Setting up a Canon G10 for street photography
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
This is a great (old) video of professional photographer Gary Knight sets up his Canon G10 (now G12) as a street photography camera.
He adds a hotshot 35mm viewfinder
He presets the zoom lens to 35mm and locks it there
He sets ISO to 200 or 400 (film speeds he’s used to)
He saves all of those settings so he can return to them easily.
I love the G series ergonomics and I’ve not considered adding an external viewfinder to make up for Canon’s useless built in viewfinder. I do make various settings on my S100 (and have on all of my Canon cameras) that I return to easily because they’re saved.
It’s great to see a professional photojournalist using this type of camera instead of a Leica or a big DSLR kit.
nice images he has.
I agree Edward and I like the Canon G series enough to look into putting a hotshoe viewfinder on one to see if it helps.
[...] I took this photo in 2009, when I was living in Sydney and studying at Australian Centre for Photography. It’s still a favourite, and one I’m proud of… especially since I hadn’t bought my first DSLR yet, so this was taken on a little Canon G10! [...]
Any idea which viewfinder he uses? I just grabbed an Olympus VF-1 on Ebay, looking forward to trying it out on my G12 in a few days! Also,he mentions cropping his sensor to 3:2, so I’m hoping 4:3 will be a better match for the camera…
Nick: I don’t know but it looks like the Ricohs I’ve seen. Many like to keep their images from G series cameras in the same aspect ratio as their DSLRs so 3:2 is the way to go for that I guess.
Not sure about these add on viewfinders and cropping and WYSIWG issues. Let me know what you find out, I might get one for my G15 which like all the others has a POS viewfinder.
I read a review on amazon that the VF-1 works great with the XZ-1. If I end up really liking the viewfinder, but the frame lines aren’t perfect, I might grab the XZ-2 as my next compact. I really love the G series, so I can’t wait to see how it works on the G12:)
Let me know Nick, I’m anxious to hear your report. And, provide links to what you got and where you got it in these comments if you can. Thanks.
A (very) short review discussing the use of the VF-1 on the Olympus XZ-1:
http://tinyurl.com/d5lslz3
B&H Photo is currently selling the VF-1 refurbished for $59.95:
http://tinyurl.com/csv48us
Once I’ve used the product, I’ll make sure to check back in.
Cheers,
Nick
Thanks Nick, let us know what you think.
Just did my first batch of shooting with the VF-1 viewfinder on the Canon G12.
I have to say the field of view is great. The finder is large and bright, with a light gray 4:3 outline. You can see subjects coming in and out of the frame, which is something new for those of us who missed the rangefinder generation.
The bad news here is I was not used to the Parallax, and had a relatively hard time getting what I wanted out of the 35mm lines. The vertical edges are spot on, but the top and bottom edges seemed to change drastically with every shot. I’m sure the best way to accommodate this is to pick a focal plane and stick to it, which will give you the same frame each time. My guess is that after I get used to subjects 15ft in front of me, then the occasional 20ft or 10ft subject will be easy to compensate for. Again, I’m just not use to this style of shooting, so I’m sure this whole process is much more intuitive for anyone who has owned a rangefinder camera.
Another solution, for those not interested in this learning curve, is to simply shoot at 28mm. The entire view of the VF-1 is very close to that, so every shot you take will get 100% of what’s in those 35mm lines. Get home, crop, and you have your shot. No stress of chopping off heads while you’re out shooting.
And then comes the issue of cropping on the G11/G12. Nobody likes to crop, but sometimes it’s essential for getting the composition you intended. On the G10, you could cookie-cutter any one of those 15 megapixel images and get crisp photos at 8, 10, 12+ megapixels. On the 10mp G12, the detail and resolution get lost right away.
Don’t get me wrong, cropping is often just a safety net for poor composition. But in the case of using these optical viewfinders, it becomes something worth considering. I would be much more comfortable with the new G15, with two more megapixels to handle the occasional misinterpretation of the frame lines.
Having all that said, the Olympus VF-1 is a very good value at $60. It brings a fun, new shooting experience to digital users, and gives today’s compact cameras a taste of that prime lens/rangefinder goodness.
Happy shooting!
Nick
Nick: Thanks for the excellent and useful review.
One of the things I liked about the articulating screen on the older G series cameras was the ability they gave me to do ground level shots. The problem with many hot shoe mounted optical viewfinders is that they do not swivel the way an EVF does. I was doing some research on the Panasonic GX1 and noticed this EVF one can buy for it:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/829503-REG/Panasonic_DMW_LVF2_External_Electronic_Viewfinder_for.html
Note that it can tilt 90 degrees for ground level shooting. This appeals to me given that the G15 is lacking the articulating LCD. Now, if Canon would make an EVF that fit in the G15 hot shoe I’d be happy (again).
Indeed, a tilting EVF would be a fantastic accessory for these cameras.
The recent evolution of the Canon G series has been frustrating to say the least. The Canon G15 at ISO 100 could hold its own against any DSLR in terms of detail, color, and resolution. The G11/12 brought more realistic low light performance, and that excellent tilting LCD, but the loss of detail and resolution made its results indistinguishable from pocket cams (S90/100). Now the G15 returns with the fixed LCD on back, except without the professional magnesium alloy construction of the G10. Not to mention no ISO dial, and a 5% loss in battery life. The faster lens definitely pushes it forward in terms of performance and flexibility, but certain aspects of the design are clearly inferior to older bodies.
At a certain point, I guess you just have to make a choice and start shooting. The G series are very capable cameras, and I’m always impressed with what photographers can get out of them:)
Correction: “The Canon G10 at ISO 100 could hold its own…”
Nick: I totally agree. It seems that Canon can’t get it all right at one time. Frankly, I think my Canon S100 is a better camera in many ways than the G15. The G15 has a better lens but there are many things about the S100 (and maybe the new S110) that I like better.
I was hoping that the G15 would be a larger and more ergonomically friendly S100 and in many ways it is but with that extra size one would think Canon would pack more into it. While I think it’s a fine camera and I’ll continue to use it I like the S100 better, it’s a better overall package.
24mm vs 28mm lens
Click wheel around the lens for making adjustments
No useless viewfinder
Put a bigger sensor, a 24mm lens, a click wheel and a decent EVF (tilting) or articulated LCD on the G16 and I’m there.
If anything, the Sony RX100 is a great political statement. By now, any enthusiast compact should have at least a 1″ sensor. Your list for the G16 sounds pretty good to me. Hopefully if Canon and/or Nikon don’t follow through, Sony will put that sensor technology into a slightly larger camera with better handling.
By the way, great blog here Richard. Glad to contribute.
Nick: I’m not all that fond of Sony’s ergonomics. Some of it is because I’m so used to Canon’s and some of it is because Canon does it better (IMHO).
The other piece of the Sony story I find interesting is their new full frame compact camera, the RX1. At Photo Expo in New York there were a lot of people interested in this camera and listening to them it became evident that they were Leica owners.
I too might be interested in the camera if I liked Sony’s ergonomics better but in fact, if I were going to get a camera like that I’d consider Canon’s EOS M. If Canon can fix the slow AF on that camera I think it will be a winner.
Thanks for the kind words on this blog Nick.
This is a very useful post. I have a G12, and I’m having trouble locating a hotshoe mountable 28 or 35 mm optical viewfinder at reasonable price.
There are two aspects of the G12 that are rarely mentioned in reviews that I find quite useful.
1. Low light mode (the candle symbol). Uses pixel binning to crank up the ISO while dropping the resolution to 2.4 mpixels. Basically, if you can see it, you can shoot it.
2. QuickShot mode (the flying candle symbol). This forces the shooter to use the optical viewfinder but continuously focuses the camera and adjusts the exposure depending upon where the camera is pointing. This mode burns batteries, but is fast. I timed it, and you can execute a shot in less than .1 second.
Thanks for the tips Jock. I have a G15 and my guess is it has those modes as well. Never tried them and will soon.