Canon PowerShot G1

I got this camera as a wedding gift and used it a few times now. Used it on my honeymoon and the pictures turned out great. For someone like me who is a klutz and don't know how to use cameras, reading the manual would be helpful.

Easy to use in all conditions; bought this digital camera late last year and have not regretted it at all. Excellent choice.

Excellent image quality, use it for work.

Excellent quality even on low res images in jpeg format.

Even with maximum images on 16 meg card, good quality.

Lots of shooting options.

Good in low light, variable light conditions. Battery power good.

This digital camera is unreal. Before buying it I compared spec's and sample outputs from various digital cameras (Nikon Coolpix 990, Casio QV 3000 etc) on www.imaging-resource.com before plumping for the Canon and have not been disappointed for a second. I bought the 1GB IBM microdrive as to use the camera effectively you need a significant amount of storage and there were several reports of problems with the 340Gb microdrive.

I've just returned from a 2 week holiday in Crete with 450 high resolution images and around 20 video clips and the camera functioned superbly in the heat (in the high 30's low 40's). I mainly use the Program AE mode, switching to either shutter or aperture priority when needed. For occasional night shots I'll use the night scene mode with sync'd flash.

Time to focus seems longer than stated in the manual and I occasionally missed moving subjects with the delay. If you are expecting this using the manual focus or pre-focus would get around it but it was still irritating.

The biggest revelation was the stitch-assist mode. By using this to link several shots together (up to 26) you don't need a wide angle lens. The supplied software is unbelievable in stitching the images together with little join showing. Where there is a join, you can get rid of it using digital imaging software such as Photoshop.

It will allow photographic quality prints of up to 8"x10" and I've got more prints of this size in the 8 months I've been using this camera than in the 20 years of using various SLR's.

The camera is heavier than you'd expect for its size and does tend to warm up quite quickly (so keep the LCD display closed when you don't need it).

Q. If I lost it and got paid out the full amount from the insurance company - would I buy the G1 again?

A. Absolutely.

ACQUIRED IN JANUARY, HAVE TAKEN IT ABROAD NUMBER OF TIMES, ON EACH OCCASION THE RESULTS HAVE REACHED BEYOND SATSISFACTION. THE STANDARD 16MEG MEMORY MAY NOT BE ENOUGH, BUT NOWADAYS IT CAN BE CHEAPLY UPGRADED. WE ACHEVED BEST RESULTS BY USING LITTLE OR NO COMPRESSION.

The Canon Powershot G1 is a superb "compact" zoom type digital camera (with SLR controls)! Well done Canon! everything that a novice or amateur photographer would want, although the additional 'F' stops of 11 and 16 would be useful for that touch more creative ability..

I love the camera to bits, and although want the D30, would never part with it in the near foreseeable future as this would make a good "compact convenience camera" or stand in if the D30 went pear shaped - good thing is - Battery and CF cards run on both the G1 and D30.

My initial impression of the Powershot G1 was, ehh that is not as pretty as it looks in the brochure. This Canon is certainly a functional camera in the same way as an old style Russian apartment block is functional. Having said that I've had the camera for a while now and it is an absolute dream. As an old SLR user ( purist you might call me - I've only worked with manual type camera's ) I've adapted to the camera very quickly. The manual control is excellent, the focus can be a bit difficult to get right the first time but practise makes perfect. What I love about the camera is the ease of use. I'm a rare breed that read a manual cover to cover and I found I was wasting my time. The menus are never more than 1 level deep due to tabbing and are all in clear easily understood language. My only dislike is the awkward holding position of the camera, it could do with a decent grip like the Olympus.

Controls are easy to access. Rechargeable batteries last absolutely ages and charge very very quickly.

Extra high resolution on this camera means you can enlarge without loosing the photo quality.

Also shoots 30 seconds of movie including sound but of course, this does not compare with a decent camcorder. If it's movies you are after then get a camcorder.

This is the choice for the serious amateur who wants the flexibility of departing from the program modes to use shutter priority, aperture priority and manual. Its a great choice as it has the capability to keep rewarding you as you become more proficient.