G-15 as Surface Camera First

[ntxdiver]

I was in a local camera store today and was told I could trade in my old A540 towards a new G15. I have another camera (don't like it but stuck with it) for underwater for now, so am looking at the G15 for a surface camera for starters and then later use it u/w. So, I've seen posts saying how good the G15 is u/w, but how does it stack up as a furface camera. Note, I am a beginner and will using the auto mode mostly but like the idea of working into the manual modes of the G15. Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[tplyons]

I've been looking at the G-Series for a while for a surface camera. Something for when I want to shoot a little bit more than my iPhone has to offer and when I want to carry a little bit less than my DSLR. When the G15 came out, I was excited about it from a surface shooting point of view.

I love it above water and underwater as well.

 

[jbb]

I have a G11 and S90 from Canon and I have to say the G series is a heavy brick of a P&S camera. However I do like it for surface macro photos of flowers and insects as the S series can't get as close (not sure if the G15 lense is as good at this as previous cameras in the series). Now when both these cameras are in a housing and you are using wet lenses I think the macro capabilities start to even up. For anything else the S series is light and fits into your shirt pocket or anywhere. I try to carry the S90 with me everywhere just in case I want to take some shots. Any chance you could trade to a Sony RX100? I'm just reading all the posts and it's looking promising for my underwater use for the perfet trifecta of video, macro and wide angle. Check on posts by Nemrod and Interceptor121 for more info on the S series too.

 

[Interceptor121]

The G series have approximately a 1.5x magnification compared to the S which makes them suitable for macro without additional lenses
However it is a bulky camera on land and in water offer less options when you want to go wide
If you shoot mostly close ups and macro the G series can take some great shots and the oem housing for the G15 finally takes an M67 adapter from inon that also offers a close focus wide angle lens for the first time

 

[Scubanoobi]

I just picked up the G15 last week and OEM housing, haven't used it in the water yet but it's a great camera on the surface, the lens is very nice! I don't mind the size since my other camera is a heavy 5D Mark II, so this is small for me

 

[Gilligan]

I use a G10 and G12 for dedicated underwater use. They are also great land cameras BUT for a land camera I want a lot of zoom and they don't have it.

If you don't mind a somewhat bulky camera for land use then go with something that has 35X or more optical zoom. I have a Canon SX40HS with 35X zoom for land use and love it.

 

[Interceptor121]

I think gilligan is right as you need 30x zoom to really do something for example safari parks
Interestingly some of those super zoom have a 24mm lens and ikelite makes housing that take a dome so you can use the full zoom in water
The lenses though are somewhat sloppy acceptable for video not for picture