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Under 2 Megapixels

Canon Powershot G1 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Canon Powershot G1 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

List Price: $699.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I recently purchased the Canon Powershot G1, WOW!!! This is a great camera; my wife was spending all kinds of money on film every week. We looked for a digital camera and none really impressed us till we ran across the G1. It really is a great camera. Thanks for making a great product Canon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'll eventually get one that works...
Review: The first one I got "didn't communicate properly with the battery". I exchanged it. The second one wouldn't focus in the macro mode. Exchanged it. The third one has lines running through the LCD and still doesn't want to focus in macro mode. I have considered switching to another make/model, but I will not give up on the G1 yet! I love this camera, eventually I will get one that works properly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect digital pro-sumer
Review: I looked and looked for a digital that offerred SLR-like functionality, but without the price overhead of a true digital SLR. My first direction was the Kodak 4800 - but after seeing the G1 demoed, I was sold. Plenty of preset modes, durable, long battery, good lens, plenty of programmability, and nothing beats the panoramic stitch assist and short motion video features. I originally shopped around at photo stores, and everybody was sold out - that helped convince me too. In the end I ordered it from Amazon and got it quicker than any dealer could come close to.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great camera but....
Review: Based on all the very good reviews, I went for this camera as my first plunge into the digital photo realm. Aside from some minor ergonomic issues with the shape of the camera, I've been pleased. Image quality is excellent. My only problem so far - getting one that works. The first one I received was inoperative right out of the box. The replacement for that one died after five weeks and is now at Canon for repair. I haven't seen other problems with reliability mentioned anywhere so perhaps my troubles are rare (I hope).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great! Camera with few small Flaws
Review: I have been into digital photography for about 3 years, and have owned an Apple Quicktake 200 (lame), Nikon Coolpix 950 (decent), Nikon Coolpix 990 (almost right; read my review), and now the G1. I have it set up with the 340 MB IBM microdrive, as well as the Canon 420EX Speelite. This combination, I feel, is about as good as you can get without getting to the [price] range (Canon D30). Here are some things you may not see in the other reviews:

• The camera, once it powers on after about 5 seconds, is very very quick shooting. You almost can't want to shoot faster than it will allow.

• Focus can, however, slow you down a bit, especially in dark setting (despite focus-assist light), and in low-contrast settings. I am a dentist (couldn't you tell by the name?!), and the camera does have issues with intraoral focusing.

• Playback of images is very fast, especially when you use the RAW format. You can flip through about 2/second. If you can, buy a BIG memory card. I have the 340 MB Microdrive, and can store about 200 images in RAW mode. This mode is important. It is the equivalent of a TIFF file, but only takes about 2 megs/image, instead of 9 Megs with the Coolpix 990. Also, shot-to-shot in TIFF mode on the 990 is almost 10 seconds; on the G1, shot-to-shot in RAW is about 1 second. Also, in RAW mode, you can alter brightness/contrast/color saturation losslessly.

• Flash photography is a complete joy to do with this camera. The 420EX is a spectacular flash, there is tons of power, no red eye, and the E-TTL system makes even bounce and swivel photography a complete breeze. You can even over/underexpose the flash, and wirelessly control multiple flashes. Just totally unparalleled. Nikon and Olympus just can't touch this. 990 doesn't even have a hot shoe...

• The battery is on steroids; just never wants to run out (realistically ~400-500 shots 'til reload). With the Coolpix 990, you have to buy batteries and a charger. Koodos to Canon for adding this value to the G1.

• The layout of the controls is such that just about every button is within easy reach of my fingers. Excellent.

• Optional adapter (... LA-DC58) screws into the front, and allows you to use standard 58 mm lenses and ring lights to further expand your creativity.

• Camera is fairly hefty, and builty like a tank. This sure isn't going to break in your hands...

• Setting the ISO to 50 (Nikon can't do this) gives just absolutely fantastic photos with very minimal noise, even in the dead of night (Nikon had MUCH more noise).

Negative stuff (hey, it can't be perfect!):

• There is no Program Shift!!! HOW could they do this?!?! This actually is a bummer, and the standard Program mode always seems to favor wide open F-stops; stick to aperture-priority. 990 has this....

• You cannot have multiple folders to store images to. This is a pain, since I can store about 200 images between downloads, and I never want to have my patient photos mixed up. 990 has this feature, but I consider it a minor inconvenience.

In conclusion, the unique highs of this camera include the image quality (ISO 50), awesome flash capabilities, IBM Microdrive support, RAW image mode, great battery, and lots of great accessories. The negatives include suspect night/low contrast focusing and no program shift. I've used most 3 megapixel cameras, and I think this is the gem of the lot.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great resolution, poor color
Review: Pictures are crystal clear, but colors are below acceptable level. All the three of us digicam enthusiasts tried to figure out, all to no avail, why a top-line Canon, one of the best cameras in traditional photography, produce such a poor color. In comparison, Kodak 4800, Nikon 880 and even Kodak 3400 have a much better color saturation.

Two other things I don't like the camera apply to most of other digicams: the battery and the memory card. These lithium batteries are expensive and not widely available, especially for tourists who travel to far and distant places where choices of batteries and the time to recharge are usually limited. To me, AA batteries are the most convenient, widely available, least expensive and therefore are the best choice. Besides, they seem to last just as long as their lithium counterparts.

I put my pictures in the computer's albums and burn them on CDs to share with friends and family. Therefore, I always use the highest resolution with the lowest compression rate. An 8 or 16 MB memory card is simply a joke, especially when you go on a long trip. At this time of digicam development, the minimum size should be 32 MB.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camera, Works with Linux
Review: I've had this camera for a couple months now, and have taken a couple hundred photos so far. I can totally agree with other reviews here that this is an excellent camera...

* The "night portrait mode" does a great job of popping the flash to fill in the foreground (subjects) while leaving the shutter open for about 1/2sec to burn in the background. This feature produces really good results in parties and other darker rooms.

* The long-exposure manual modes do a really nice job of uniformly exposing the shot, completely without any artifacts or other noise from the CCD.

* This camera, with a little work, can be made to work with Linux. ... ... ... that explains the sprocedure. Being a Linux user myself, this was very important to me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OUTSTANDING CAMERA
Review: You can't go wrong with this camera. I love it. The only problem I had was with the LCD sreen. It had lines going through it when it was in record mode, but I called canon and they said with proof of purchase it was under a warranty for a year (WOW, no that's cool). Trust me you'll definately be satisfied with this camera.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Versatile good quality camera
Review: The main things I like about this camera are the 1) 3 mega-pixel resolution. It is a noticable improvement from my old Olympus D-500L, 2) "point-and-shoot" shape (though on the large side) still fits in a large shirt pocket, jacket pocket, or small camera bag. I will be carrying this one with me on vacation. 3) Supports both full auto and manual controls. In most cases, I shoot in the Auto or Program mode, but I also do like to use the Shutter/Aperture priority and Full Manual modes. 4) Ability to store "RAW" (non-compressed images). In most cases, I prefer to do the "touch-up" then store the images in .jpeg (and keep the original "RAW" file for archival.) 5) Battery life seems very good, and I like the fact that a rechargeable battery and AC adapter are included in the kit.

On the downside, the included 16-meg compact flash card is way to small. It will only hold 5 RAW images or 8 hi-res jpegs. A 64-meg or greater is recommended. And as I mentioned earlier, the camera is a little on the big side.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding Camera!
Review: I bought this camera a week and a half ago and I'm very, very impressed. The pictures it takes are outstanding, as is just about everything else about the camera. I purchased this camera after reading a review on Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/) which was very favorable.

I wanted a camera I could have complete control of and this is it. It has a full-auto mode along with program AE, shutter priority, aperture priority, and full manual modes. It also provides a bunch of pre-programmed modes for things like portraits and landscapes (I've not made much use of them though).

The battery life is excellent. The battery is the same that powers their full blown digital SLR, the EOS-D30, so it has more than enough power for this camera. I haven't come near running out of battery life yet.

In addition, the camera supports CompactFlash types I and II and microdrives (muy importante!), has a 3x optical zoom (and a 2x or 4x digital zoom, but I don't use it), and supports an adapter for 58mm filters and additional lens attachments. The LCD flips out and twists making it very easy to position the camera where it needs to go and still see the image.

The best feature of the camera, though, is without a doubt the image quality. Colors are excellent and the pictures are crisp and very detailed. The camera supports resolutions of 2048x1536, 1024x768, and 640x480. It can store images in a raw CCD format or in super-fine, fine, or normal JPEG. I use both the high and medium resolutions in super-fine JPEG and consistently get outstanding results. The raw format requires the TWAIN driver or other compatible decoder to convert the raw CCD data into a normal image format (such as TIFF), but this is a small price to pay if you want a totally unaltered image off the CCD.

I have a gallery of images taken with the camera at my website, http://moibus.jfm.net/ for those interested in seeing what it can do.

All in all, wonderful!


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