I'm learning how to use my new Canon G10 (but it will never be a substitute for my Nikon D300.)
@zOOm: The entire plant is covered with a kind of fuzz; you can see it when you blow it up.
@zahai: Like you, at this point, all I know is what the reviews say. It is very compact; much more so than the early G models. There is an amazing amount of technology in a small package. You can easily stick it in a coat pocket. I bought it for when I don't want to fiddle with the bulk and hassle of my D300. Thus far, I have been quite satisfied with the quality of the images.
@Laurie: Soft vs. sharp is an ongoing debate; I think that most of the time, it is a matter of preference. I reached adulthood in what, for most of us, was the age of Ansel Adams. For that school, sharpness was a sine qua non. Recently I have lightened up quite a bit. This blossom was dead, and if you blow it up, the edges are all a bit fuzzy. Because it was so devoid of color, a little softness seem to make sense. Most important, thanks for noticing; I really appreciate that.
@Marie LC: It was a very soft light (which, in part, may have contributed to the softness of the image).
@ordinaryimages: I do a lot of riding on a long wheel based recumbent, which means that you are sitting upright and can easily put your feet down and take a photograph while sitting on your bike. My handlebar bag is very accessible. I also do lots of walking with my wife; it's much easier to not hold her up if I have a P&S vs. a DSLR. As I'm sure you have noticed, many of the finest photographs on aminus3 have been taken with P&Ss.
@amy: Actually, the fuzziness is in the plant itself. For sharpening, I used the Sharpening slider in Lightroom; I try to not oversharpen; however, sometimes I do end up oversharpening; in part, because my sharpening is related to printing rather than the web.
@JJ: It is, and it's great for bicycling, not to mention being great fun.
@May: I don't have any experience with shooting macro under water. When I use the G10 for macro work, I just set it to macro and try to get in fairly close. If I were under water, I would not use manual.