Just bought a G12 - Ducati.ms

Slower than you · Dec 14th, 2011, 4:25 pm

My old P&S is getting weak and has glitches so I popped for a G12.
I just got it a couple days ago and essentially have been playing with it in the house.
Any tips/hints/tweaks from you pros?

**scott** · Dec 14th, 2011, 8:06 pm

I just got my wife an Lumix LX5 but was considering the S95 and the G12. I still may get a G12 for myself, it is a fantastic camera.

SS904 · Dec 15th, 2011, 7:49 am

I had one for a while. Nice camera, but I am a self admitted gear whore so I’ve moved on to another pocket camera. No real tips or tricks, pretty easy to use if you want to just snap pics. Nice thing about it is the ability to shoot RAW and take control of the shots if you want to. You have many of the same options and controls as Canon’s DSLRs. One thing I really liked about it was the hot shoe. This feature is huge on a pocket sized camera and is worth the extra price of the G series over the S series on its own. Nothing can kill an otherwise great indoor shot faster than a harsh direct flash, especially one placed so close to the lens. I used my 580EX speedlight on it to bounce the flash for some indoor portraits. Very nice result and you can keep the ISO down for clean images. The 580 is bigger and heavier than the G12, so it was a bit awkward to use, but Canon has some smaller speedlights more suited to the G12 if you're interested in going that route. Any of the EX series lights will work in ETTL 2 (auto flash) mode and many other flashes will work if you care to learn how to use a flash manually. You can also use a hot shoe mounted trigger to fire any number of remote lights with the G12. Lots of possibility there. Have fun!

Slower than you · Dec 15th, 2011, 8:33 am

Thanks Dan. I have a bunch of older strobes from the film days. Remote sensors, bouncers etc. I'll have to mess around with them to see if they will sync with the digi camera.

aah, kids and our toys.

SS904 · Dec 15th, 2011, 12:47 pm

Cool. My new camera is a Fuji and I was able to sync my Canon flash in manual mode. It worked fine. I'm looking on eBay for a smaller non-dedicated Metz, or the like, to use with it. The one thing to be careful of when using an older flash is the trigger voltage. Newer cameras need a lower voltage. Some of the older flashes will be very high, like in the 100s of volts range, which will fry a camera looking for 6 -10 volts. Easy to measure, and a good thing to do before using!

DuckMan · Dec 15th, 2011, 1:24 pm

A little while back I upgraded my G9 to the G12. Both great motorcycling cameras. I liked the longer telephoto range of the 9 but the 12 goes wider which I like better for travel photography. The high ISO performance is way better also. I also find the standard settings for color saturation, sharpness and contrast to be spot on with the 12. Beautiful little camera with great manual controls. I think you'll like it.

IN2VWS · Dec 15th, 2011, 5:48 pm

I too like the Canon G cameras. I have the G7, G9, G10 and G12.
I recently bought the Fuji X100, which is a great camera, but a bit too big to squeeze into the pocket.

Slower than you · Dec 20th, 2011, 9:04 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by SS904

Cool. My new camera is a Fuji and I was able to sync my Canon flash in manual mode. It worked fine. I'm looking on eBay for a smaller non-dedicated Metz, or the like, to use with it. The one thing to be careful of when using an older flash is the trigger voltage. Newer cameras need a lower voltage. Some of the older flashes will be very high, like in the 100s of volts range, which will fry a camera looking for 6 -10 volts. Easy to measure, and a good thing to do before using!

Ok, mega thanks in advance which makes me slam the brakes on before I blindly snap a strobe in the hotshoe and push the button. (mental image of smoke coming out of the camera)

What's the method to check the voltage potential. Volt meter across the strobe contacts then dry fire it? Gotta know as I don't want to fry the new toy.

edit:
I did some googling and, found this out before I did it. Digitals can take approximately 6-10 volts from a strobe for triggering a flash. Canon says 6V and Nikon says 10V. So I checked my old flashes. The old workhorse Vivitar 283 puts out 279 volts. The little cheapie Rokinon flash that runs on two AA batteries puts out 242 trigger volts. Both would smoke my new camera.
Glad I checked first!

Now to try optical triggering. The Vivitar opto trigger SL-2 isn't working.

We can use them but only as an optically triggered slave.

**scott** · Jan 9th, 2012, 11:21 am

Did you all see this tasty new option that Canon introduced today? Has a bigger sensor them a 4/3 camera...
Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : PowerShot G1 X

**scott** · Jan 9th, 2012, 2:30 pm

Oh my, Fuji just annouced this one with a nice big sensor too

Fujifilm confirms X-Pro1 at CES: 16MP APS-C sensor, interchangeable lenses, price TBA -- Engadget