Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II

[FrenchMarket]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am complete newbie here, so please be nice. :)  I travel a lot for work and have always thought (and other too) that I have a pretty good eye for composition.  But I'm not great (good, but not great) with the technical aspects.  I thought I could possibly post a few things on Alamy.  I submitted by three photographs and they all came back with "soft or lacking definition; noise"

 

I'm using the Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II and have seen that some people do use that camera, so I know it isn't impossible to get my photos up to standards.  I already have it set to the highest image quality.  Anyone have any suggestions on how my might take less soft and noisy photographs? :)

 

Thanks!

 

[M.Chapman]

On 24/01/2020 at 22:10, FrenchMarket said:

Hi Everyone,

 

I am complete newbie here, so please be nice. I travel a lot for work and have always thought (and other too) that I have a pretty good eye for composition.  But I'm not great (good, but not great) with the technical aspects.  I thought I could possibly post a few things on Alamy.  I submitted by three photographs and they all came back with "soft or lacking definition; noise"

 

I'm using the Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II and have seen that some people do use that camera, so I know it isn't impossible to get my photos up to standards.  I already have it set to the highest image quality.  Anyone have any suggestions on how my might take less soft and noisy photographs?

 

Thanks!

 

 

The Canon G9 X Mk II is certainly capable of producing images suitable for Alamy. There are many possible reasons for SoLD failure, especially if you're "not great with the technical aspects", so it's hard to give specific advice. However, if you post one of your failed submitted jpegs online (e.g. here) and provide a link to it in this forum, then you are likely to get some advice. I would suggest that if you're not great with the technical aspects you might want enhance those skills before using Alamy QC as a "test bed".

 

Mark

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by M.Chapman

[FrenchMarket]

Hi Mark, 

 

Thank you so much for your reply.  Yes, indeed, I plan to enhance my tech skills before really trying to submit... I just wanted to make sure I was doing it with a camera that would eventually be good enough   I will also try to submit a jpg here for feedback.  Thank you!

 

Aimee

[Colin Woods]

19 hours ago, FrenchMarket said:

I will also try to submit a jpg here for feedback.  Thank you!

And feedback you will certainly get, so make sure that you are not thin skinned and oversensitive. The forum here at Alamy is a helpful concentration of a very high level of technical and business expertise and you will get some pointed and helpful suggestions. We occasionally get here posters who are offended by the feedback. Take any replies you get in the right way and you can learn a huge amount here.

[Jill Morgan]

21 hours ago, FrenchMarket said:

Hi Mark, 

 

Thank you so much for your reply.  Yes, indeed, I plan to enhance my tech skills before really trying to submit... I just wanted to make sure I was doing it with a camera that would eventually be good enough   I will also try to submit a jpg here for feedback.  Thank you!

 

Aimee

 

Be sure that the image you show us is a 100% resolution, same size as you submitted to Alamy.  We can't give feedback on a downsized image.

 

Jill

[Harry Harrison]

It's worth pointing out that your camera has what is called a 1.0" sensor, actually only 13.8 x 8.8 mm in size. This means that you do have to be very careful about noise in the image if you use higher ISO settings in low light, and certainly it would be  a good idea to understand the technical aspects of that, and to maybe not let the camera decide which ISO to use. Many people on this forum and presumably in the wider Alamy community use the Sony RX100 series which also has the 1.0" sensor, but that has a very good lens as well. The review of your camera on DPReview suggests that the sensor is let down rather by the lens so you probably need to carefully inspect your images for any softness.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[spacecadet]

27 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

It's worth pointing out that your camera has what is called a 1.0" sensor, actually only 13.8 x 8.8 mm in size. This means that you do have to be very careful about noise in the image if you use higher ISO settings in low light, and certainly it would be  a good idea to understand the technical aspects of that, and to maybe not let the camera decide which ISO to use. Many people on this forum and presumably in the wider Alamy community use the Sony RX100 series which also has the 1.0" sensor, but that has a very good lens as well. The review of your camera on DPReview suggests that the sensor is let down rather by the lens so you probably need to carefully inspect your images for any softness.

 

 

Further, the contributors who do use compact cameras here didn't usually start out using them. They earned their spurs with DSLRs.

A quick search doesn't reveal a reference on the forums to anyone actually getting through QC with G9 images. The various G models seem to be very different. You may be on a hiding to nothing, but do post some images at 100% first. I have to say the jpegs in the review Harry pointed out are marginal at worst but you might get through with RAWs.

Edited January 28, 2020 by spacecadet

[Harry Harrison]

Alamy themselves give a guide to recommended cameras with a good graphical representation of sensor sizes here:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/alamys-rough-guide-to-digital-cameras

 

You'll see that they recommend only Micro 4/3 and above but they haven't updated that for a long time and certainly carefully processed Sony RX100 images are fine, but as spacecadet says, these are in the main experienced photographers with the technical skills to play to the strengths of the small sensor RX100 cameras.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[M.Chapman]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

I have to say the jpegs in the review Harry pointed out are marginal at worst but you might get through with RAWs.

 

A spot of downsizing to 6MP is another possibility. Although the lens on the G9 X isn't as good as the Sony RX100 series, a bit of downsizing should overcome this..

 

Mark

[MDM]

While the PowerShot might be adequate to get through QC with good processing, the OP is presumably relatively new to photography. If she wants to really learn the craft then a step up to a camera with interchangeable lenses rather than what is effectively a point and shoot machine with borderline image quality would be a good idea if she can afford that. She might also find in due course that she has developed a nice portfolio of images that are substandard in terms of quality which might be cause for regret down the line. While we are very helpful here and somebody will always provide feedback if asked, it is not really the best place to learn the basic technical side of photography (i.e. apertures, shutter speeds, ISO, depth of field and all the processing side of things as well). Getting a reasonable handle on the technical side is a prerequisite to trying to make money out of photography which is what Alamy is about. 

Edited January 28, 2020 by MDM

[FrenchMarket]

Thank you all so much for all the kind constructive feedback and suggestions.  I will take all of them into account as I move forward.  I will also try to post an image or two when I’m back in the country.  Thanks!

Aimee

[ACC]

On 28/01/2020 at 16:30, spacecadet said:

Further, the contributors who do use compact cameras here didn't usually start out using them. They earned their spurs with DSLRs.

A quick search doesn't reveal a reference on the forums to anyone actually getting through QC with G9 images. The various G models seem to be very different. You may be on a hiding to nothing, but do post some images at 100% first. I have to say the jpegs in the review Harry pointed out are marginal at worst but you might get through with RAWs.

 

I have the G9x MK II and have hundreds of images through QC and they account for about half my sales including several at $$$. (The other half of my images are from a Canon 6D MK II). With the G9 I mostly shoot in Aperture priority F8 or F11 and i keep the ISO at 125 or 200. I shoot jpgs. I’m really happy with the results i get. 

 

 

[FrenchMarket]

9 hours ago, ACC said:

 

I have the G9x MK II and have hundreds of images through QC and they account for about half my sales including several at $$$. (The other half of my images are from a Canon 6D MK II). With the G9 I mostly shoot in Aperture priority F8 or F11 and i keep the ISO at 125 or 200. I shoot jpgs. I’m really happy with the results i get. 

 

 

Fantastic, ACC!  Thank you so much for the details!  And great to know half your sold images come from that camera. 

Aimee

[dunstun365]

On 24/01/2020 at 22:10, FrenchMarket said:

Hi Everyone,

 

I am complete newbie here, so please be nice. I travel a lot for work and have always thought (and other too) that I have a pretty good eye for composition.  But I'm not great (good, but not great) with the technical aspects.  I thought I could possibly post a few things on Alamy.  I submitted by three photographs and they all came back with "soft or lacking definition; noise"

 

I'm using the Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II and have seen that some people do use that camera, so I know it isn't impossible to get my photos up to standards.  I already have it set to the highest image quality.  Anyone have any suggestions on how my might take less soft and noisy photographs?

 

Thanks!

 

Yours is one of the more expensive powershots. It should be good enough with the correct settings because I Had photos accepted on Alamy even when I started on here with my powershot sx540. Mine is lower in the range & has image stablisation which helps but I will usually downsize the image in an editor so it's sharper at 100%. You can also smooth out noise/grain there's a lot of settings in a photo editor but I just use the one that works the best if needed. If you're not sure what this means just ask someone on the forum. The problem with DSLR's or even super zooms like mine is that it can attract unwanted attention. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by dunstun365