DOTS STL

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
08/14/2017 at 16:00 • Filed to: None

Just a few things spotted whilst walking around my neighborhood testing out this Canon G10 I grabbed last week. Most images appear too bright, so I’ll probably have to dial things back a stop or so, but it’s an amazingly good camera for $2...

DISCUSSION (6)

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
08/14/2017 at 18:29

$2? NP all day long! I still use my G10.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp
08/14/2017 at 18:47

It’s a damn good camera, and probably one that I’ll keep for years. I bought it at the Goodwill Outlet, which sells stuff by the pound, so it was probably less than $2. Someone else found it, and when I inquired as to what it was he offered it to me, and I grabbed it incredibly quickly knowing that it was something special. I didn’t know if it worked, but at that price I thought I’d take a chance, and was willing to spend $125 or so to get it to work if it had any problems. Other than a scratch on the LCD it’s nearly perfect.

I spent about $15 for a genuine Canon battery charger and an aftermarket battery and it seems to be working perfectly. Even the Canon battery seems to be OK after throwing it on the charger overnight. I’m surprised that it didn’t seem to want to take a charge over USB. I’m still trying to figure out how to do that; perhaps I should read the manual, eh?

This camera seems good enough that I don’t need to bother with the DSLR, and may end up replacing my trusty ol’ Lumix DMC-ZS19 (although I’ll use that one when I need the massive zoom that it offers). I keep picking up miscellaneous older digital cameras over at the Outlet, and currently have a box full. I usually give them away after doing cleanup/repairs, usually to my co-worker’s kids. I always keep at least one camera in the car in case of an accident and I don’t have my phone with me, but thankfully I’ve never needed one.

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
08/14/2017 at 20:17

It doesn’t charge via USB— it’s got a big-boy battery like a grownup camera. It was pretty special back when they launched it, and I still love how good it is. The sensor has a beautiful grain, I’ve printed RAW files 46" wide and they looked great, and I got an underwater housing for it way back in 2009, and still use it.

Plus it looks like the Cold War. Like some KGB shit.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp
08/14/2017 at 20:34

Thanks for your knowledge about this unit. Not charging via USB makes perfect sense given the target market and price point on this unit, and works just like my DSLR. It is a pretty beefy battery; hell, the whole camera’s rather beefy. I love the heft and solidity of this thing, and how nicely it fits in the hand. Definitely some old-school chunkiness, and I mean that in a good way.

I’m going on vacation next month and am almost tempted not to take the DSLR because I suspect that this thing will be almost as good without the weight and complexity. I’ll need to grab a few extra batteries, but those are relatively cheap. Tomorrow I think I’ll wander around the neighborhood again, this time trying to do something about the blown-out highlights. Maybe there’s a setting somewhere I’m missing; like I said, I haven’t really read the manual or spent a great deal of time poking around the menus.

The only concern I have with the physical condition, besides the scratch on the LCD, is a bit of corrosion on the metal portions where the strap mounts. At first glance I would say that it’s galvanic corrosion, assumed to be because different metals were used on those brackets and on the camera body itself. Perhaps a wire brush will be sufficient to get those parts looking as good as the rest of the camera.

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
08/14/2017 at 21:37

I don’t think I’d worry too much about the rust in the strap rings, it’ll probably clean right up. Does it still have all the markings on the dials for ISO, etc? If you’re shooting raw and exposing close to properly, the blowouts should be minimal. I used to like how it handled lens flare, with that very curved glass.

If you can find a copy on amazon or something, there’s a pretty decent G10/11 book out there. They used some of my shots from Flickr in it. It’s called From Good Shots to Great Shots.

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
08/14/2017 at 21:54

Bungled the title, but here’s a super cheap copy: https://m.barnesandnoble.com/p/canon-powershot-g10-g11-jeff-carlson/1111740200/2676977671147?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP1755&k_clickid=3x1755