Great! If you know a bit about photography
Written: Jun 18 '01 (Updated Jun 19 '01)
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Pros: Great pictures, wonderful flip-out LCD, MD support, add on lenses, ISO 50, RAW
Cons: Auto metering not that great. You need to know a bit about photography to use.
The Bottom Line: If you are interested in taking time to learn the camera, you can't find anything better under $1000. If you want point & shoot, try the Nikon or Sony.
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| beckmans's Full Review: Canon PowerShot G1 Digital Camera |
I spent months reviewing all digital cameras. I did not know much about photography at the time. I do not have a decent 35mm camera. I wanted to learn about photography using my digital camera. This was going to be my camera and I wanted to be able to print photo-quality prints up to 4X6.
How many megapixels?
The first decision was how many megapixels? I decided I needed at least 2MP for good 4X6 prints, but when I began to look at the features, only the current 3.3MP line (Sony S75, Nikon 990, Olympus 3040, and Canon G1) had what I needed. Now, which one?
Sony vs Nikon vs Canon vs Olympus
I tried all four cameras briefly and did all kinds of online research. If you haven't already, check out www.dpreview.com. It is the leading site on digital photography. I quickly threw out the Sony for its Sony only memory stick media. The camera also seemed to over-saturate colors and over sharpen. This is appealing to the first look, but it's not true colors. I also didn't like the lack of features. The Olympus was also thrown out of the equation because of the smartmedia cards and lack of features. The image quality didn't seem up to par either. That left the Nikon and Canon. While I loved the matrix metering of the Nikon 990 and it seemed to fit better in my hand, the Canon G1 had many more features.
Canon G1 Features
Pros:
The flip-out LCD is an awesome feature. I can't tell you how useful that has been. I have taken many tripod shots with the LCD pointing to the front so that I can view the frame. The LCD is very visible in direct sunlight too. The ISO 50 produces great images if you have enough light or can expose it long enough. The G1 also has many "scene" modes that are helpful. I also quickly bought a microdrive so that I can take virtually unlimited pictures throughout one shooting. This allows me to bracket shots and not run out of room. The battery is awesome. I can take hundreds of pictures using the LCD without recharging.
Cons:
The only con that I have found is that the camera seems to overexpose some pictures because of the metering. After a week or two of use, I can now predict when the camera will be incorrectly metering and I can adjust.
Notes:
I have seen other opinions trashing the G1 because of the viewfinder. If you know anything about digital photography, you will NEVER use the viewfinder. No digital camera (except expensive SLR models) will have an accurate viewfinder.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 700
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beckmans
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Reviews written: 1
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