has anyone gone from a camera similar to the SX200 to the G15 or G16 and what have you thought?

[karen356]

I have the SX 200 and am not satisfied with the reaction time.

I am looking into the G16 but am reluctant to spend $450 on it 

not really knowing if it is worth it.

Has anyone gone from a camera similar to the sx200 to the g16 and was

it worth it?

thanks

Karen

[cicopo]

People will need to know what you'd like a camera to do, such as low light, fast paced action, fit a pocket or purse etc PLUS what are your skills. Are you just interested in P & S using built in modes or do you intend to learn a bit about photography & the way it's done using old school settings, which is what having control is all about.

[karen356]

honestly, low lighting pics would be good...I have only ever had a camera I could put in my purse

but now I would like something that takes really good pictures.

I don't know much about the aperture and f stops

I have to read up on it every time I have an event

and then I set the camera up.

Most of my pics for this year will be golf pics of my son 

I am getting good pics with the 200 but I am reading great things about the G16

just wonder if it's really worth the  money for what I do..

birthdays, vacations;nothing out of this world.

Karen

[cicopo]

You've mentioned that you don't like the reaction time of your current camera. I suspect you are talking about what we call shutter lag which can be a pain but you can reduce it's effect by pre focusing. Do you pre focus or do you just press the shutter button down when ready to take a photo. To pre focus is to press half way down which lets the AF do it's job in advance of taking the photo. Once the camera has locked it focus the shutter lag is greatly reduced. The same will apply to a G16 but it will AF faster & more accurately but it will still have some shutter lag.

[karen356]

sometimes I prefocus, but sometimes, I don't have time between golf shots...

and I use the flash a lot because the weather is not always great where I live

so I use the flash and seem to get better pictures..

I know using the flash causes the camera to lag also

[cicopo]

I assume you're shooting his swing which is a form of action photography. If I'm right the best way to improve your results is to improve your technique, which costs nothing but takes a bit of thinking & practice. Thinking because you need to understand what settings fit the situation & how to set the camera to them. Technique comes into play when it comes to holding the camera STEADY, which is rarely done while using the LCD to frame the shot if hand holding. I don't own either of your choices but have a G9 which I've used for years but mostly as my underwater camera but even it would be an improvement over your SX200. The SX200 has a "slow" lens (f3.5 max aperture) while the G16 has f1.8 which is twice as fast (requires half the light all other settings being the same) which means under the same lighting conditions the G16 will use a shutter speed that's twice as fast as the SX200 would. Right now you only get 1 FPS (frame per second) while the G16 can do from 6 to 12 FPS depending on settings & having good light. More importantly it has a viewfinder (electronic) which allows you to hold it against your face to frame & time the shot AND keeps it more stable. You would however loose some of your current lens reach because the G16 only has about 1/2 the telephoto reach.

If you take the time to read these articles I've wrote for a couple of other forums I belong to it might help you understand why things work the way they do & why developing technique is the key to better photos.

  http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g150809-i66-k1635038-Understanding_your_digital_camera_the_basic...

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=147971

[karen356]

thank you very much for your help...I am going to those links now...

Karen

[cicopo]

If you add Skirball's comments here you'll be well armed at getting better results once you get a bit of practice finding out what settings work best for those golf shots.

http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/Lenses/I-have-a-50D-and-I-am-wondering-what-a-decent-lens-to-shot/m-p...

[karen356]

I am trying to use the aperture mode Av but

the aperture on my camera goes from  f/3.4 to f/8.0

only and when I am reading some of the articles 

suggested above in this discussion, they say to use

apertures of f/22 or f/32 for maximum depth of field

and the foreground and background are both sharp.

BUT I can't get those ...

Karen

[cicopo]

Those apertures are only on lenses for DSLR's. I was suggesting that you read the info on relationship between the shutter speeds & how each step freezes different motions of a moving person. Because P & S cameras have such small sensors the DOF (depth of field) is greatly increased at any given aperture compared to a DSLR.