Great camera - small niggles (Canon Powershot G1)

Member Name: mollari

Product:	Canon Powershot G1
Date:	27/04/01 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good picture quality, excellent manual control

Disadvantages: Fiddly controls

I bought a Canon Powershot G1 a couple of months ago to replace the EOS 5 kit that I found myself using less and less. I chose the G! because of the 3 megapixel resolution, the level of manual control available and the possibility of using an IBM Microdrive for storage. I also considered the Fuji FinePix 4700, but that felt a little flimsy and doesn't support the microdrive.

So, after some experience of using it, I'm generally very impressed. The choice of manual and semi-auto modes is good (although it tends not to cope too well with bright highlights in some cases). The battery lasts a long, long time between charges. The LCD monitor is excellent, and can be twisted to almost any angle (great for taking pictures over the heads of the crowd in front). The picture quality is good, although I've experienced a slight magenta cast on many pictures (easy to clear up in software, of course). Transfer of pictures via USB is fast. It's big enough to hold, but small enough to carry. I also bought an excellent case by LowePro (the AF2) which fits it like a glove.

There are a couple of things I'm less happy about. Firstly, there's quite a perceptible lag between fully depressing the shutter button and exposing the picture. This makes it very hard to capture action shots, and I have had to learn to keep still for longer while shooting to avoid moving the camera when I think the shot has been taken but in fact it's still working. Secondly, the exposure mode dial on top of the camera is very easy to move by accident when switching between recording and playback while reviewing shots. Unless I check each time, I'm likely to end up shooting portraits in landscape mode, or similar. A mode switch in a different place would have been better.

Overall, I'd give it an 8/10. It's not as responsive as my old SLR, but it's much less hassle getting the prints!

Summary: