Obviously you are right and I was intentionally being a bit ridiculous. I am serious in the suggestion that we often get crazy on the other end in thinking a high end camera is always "needed". The G10 seems to do a very nice job in selected circumstances and also has obvious limitations. For example, it would useless as a backup for indoor sports . It could be a suitable backup in the right environment. The OP has stated he would sell the 40d, so budget is an issue, as well as convenience, etc. It's the usual balancing of priorities.
I've tried literally dozens of small digicams including two Pro1's, every one of the G series except the G10, a Fuji F31fd and several others and I have come to the inescapable conclusion that it's just better to take my 450D instead.
I have a g9 and I carry it with me all the time. These small cameras can captures some great images. Also, the convenience of a small camera can be freeing.
I have a 1dMKIIn and use a g9 as back up when out shoting which works for me.
I have a LowePro toploader and attached the G9 to the side of it in one of their pouches. This is compact and gives me a reasonable back up camera in case of battery or other catastrophic failure of the 1D.
I spent 6 days in Yosemite in June packing 20Kilos of camping gear so took the G9 instead of the 1D and it performed very well.
John
My G9 was perfectly good for static subjects in good light, but go outside it's comfort zone (as with any compact) and most people who know dslr IQ will be disappointed IMHO. Especially for anything that needs panning, low shutter lag or high ISO.
Until they can squeeze a proper sensor in it will be a dslr for me.
I like the look of the new ideas for mirrorless dslr's. That may end up being the answer
I'm sure this has already been said many times in this thread, but your answer is that the G10 makes an excellent backup to a landscape/travel camera, but a very poor backup to a sports/action/event camera. So, as with just about every other posted question on this forum, the answer simply is "It depends on what you shoot."
The original question is too loose to get a tight answer. The G series (I have a G9, but not a G10) is good enough for a backup for some types of shooting, for example, when your on holidays. It's not good enough as a backup if your a sports shooter that needs to shoot night games on large football fields.
it depends on what type of backup you want.
I bring the G9 almost everywhere, and it's helped me out in 2 notable situations.
1. I was 2nd shooting a wedding, and the bride wanted a shot at the end of a waterfeature in front of her hotel. We "needed" to shoot some off camera flash to counter the strong sunlight, and High speed sync would not cut it. We used the G9 with 2 pocket wizards and a 580ex in manual mode, synced at about 1/1000 of a second (electronic shutters are super!) and the shot ended up in her album.
2. When I was on an African safari, I dropped and smashed my 17-40 lens, leaving me with only long lenses. The G9 ended up doing all my wide angle stuff. (well, as wide as it could). Even thought I had 2 dslr bodies, I did'nt have a spare wide angle lens.
so yeah, it can be a backup, but only in certain circumstances.
Merv.
I've owned and regularly used a G9 for about a year. In fact, I've taken more photos with the G9 in the last year than with any of my DSLRs. I've captured some beautiful photographs with the G9 but I've also captured more than a fair number with far too much noise (noise that doesn't clean up all that well either). Using ISO 400 with the G9 is like playing Russian Roulette! Maybe you'll get an acceptable image (noise wise) and maybe you won't. Even ISO 200 can sometimes be dicey.
If Canon had given the G9 or G10 just a bit better ISO performance at 400, they would move from being a terrific cameras to being a GREAT cameras. But such is not the case and I can only recommend a G9 to someone who plans to mostly shoot outdoors in good light or indoors with an attached speedlight. If you're willing to use a tripod (or other stable surface) to keep ISO low, then that's fine too.
Lastly and FWIW, the G9 continues to sell very well and, in many cases, is preferred over the G10 by photographers. In fact, the G9 has actually been selling for MORE on Amazon than the G10. When is the last time you saw an older model selling for more money than the model that replaced it? There's a reason for this.... Canon gave the G9 a nice Time Lapse feature in movie mode! You can set it for one shot every 1 or 2 seconds. When played back, you get 2 hours worth of shots compressed to 8 minutes (1/sec) or 4 minutes (2/sec). Canon dropped that feature with the G10.
Not sure about backup as there is too much connotation in that ward. But for travel, always-in-your-pocket camera G10 is an excellent choice. Just returned from skiing in Switzerland and it was the only camera I took with me. Put it in my jacket and enjoyed skiing and walking without carrying anything extra.
For years I have carried the highest end Canon point and shoot as a backup to my main dslr, a 5D, MKIII and currently a D300. I use my cameras mostly for travel and some hobby wildlife shooting. I have found all point and shoots to be a pain in the rear when trying to carefully photograph a scene. Even a static scene is difficult compared to shooting it with an slr camera. Most of my shots are taken with the intention to print at 12x18 at home or 20x30 posters. So the shots are very carefully composed to enlarge with little or no cropping. I find this almost impossible to do looking at the 3" LCD outside in the sun. I realise there is a difference in the format between the dslr and P&S cameras. I'm talking about being able to see clearly what it is you are shooting.
I just took the G10 along on 2 month long trips to central asia and the middle east. As I look around the house at the prints that over the years have made it up on the wall, only one out of 50 was taken with a P&S. And that was from a tripod taken with the camera in the shade so the subject was at least visible.
The G10 is capable of producing wonderful large prints when used at iso 80 in good light. But it is the composing of the picture where this group of cameras really falters.
I often wonder carrying a P&S as a backup is such a good idea. If I didn't have one, I would have to take the dslr. I would be much happier with the results.
Mike
I remember being in Paris France a couple of years ago and not knowing how safe the city and tube trains were (it was winter) I put my camera body around my neck via the neck strap without a lens (that tucked nicely inside my jacket and didn`t show) I then stuck a lens in each of the two front pockets and apart from having weather proofing if it rained I then travelled around and felt a lot safer. Clicking one of the lenses on when needed was eezi peezi.
So a small DSLR is quite capable of being carried around without advertising it.
Yeah, I use a G10 as "backup" and the wife uses it for snapshots, it's pretty good but not a DSLR. Truth is I was a little dissapointed with IQ overall (of course that's comparing it to my high end Canon DSLR's and L glass.....so take with a grain of salt).......I put it in my backpack while I'm riding my bike and have captured images I would otherwise have missed. I just PP the heck out of the images and they end up looking decent. I also tried the xt and xti at first but found them to big to carry everyday on my commute.....At least I tried
So, if the size of a DSLR is just to big or heavy for you then the next best thing would be a G9 or G10.
I have a G9 and I certainly use it in a lot of cases in which I dont want to bring my SLR gear with me. Even sometimes when travelling and thinking photography is not the main deal of the trip, to get pictures of kids, some videos (it does VGA), etc.
So it is a good side companion - I use it much often that I originally thought.
the G10 is an amazing camera! I have had mine for about 3 months now, and I use it as much as I do my D700!
It is NOT a DSLR, it will NOT shoot sports well, it does NOT take EF lenses, etc. etc.
But, used properly, the results are quite stunning. I am not talking about landscape in full daylight, I am talking event photography, location shoots and anything that can benefit from a profesional flash system.
For example, I use the G10 with my sigma ringflash for event photos and being able to shoot at ISO 100 in low light makes high ISO issued a mute point.
All in all, Molson, if you figure out the best way to shoot with it, it is the compact camera with the most potential at this point:
NO for sports, low available light handheld, sequence shooting, AF-intense applications.
Yes, for CANON flash system use, landscape, street shooting (ala LEICA), portraits and anywhere where high IQ AND small size matter.
** I don't have my upload set up to show you guys. If I get around it anytime soon, I will post some pipcs ***
I have a 5D2, 40D and a G10. I am going on a trip this weekend and I will take the 5D2 and the G10 as a backup/pocket camera. There may be times when I don't want to carry the SLR and I've found the G10 to be a good choice for more casual photography. I will normally have a 300mm lens on the 5D2 and the G10 will be handy for when I want to capture a scenic vista and may not have time to do the lens swap.
I'd love to be able to take my 40D along as a second body but it's just not practical in this particular instance for me.
I have recently purchased a Panasonic Lumix LX3 as a small compact camera.
Image quality is excellent although as with all small sensor cameras noise is a problem at ISO's above 400. However it has an f2.0 lens, 24mm wide angle, raw files, image stabilisation, flash hot-shoe, so is ideal for me as a small, lightweight compact. It does HD video too, 720p at 24fps which is a nice bonus.
. It could be a suitable backup in the right environment. The OP has stated he would sell the 40d, so budget is an issue, as well as convenience, etc. It's the usual balancing of priorities.