Do I have a flaky G16?

Stevel27 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 05:59:41 GMT

I just got a new G16 from Amazon. It's a nice camera but I'm experiencing some issues.

* The long-distance autofocus when the lens is zoomed all the way out seems very flaky and difficult. I get a yellow box and a white box but it's difficult to get a green box even when there's an area of clear contrast in the frame.

* The shutter release button seems a little uncertain. Sometimes I take a picture accidentally, and other times I press from the half-press position and nothing happens. It seems to take varying amounts of pressure to activate the shutter release from the half-pressed position.

* When I first got the camera I was getting card errors. I tried a different card and the errors went away ... then I put the original card back and still haven't had any more errors.

* Also the low-light focussing is terrible. My S90 was excellent in this regard ... as long as I had an area of high contrast i the rectangle it would go green. The G16 never goes green in low light no matter what I do. (I have the low light focus assist light turned off. But how would it help at distance anyway?)

I had an S90 for a long time and I had a similar experience. I got a flaky unit that clicked a lot when focussing. The lens failed at some point and when I got the repaired unit back from Canon the clicking was gone and the unit seemed much more solid.

I'm guessing they don't build these things like a 5D so there's some variability in the quality.

I don't know if this is all normal for the G16 or if I should send this one back to Amazon and have them send me another.

Any advice appreciated.

topic Do I have a flaky G16? in Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

Do I have a flaky G16?