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Canon PowerShot G5 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot G5 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

List Price: $799.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Buyer Beware - No Date Stamps On Photos?
Review: I own a G3, and it does NOT let you put the date stamp on a photo. Canon is living in the dark ages. I'm unsure if this is still a "feature" on the G5. Do your homework before you buy this camera.

At this price point, printing the dates on photos shouldn't be something you have to worry about.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fine camera, but you can get more and better for the money
Review: NO, I bought the G3 rather than the G5 because of some less-than-favorable reviews of putting a bigger engine in the same frame. The G5 [other than for the black drag] is a Powershot G3 with a five- rather than a four-megapixel CCD sensor. Canon seems to have put just a finer-grained CCD in the exact same body as the G3, causing chromatic aberration and increased digital noise, with little gain in picture quality, in an effort to keep up with the competition. My suggestion is either to get a G3 (top rated by Consumer Reports) at a great price, or wait for Canon's sure-to-come-soon top quality prosumer camera with larger CCD.
The G5 is just an annual model change, rather than a genuinely new revision.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MUST to READ, G5 for all, or just like any other CANON
Review: Hi everybody.

I may make few spelling mistakes, but my review for G5 is sharp, true and clear.
Let's get started. I bought G5 and I am happy about it. I red prefessional reviews and comparisons and let me tell you something. Regardless what they say about purple fireing and increased noise, canon G5 gets the sharpest and cleanest picture of 5 megapixel sensor out there. I even compared it with fuifilm s7000 (6.4 megapixel camera), G5 brings more details and better colors. The shapes of the objects are original and edges don't diffuse like all other cameras of this price range (+ - $200) except canon digital rebel 300D. All other cameras have problems either with their not enough bright lenses or not as good CCD sensor. They all try to compete with canon and this is how cheap they do it...>
They run noise reduction algorithms before the picture is being saved in memory and their pictures loose lots of details, objects loose edges and their pictures look more like a painting. This is why canon has the sharpest picture. If you take orginal G5 photo in photoshop and do noise reduction, the resulting picture will have a micro low noise, far less than any sony, nicon, olympus, or anything else out there, while still keeping the sharpest picture compared to all cameras above. The profesional reviewers fall for this as I can see from what I am reading, and they rate canon g5 as having the sharpest picture but worst noise, sending wrong message to readers about the canon true quality. In fact canon g5 original picture has far the least noise from its 1.8 inch CCD, however canon technicians don't run noise reduction algorithms and leave this option up for users. Or just do this - set up low sharpness mode and you will get the most noise free pics compared to the competition while still being the sharpest.
If you ask me I prefer high sharpness, which increases the noise slightly, but improves the contrast and sharpness of the picture. When you print out picture like this you will get the best looking prints since noise levels come in question only if you zoom in the picture in your computer, but for the droplets of the printer good color and sharpness is what counts the most for best prints.
If you are looking for better quality and original noise free pictures buy digital rebel 300D. I didn't buy this camera only because my dad would kill me thinking that I spent a lot of money for a camera. Another reason was that this one is smaller and fits very tight in a little bag, making it perfect for "bring me anywhere" while having the image of a turist and photo satisfaction of a pro.

Made one mistake though....>>>>>>

Didn't look at canon S50 - the best value on the market. I give it 6 stars for the price matched with its quality, size and weight.

Listen to me. Buy S50 today - or wait for even better deals.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent value, awesome pictures.... but....
Review: Camera takes awesome pictures right out of the box. Best value by far in it's price point. However, the autofocus was just too slow for me. I shoot mainly action shots, kids sports, moving objects etc, some low light stuff too. It was common for it to take 4+ seconds to focus in standard room lighting in Auto mode. I went to a local store and tried the Cannon Digital Rebel. If you've got the extra $350, do it. I was totally amazed with the Rebel. Focus was next to instant, and image quality was the best I've ever seen. I returned the G5 and am waiting for my Rebel!

The G5 is no slouch, and at $650/5MP, you can't find a better camera in my opinion. Just wish the focus was a little quicker, because I loved everything else about the unit.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Canon Service is Horrible
Review: I have a Canon G2. It broke in July, and then again in August. I've sent it in four times since then to be repaired, and each time they've sent it back without fixing it. I've paid $150 + tons on shipping and I can't even get the thing to turn on. Save yourself the headache and buy another brand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good all-rounder for serious amateurs
Review: Buying a camera, like buying most things, is a trade-off - there is no single right answer. On one hand, it's "horses for courses" (get something suitable for the type of photography you plan to do). On the other, we each must weigh the features of different models against each other, prioritize our personal wants and preferences against the price, and decide what is best for us. It's subjective and personal.

I had already had a Canon Powershot S20 for a few years when I decided to get a Canon G5. Why should I want to do that? Was I dissatisfied with the S20, with its limited manual operation features, 3MP resolution and 2× optical zoom? No; I had originally planned to keep both, but I have found that the G5 is not so much bigger after all, so I am going to sell the S20. I just don't need both of them.

While the G5 is still a small camera, there are many things it can do that the S20 cannot. Of course, there are still a few things the G5 cannot do, but for the general sort of photography I do, they are not many.

Here are the main issues, chosen partly in the light of other users' (sometimes negative) reviews of this camera:
1 Do I need 5MP resolution? Yes - mainly so I can crop a good chunk of the original image when I need to, which is quite often.
2 Do I need the 4× optical zoom? Yes. I don't have the wide-angle or tele lens converters yet, but I may get them later.
3 Do I need the fully manual control and the many focussing and exposure options? Yes - quite frequently (more often now that I have them, of course).
4 Do I like the ergonomics and aesthetics of the G5. No question. A few minor quibbles, but nothing serious.
5 Good value for money? I think so. Actually I think that most competing products are also good value for money. We get more for our dollar in photography now than ever before.

Comments on some specific complaints that have surfaced in other reviews:
1 Chromatic aberration (manifests itself as purple fringing under certain light conditions): I conducted a very thorough review of reviews before I bought this camera, and I decided to risk it. I am glad I did. The problem exists, but under practical (not test) conditions it is rarely noticeable. You may see it in very contrasty parts of a picture (e.g. bright lights against a dark background) when you are using an aperture wider than about F/4. This problem seems to be somewhat worse in the G5 than in some other cameras partly because it has a faster lens, which I hardly see as a fault. In all other respects this lens is as good as any, and better than most.
2 The noise issue: at higher gain settings ('film speeds'), all digital cameras show increased noise. The G5, according to some reviews, is rather worse in this than some other cameras. However, according to the same reviews, the G5 shows higher gain than most other cameras for any given setting. ISO 400 on the G5 actually seems to be about ISO 700 on other cameras. In the end, I could not really see any difference in normal use. I use ISO 50 most of the time anyway.
3 The viewfinder: to avoid getting part of the lens barrel in the viewfinder at wide angles, the viewfinder would need to be located further from the lens, which would require a bigger body, or else you would have to have a smaller lens. It's just another trade-off. Some cameras avoid this problem by just not having a viewfinder at all. There are times, however, when a viewfinder is the best way to frame the picture, at least for me. I can live with this.
4 The lens cap: lens caps are a necessary evil with any lens that does not retract more or less fully into the camera. The G5 has a simple (but nicely molded, not at all cheap-looking) plastic lens cap that comes off quite easily. This is surely intentional, because if you turn the camera on before removing the lens cap, it gets pushed off by the extending lens without damaging the zoom mechanism.

Overall rating? I'm giving it 5 stars, partly to offset some of the absurdly low ratings given by other reviewers. Otherwise I'd have given it about four-and-a-half.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: -- Good camera.... but the Amazon $50 offer does not apply -
Review: Hi,

I got this camera, but it seems that as per Amazon policy the $50 coupon for $250 or more in Electrnoics is not valid for this item.

So I would reccomend the users to email the customer service in Amazon.com, before buying this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Canon G5.. a camera with a touche of class....
Review: G-day..from down under..my name is Montana..
ok we have heard the pro's, the cons etc...
I my self had a sony V1 for 2 weeks and retuned it for the G5
yes the V1 has a faster auto focus and fancy electronic beams night mode, how ever the V1 lcd screen in daylight is hopless and talking about the lcd screen if you are looking threw the view finder your nose is squashed up against it...
the auto white balance lets not talk about that..the memory cards to expensive and last but least Sony havent quite got it right with there colours there is a blue cast in every picture..
Well now the G5 it feels like a camera looks like a camera, with the focus you nead a little time..it comes good..study the Camera User Guide and you cant go wrong..good pics good controls fantastic Lcd flip-out a poor mans SLR..buy it and let your fingers do the walking POINT AND SHOOT..see-ya..
Montana

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Compare to Nikon 5400. HA HA HA!!
Review: I had to write this to laugh at the guy that said the Nikon 5400 is better. Yeah it is, just don't plan on taking any pictures indoors, or in any poor light!! The POS Nikons don't have AF assist. If Nikon does not get on the ball, they will start losing market share to Casio.
The G5 is a great camera. Funny how people say the S50 is better also, or any of the small P&S cameras. I have a little piece of info for ya'll, most are locked at 50 or 100 ISO, that's why there is so little noise.
Keep your G5 locked at ISO 50, and it will blow them all away!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good pictures do not see all of the bad press
Review: I have had this camera for over a month now and all I can tell you is that if you are looking for a solid 5 MP camera, look no further.

This camera is very easy to use but still gives you the manual control when you want it.

My largest gripe is the very poor lens cap. I see why they make it so easy to come off, due to the lens pops out at start up but I think Canon could have done better with the design of this.

Also, the gripe about looking though the view finder and seeing the lens if valid but I very rarely, if ever, use it and secondly only blocks out about 1/16 of the field of view in the lower left corner.

In summary this is a great camera and I have no regrets about buying it!!!!


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