Canon G10 or Canon xsi

Hello

My name is Greg and I am a student.

I will be traveling and need to print big photos of 16 x 20 or 20 x 24.

Does anyone know if the Canon G 10 or XSI can produce good quality photos this size .

I shoot landscape and I hope to get one of these cameras until I can get the 50 D.

I use a tripod when I shoot day and night.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

God Bless

Greg

Either one of them will work well for your application. The XSi is bigger and quicker to use with no appreciable shutter lag. The G10 is the best point and shoot available right now with excellent image quality but it needs good skills and anticipation to shoot people. Ken Rock well, who appears to be non grata on p.net right now, has a good 'review' opinion piece with great examples of landscape photographs on his site that he has done with his new G10. The G10 is obviously much smaller and lighter to carry. Good luck.

Both will do fine but the XSi will do much better at 200 iso and above.

Why would you want a 50D?

Today's DPreview indicates its image quality is worse than the 40D

and for only $700 extra!

 

Bottom line: the G10 produces better pictures than an XSi with

18-55 IS kit lens, except in low light (as John mentioned).

Propose a Canon lens and maybe somebody can give you useful advice.

for landscape it appears a g10 is all you need.

 

if you're trying to build a system or shoot low-light/sports/action an xsi would be a better choice.

I am afraid I must disagree with most of the other posters here. The G10 is indeed a fine P&S and at lower ISOs it can hold its own against dSLRs at perhaps up to 13x19 print sizes. But for 16x20 I have my doubts. You will need a decent lens for the Xsi though, 17-40/4L maybe.

The only downside I see for the G10 with landscape is the narrow FOV. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to print up to 16 x 20 with it, or larger if you are a bit less demanding. See Michael Reichmann's excellent results with the G10........

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml

I posted in another thread in this forum, but wanted to add my thoughts here as well.

 

I think that the G10 Mr. Reichmann (luminous-landscape) is using may be a "bad" unit! The ISO 80 and 100 shots I've taken with

the G10 in low light are virtually noise-FREE! The examples on luminous-landscape that were taken at ISO 80 look as noisy as

400 or 800 ISO shots taken with MY G10 body! Very weird.

 

Here's a high ISO test strip I made. Only did 200/400/800/1600, since 80 and 100 are clean (in MY G10). Shot at f2.8 and 28mm.

Taken hand-held from an idling car window. Evaluative metering. No post processing and 100% crops.

 

http://activatedfx.zftp.com/G10/CanonG10_isoTest2.jpg

 

The ISO 200 strip is pretty clean. I would not hesitate to shoot in low light up to 400 with the G10.

I have the G9 and got a XSi in June 08, my main camera is the 1Ds M III since last year. I love the size of the G9 and

appreciate the quality that comes out of the little thing. In very contrasty situations, reflections and low light the sensor

just can't hold up. The XSi is a significant step up, lager sensor, better low light and nicer files to adjust in a RAW

converter. I recently looked at the G10 at my dealer, the chip size is still the same, the processor one generation

younger (if you do jpg's in camera), some dials are different (i personally dislike the stacked design of the dials on the

right, too tall, but love the exposure control on the left). As for print size the pixel count should be fine either way, but if

you want quality, get the XSi with a fixed lens (or 3) or a great Zoom (i can only speak of L lenses, the 24-70 would be

great, the 24-105 with it's Vibration control also fantastic. If size is an issue and you can shoot with a lot of light, the

G9/10 would be the way to go. Obviously it's hard to compare a $500 camera to one that, with a great lens, is about

$1600 new, but hey...As a student, you also want to learn about photography (i assume), the XSi lets you grow a bit

further and for the lens i would look at ebay or call a bigger Photo shop in NY for a decent used or refurbished one and

save for a bigger camera down the road, and keep the lens.

Best, Mark

with a tripod go with the G10, I use my G9 with a tripod, mini, that I bought especially for use with my G9, get some filters and the adapter to put them on, use the bracketing all the time and the time delay, wish it had a remote but the time delay works fine, great images at 80 and 100 ISO

In this <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/pocket-battleships.shtml">review comparing the G10 against the Nikon P6000</a> Michael Reichmann is reporting less than excellent results with the G10 at low light levels, but under normal lighting conditions, the G10 will be fine for 20 x 16 enlargements, printed at 200 dpi.

Can either camera produce "good quality" photos of that size? It depends what you call "good" quality; however, my answer would probably be "yes" for either camera. I have little doubt the XSi will greatly outperform the G10 for huge (e.g. 20x30) prints if it has a nice lens on it. I personally do not object to mild softness in a large print, as long as there is little or no chromatic aberration, and as long as the image quality does not fall apart in the margins. I think that might be where the G10 ultimately fails to deliver.

 

I used to bad-mouth the 18-55 kit lens and recommend the 18-55 IS as an optically superior alternative. However, Bob Atkins, whose opinions I trust, says that he's tested/used them both, and they're optically similar. That said, if you want really good enlargements, consider the 17-40L. I own the lens and can attest to its amazing sharpness, near absence of CA and vignetting, great build quality, and good value (for an L lens). Its only weakness is that it barrels a bit on the wide end, but that's easily corrected in PS. If the 17-40L is out of your budget, then get the kit lens and a 50mm f/1.8. The 50/1.8 is only $100 (or less) and is optically fantastic.

 

All this being said, the G10 is really quite good for a compact (See John's images re noise), and it's a no-brainer if you want something you can stuff in your pocket. Its chief failing would be that it will not be nearly as versatile as the XSi (e.g. no lens choices).

<A

HREF="http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_LX3/outdoor_results.shtml">Here

are some test shots</A>

comparing the Canon G9 and the XSi with 18-55 IS mounted.

As you can see the G9 is sharper in all instances,

and the G9 is not as good as the G10.

The 18-55 really is not a good lens.

If you want a zoom lens, I would recommend the 28-135 IS,

which is quite good, and works on full-frame DSLR and film SLR.

As to if a camera will produce large result largely depends on how close you intend to view them ... people were

making 30x40 prints from 3Mp cameras .. you just had to mount them on the wall behind the sofa, and viewers were

asked not to kneel on the sofa :-)

"... 16 x 20 or 20 x 24. Does anyone know if the Canon G 10 or XSI can produce good quality photos this size . I

shoot landscape ..."

 

I'd tend to go with the Xsi. It will give a larger performance envelope than the compact, specifically with

respect to noise performance and depth of field flexibility. As a student traveling abroad, I'd bet better than

even money that you'd find more image making opportunities than just static landscapes.

 

Also, learn how to use image stitching software. Start with the open source Hugin; just Google it.

 

Truly high detailed prints at 20x24 from single shot capture is out of reach of reach of either camera (and is in

the realm of 6x7 and larger film formats or MF digital back.)

Xsi would be my choice. Even if the G10 is the finest P&S you can get it is completely outclassed by the Xsi, or almost any DSLR for that matter. I say ALMOST because the G10 is able to get great pictures without much trouble or control tweaking. But I can assure you that you will outgrow the G10 in less than a year. One year from now you will be drooling for the G11(?), but if you stick to DSLR you can keep your XSi, get a new lens and youre ready to go!

 

I usually recomend to keep away from the stock lens, since they usually are just above average, but the price difference between Body Only vs. Body+Stock Lens is less than $80 wich is an amazing deal for a lens, even if youre going to stuff it in the back of your closet.

 

Good luck with your choice

I've got a 30D and a 50D. I just sold my XT.

 

I'd love to have a G10 or G9 to have in the truck or saddlebag on the 2-wheel BMW so I always have a camera with me.

 

Unless you want to spend some $$ on a decent lens or two, I'd buy the G10.

 

If you do buy the xsi, definitely start with the 18-55mm IS. It's more than worth the extra cost of the kit.

G10 and stitch.

 

I'm going to, it gets around the two biggest setbacks of the G10, not enough quality pixels and not wide enough

for sweeping vistas. Stitch assist mode in Canon P&S's works well, stitch programs are amazing now and a simple

nodal point bracket to mount the G10 to a tripod would be very small and light.

 

Like I said that is the route I am going to take.

 

Take care, Scott.

IMO, the 17-55 f/2.8 EFS IS is an excellent replacement for the 18-55 kit lens. Of course one pays for the priviledge.

 

Don Bryant

The G10 is a pretty good camera for a point-n-shoot.

 

The XSi is a great camera; and gives you a ton of creative options with interchangeable lenses.

Gregory,

 

I am a very firm believer in that the larger sensor wins out in the image quality game. I would go with the XSI. You will have the larger

sensor and gain the advantage of lens options.

 

Good luck.

 

Mark Sablow

 

marksablow.com