compacts. In fact, many of them are still more SLR like. Add to that the fact that the lenses available are few and are slower than DSLR lenses. Add to that the cost of buying a costly adapter to fit DSLR lenses. Add to that the cost of buying an expensive optical viewfinder for some of the more compact m4/3 cameras without a viewfinder. Am I the only one not seeing the advantage here?
iii> There seems to be a lack of commitment in bringing m4/3 to India. As BF1983 pointed out in the previous thread, m4/3 lenses are not available. But I note that many of the good m4/3 cameras itself are not available here. I don't know if others have felt this but Panasonic is doing a horrible job of bringing and making their products available in India through authorized channels unlike Canon, Sony and even Nikon. They are exhorbitantly priced and the dealers have a don't-give-a-damn attitude. Given that many potential enhancements are possible for m4/3 in the near future, I would like to see more commitment from Panasonic and Olympus in providing both m4/3 cameras and lenses to India. Otherwise, folks will simply prefer to pick up entry level DSLRs it they can ignore the bulk, lack of live view and movie mode in entry level DSLRs.
iv> Unlike m4/3, the G12 probably represents the pinnacle in compact point and shoot camera development. I say this because of the following.
- It has a 1/1.7" sensor. Megapixels are capped at 10M thereby resulting in larger pixels and reduced noise at higher ISOs.
- It seems to have a very good viewfinder (show me a compact camera with an optical viewfinder with diopter adjustment).
- As compared to the LX3 or LX5, there is no lens cap i.e. the lens is covered when the power is switched off. Also, the flash is integrated and won't get in the way of one's hand unlike the popup on the LX3 or the LX5 (maybe Panasonic should reconsider placing the popup flash on top of the lens in their next iterations of the LX series).
- The LCD screen on the G12 can be folded inward for protection when not in use(unlike the useless up-down tilt mechanism that Sony LCDs have on some of their cameras that offer no such protection).
- The LCD screen size is 2.8" which is a step up from the 2.5" or 2.7" screens on offer in regular compacts and is of 460K resolution.
- The body seems to be very rugged.
- Most important for me(but maybe not for others), it finally...finally supports 3:2 aspect for images (along with the Canon S95) which means no cropping when I give images for 4X6 printing. Though it is larger than other compacts, it's still more pocketable than m4/3.
All in all, it seems like a camera which can serve me for years as I don't think I would need to replace this with another compact camera. It's very costly @ 31.5K I know but it seems like a worthy investment and I can wait for a while until prices drop and then pick it up.
As always, I look to the wisdom of the collective. Please let me know if my reasoning is correct or if I need to consider something else.
within the G series with more enhancements to build upon with each iteration. (Though I would've really liked the lens to be as quick as the fast f2.0 lens of the S95 on the G12 also :cool2:.)
