A few months ago a friend of mine asked me to help outfit his Canon Powershot G10 for landscape photography without spending a fortune on accessories. He wasn’t really sure what he needed but he could see the difference in the shots I’d taken and those he’d taken and wanted to know what the “secret” was.
The first thing on my list was adding a circular polarizer to the G10 to help reduce glare and add some saturation to his images. Luckily, the folks at Lensmate in Seattle make a line of precision machined aluminum lens adapters for the Canon G10 / G11 that allow you to add a polarizing filter to the camera without creating a vignetting problem. Lensmate also sells the 72mm low profile Kenko Pro1 Digital CP filter that their adapters are designed to work with.
$ 24.95 — Lensmate G10 / G11 Adapter (Part A)
$ 22.95 — Lensmate G10 / G11 Adapter (Part B)
$ 74.95 — Kenko Pro1 Digital Circular Polarizer (low profile 72mm)
Canon Powershot G10 with Lensmate Adapters & CP Filter
The next accessory I recommended was a light-weight tripod and ball-head like the Gitzo GT-1541T Traveller and the Really Right Stuff BH-30LR. I explained that there’s nothing more important to landscape photographer than the camera support system. Once he got over the sticker shock I also recommended picking up the RRS BG-10L L-Plate designed specifically to mount the G10 in a RRS quick-release clamp as shown below.
$88.00 — Really Right Stuff BG10-L: L-Plate for Canon G10
Canon Powershot G10 with Really Right Stuff L-Plate
Finally, I recommended he buy a hand-strap like the Camdapter Camstrap from Jim Garavuso. Jim is an engineer and avid photographer with keen eye for good design. I’ve used his high quality leather hand-straps on all my cameras.
The custom hand-strap seen in the image above I created by modifying the neck strap that comes with the G10 and mounting it under the RRS L-Plate. Not the best solution but it works in a pinch.
As you can see, with a few basic accessories the Canon Powershot G10 and G11 can be outfitted for serious landscape photography at about 1/3rd the weight of a DSLR and lens. Not too bad for a “Point & Shoot” camera!
Texas Landscape Photography 
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Is it possible to use a clip in lens cap such as the one found on the lensmate site with the Kenko low profile filter?
Kelly,
Yes, the clip-on caps will work with the Kenko filters. If you get the B&W slim filters you’ll need one of their caps which fit over the filter.
Jeff
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Brilliant. Bookmarked. And I think you might need to show us how you made/modded that strap. As a teacher and expectant father, I’m pinching pennies where I can. THAT is one place I’d like to do just that.
Thanks a ton again.
I’ll see what I can do about documenting my strap mod for you. More to come…
Any news on how you hand-made the strap? I’m looking to do the same, and would appreciate any advice before I end up accidentally butchering my neck strap… :). Thanks!
Rob,
The folks at camdapter.com make a nice little hand strap that fits the Canon G Series cameras much better than my home made version.
Jeff
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I can think of one very good reason for an articulating LCD – the ability it affords to take candid pictures of people when you are relatively close to them. It is very difficult to get truely candid shots of people when you are pointing a camera at them – and they know it. The articulating LCD allows you to act very discreetly. regards.
Glen,
Thanks for reading but I’m confused about your comment regarding the articulating screen on the G11. What does this have to do with my post?
Jeff
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Thanks for this post, really put things into perspective for me.