Here’s something I’m liking a lot about the G11. There may be images I’m interested in but don’t want to go to the trouble of setting up the tripod and big Canon. So, with the G11 on a pouch on my belt, I can just whip it out, turn it on and snap a few. These can be those documentation shots we like to take like signs of places we visit or those cool interpretive signs scattered about all the interesting places in national parks and state parks. I can also grab a quick shot of whatever the interpretive signs are expounding on. In other words, it’s great for grab shots because it’s so easy. And I feel like a tourist except for the fact that the G11 is much thicker than most of theirs and it shoots RAW and aperture priority and, well, it’s a really powerful camera.
Speaking of aperture priority and other such modes found on the higher end DSLR cameras, there’s another mode that I’m falling in love with and you probably won’t believe me when I tell you. AUTO. Ok, go back and read that again if you must. By now you’re probably thinking I have taken this tourist thing way too seriously. But I do have a serious reason for using the denigrated AUTO. As you know AUTO tries to make all the decisions for you. OK, that’s not such a good idea if you’re trying to create art. But here’s one decision I like it to make. It seem to handle high dynamic range situations pretty darn well. So, instead of adjusting exposure compensation in Av mode I can set the G11 to AUTO and get a really well exposed image. Oh, it’s just too easy. And by the way, I haven’t finished reading the manual yet and still am hoping to come across the auto-composition function.
One more thing I like about using the G11 for a grab shots. Occasionally I’ll take a grab shot, look at it on the LCS monitor and fall into the mode where I start refining the composition. If it starts looking pretty good I’ll put the G11 away and haul out the big gun.
So the combination of the two cameras is working out really well. I’m very glad I have them both.