Saturday, November 15, 2008

New Canon G10 Arrives

I'm in the process of replacing all my cameras over the next few months. As mentioned below, I've already added the 50D to my collection. I've also recently purchased the Canon G10 point and shoot digicam. I wanted a smallish p&s camera with good image quality (at low iso anyway) for those times a DSLR is too large to bother with. It will immediately become my skiing companion this winter. I plan to shoot some local Christmas festivals with it as well.

I must say, this is the best built p&s I've ever layed my hands on. Kudos to Canon for a great design. The image quality is exemplary as well at low iso (at least from the few test shots I've taken). This is definitely a major step up from my Canon S3 which it's replacing. I'm looking forward to playing with it a lot this winter.



Update - May 15, 2009: I thought I'd update my impressions on the G10's image quality now that I've had some time using it. My final conclusion is that it's far from revolutionary. While I appreciate the resolution that 14+ megapixels offer, the noise accompanying the camera is a bit annoying for me. I had hoped that the noise would be pretty minimal at iso 80 (the camera's base iso), but I've found that isn't the case. I think it would be acceptable for anyone who does minimal post processing work on it's files but my experience is that, even with a moderate amount of massaging (and I'm talking raw files here), the noise increases dramatically and needs to be dealt with. Please realize that I'm extremely picky when it comes to image quality (being spoiled with Canon's higher end DLSRs) so others may not agree with my whining! The bottom line is that, while I do consider the camera a big step up from my Canon S3, I'm still finding that I'll take it with me on midday scouting trips or skiing ventures, but little else. And, of course, any kind of action photography that would require sensitivities higher than iso 80 are out of the question.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A Sedona Getaway

In order to get back in the good graces with my wife (after abandoning her for the better part of autumn), I agreed to a take a trip to Sedona, AZ with her. Oh, the horror...I have to go to Sedona! :-)


Watson Lake - Prescott, AZ

The catch was that I could only do minimal shooting. This was to be quality time together. To my amazement, I kept pretty true to my promise. It helped that I was pretty burned out photographically from all my autumn adventures. I only pulled the camera out one evening and the final morning. The evening shoot was actually at Watson Lake in the Granite Dells (north of Prescott). The final morning was spent at the Seven Sacred Pools in Sedona. Fortunately for me, it coincided with the best weather of the trip.


The Seven Sacred Pools - Sedona, AZ

This trip also gave me the chance to meet up with my Sedona-based photog buddy, Derek von Briesen for a night out. I met Derek through PBase a few years ago and have had some incredible shoots with him at Havasu Canyon, Monument Valley and along Colorado's Sneffels Range in autumn.

Sedona/Watson Lake Images

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Finished Adding Autumn '08 Images

After 11 days on the road in the Colorado rockies and two weekend trips to Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Arizona), I've finally finished up my fall color shooting for the season. It was a tremendous year to be in mountains, that's for sure!


Crystal Mill Near Marble, CO

My Colorado travels took me to the Kebler Pass area (near Crested Butte), the McClure Pass / Marble area, parts of the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness, and the San Juan Mountains. In Utah, I spent a couple of days exploring the La Sal Mountains near Moab. All in all, I arrived at most of these locations considerably before peak conditions occurred. Should've waited a little longer. Next year I'll know better!


Woods Lake Near Telluride, CO

Click on the link below to see more imagery from my travels...

Autumn 2008 Images

Special thanks to fellow photogs Monte Trumbull and Luke Tingley for their companionship during the San Juan leg of my trip. Thanks for putting up with not only myself, but the crazy antics of my young pup, Yoda!

I'd also like to thank John Mumaw for inviting me along on his Canyon de Chelly shoots. It was my first time to this beautiful National Monument and I guarantee it won't be my last.


The Window, Canyon de Chelly NM, AZ