The Canon PowerShot G1 is a 3.34 megapixel digital PowerShot!
Written: Mar 30 '02 (Updated Jan 19 '03)
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Pros: An AC adapter and battery charger with a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery is included.
Cons: 16MB CompactFlash Card is too small!
The Bottom Line: Overall it is a camera with a lot of potential!
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Canon PowerShot G1 Digital Camera |
The Canon PowerShot G1 is a 3.34 megapixel digital camera. This camera came out sometime in the late part of 2000 and originally listed for $1049, now it can be found in a price range of $449 to $799.
The camera is loaded with features like Point & Shoot to all manual, large photo images of 2048 x 1536 pixels, movie clips with sound, zoom lens and more!
The camera is approximately 4.7 inches wide by 3 inches tall by 2.5 inches thick and weighs in at about 14.8 ounces.
The Color LCD Screen
This camera has a feature I wish mine had, most cameras have a fixed LCD screen. The Canon PowerShot G1 has a swiveling LCD that can be turned in almost any direction like an LCD on a Video camera. The neat part is you can turn the LCD around so the screen is against the camera to protect it during storage.
The LCD screen is a 1.8-inch TFT color LCD with 113,578 pixels of resolution.
The LCD screen is used as a viewfinder, photo playback, movie playback and menu system for setting up the camera for your specific needs
There is also a Real-image optical zoom viewfinder with a Diopter for making corrections so you won’t have to wear your glasses.
The Other LCD Screen
On top of the camera is a monochrome LCD that gives you data on your camera settings.
On this LCD you can see things like how many photos are left, battery level, program modes, flash settings, shutter & aperture settings and much more.
One of the few things it will not display is your ISO settings.
Photo Modes
There are three sizes that can be taken with the G1 camera, 2048 x 1536, 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480. Three types of compression for each size, Super Fine, Fine or Normal.
The photos can be saved in JPEG or CCD-RAW. The CCD-RAW is a Canon raw format that compresses a TIFF file about 3 times to save you on space without any loss in quality.
Movie Mode
There is only one movie mode of 320 x 240 with sound at 15 frames per second and a recording time of about 30 seconds. You can turn off the movie recording before the 30 seconds are up and record as many 30 second movie clips as you like till you run out of memory.
The quality of the movie clips are pretty good, just a little small like those you download off the Internet.
The Flash
The G1 has a built-in flash with ON or OFF, Auto, Red-eye reduction auto and Red-eye reduction ON.
It has a recycle time of 10 seconds or less and in the telephoto range of 2.3 ft. to 11.8 ft and in the wide-angle range of 2.3 ft. to 14.7 ft.
Flash Exposure Compensation of /- 2.0EV (at every 1/3-stop)
There is a TTL Sync-terminals at accessory shoe for several Canon external flashes.
The Lens
The G1 has a 7mm-21mm 3x zoom lens (35mm film equivalent is 34mm-102mm) and a maximum aperture of f/2.0-2.5. The 3x is optical and there is also a 4x digital giving you a total of 12x zoom.
It is a TTL auto focus lens with AF lock and Manual focus.
Macro auto focus mode range is 0.2 ft. to 0.7 ft. in the wide-angle and in the telephoto it will go to 2.3 ft.
Normal auto focus mode range is from 2.3 ft. to infinity.
Manual focus range is 0.2 ft. wide-angle and telephoto is 0.7 ft. to infinity.
Canon offers you an optional lens adapter for three add-on lenses, 0.8x wide angle, 1.5x telephoto and a 250mm macro lens. This gives you a nice range of possibilities for a digital camera.
Shooting Modes
The G1 offers several shooting modes for you.
Auto Mode
Creative Zone Modes of Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual.
Image Zone Modes of Pan-focus, Portrait, Landscape, Night scene, Black & White, Stitch assist and Movie.
A Remote
A Tiny remote is included with the G1 for taking your photos or movie clips and playing them back.
Rechargeable Battery Pack
The Canon PowerShot G1 comes with a BP-511 lithium rechargeable battery pack.
Charging time is approximately two hours for a full charge.
It is rated to take about 260 photos using the color LCD and 800 photos using the optical viewfinder (Color LCD off) when fully charged. A fully charged battery pack will give you approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes of playback time through the color LCD.
I shot about 100 photos and took two movie clips and the batteries were still going.
Other Specifications
Shutter Type is Mechanical and Electronic shutter
Shutter speed 8 - 1/1,000 sec.
ISO50, ISO100, ISO200 and ISO400 equivalent
Center-weighted average metering or Spot metering
Exposure Compensation /- 2.0EV (at every 1/3-stop)
TTL auto white balance, Pre-set white balance or Custom white balance
(Other available balance settings: Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent or Flash)
Self-Timer of about 10 seconds
Continuous Shooting of approximately 1,7 images per second without the flash.
Storage Media is a CompactFlash (CF) card (Type I or Type II) and you can use a IBM Microdrive.
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)
USB (Universal Serial Bus) and RS-232C/RS-422
Audio/Video Output (NTSC or PAL selectable, monaural audio)
PC Windows and McIntosh ready.
What comes with the camera?
Here is a list of things that came in the box of this Canon PowerShot G1 camera.
A 16MB CompactFlash Card
An AC adapter and battery charger
A Lithium-ion battery that is rechargeable
Remote Control
Cables – USB & A/V
Neck Strap
Lens cap with a strap
A CD with Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk v.2.0, Adobe PhotoShop 5.0LE and all the drivers.
A 140-page manual
My Conclusion
The thing that impressed me the most about this camera was the swiveling Color LCD display. If you are familiar with most camcorders swiveling color LCD then you can see how nice this one is. The swiveling LCD lets you use your camera in almost any position. You can place the camera down to your waist and tilt the LCD up to you for perfect viewing, also when using the remote you can turn the LCD facing you so you can see what is happening. An excellent feature that should be on all digital cameras. And finally you can turn the LCD to face toward the camera, which protects it during storage.
The main down fall for the camera is the 16MB CompactFlash Card, this too small when you start shooting the photos in the 2048 x 1536 pixels mode or movie clips. The big plus is the AC adapter and battery charger with a Lithium-ion battery that is rechargeable, though I do recommend another battery so you can have one charged at all times. The added on lens feature with an adapter is also a plus, though I didn’t get a chance to use any of them.
The feel of the camera is pretty good, it is not too small or too large for my big hands. With the flash off it took about one frame per second and when the flash was on it took about 10 seconds to recycle before I could get another shot off.
The movie clips turned out fairly good with good sound as long as the subject wasn’t too far from the camera. The photo quality is good, though I still prefer the quality that the Olympus C-3000 series produce.
Here are some of my other camera reviews!
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Minolta Dimage E-201 Digital Camera
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Minolta Maxxum 800si 35mm SLR camera
Olympus Camedia C-3000 Zoom Digital Camera
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Nikon Coolpix 900-s Digital Camera
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 449
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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