by Guy Lerner
January 29, 2003
It seems like yesterday (actually it was nearly half a decade ago now) that I toyed with my first digital camera, an old Casio QV model capable of producing "stunning" images at "stellar" resolutions of up to 640x480. While this seems laughable today, it was a major breakthrough at the time, not for its technical astuteness, but for the paradigm-shifting concept of photography without film.
The technology's certainly changed, but looking at the shiny new Canon PowerShot G3 in my hand, the buzz of excitement - that sense of adventure and limitless scope for extending photographic boundaries - is the same for me now as it was all those years ago.
G3: in black-and-white
The Canon PowerShot G3 is a sophisticated point-and-shoot digital camera with
many features found only in more expensive single lens reflex (SLR) cameras,
such as manual exposure controls, bracketing, manual focus and fast shutter
speeds. It also offers all the advantages unique to
digital cameras, such as
multiple ISO-equivalent speed settings, frame-accurate LCD display and live exposure
feedback, along with instant review and download of pictures taken.
There are many reviews on the Web and in print that will go into granular technical detail on the G3's bells and whistles, so I won't rehash readily available information for you here. What I will provide though is a user-level assessment of the camera, its strengths and (perceived) weaknesses, and try balance the scorecard for you so you can make your own buying decision based on your own, unique requirements.
As Canon's present-day compact digital camera flagship, the G3 borrows much from its widely acclaimed predecessor, the G2. If you're a G2 owner, like many of you presumably are, the G3 offers more than cosmetic changes but arguably not enough meat to justify an immediate upgrade.
Yes, Canon has improved on the G2's 3x optical zoom with a new, fast f/2.0-3.0 4x optical zoom (I'm not mentioning digital zoom here because as a 'purist' that's the first thing I disable). It's also added a new DiGiC processor to speed up functions such as CCD control, auto-eposure/white balance and focus, signal processing, JPEG compression, memory card control and the LCD monitor display.
Other enhancements include:
Despite the improvements though, you won't see much difference in the quality of the images you can produce with the G3 over its predecessor. Canon has stuck by the proven 4-megapixel CCD it introduced with the G2, resisting the (obvious) temptation to keep up with the pack and ramp up the megapixel scale. The changes to the G3 make it a much faster, easier and more creative tool in the hands of experienced "prosumer" users, but won't give them an optical edge over their G2 colleagues.
Incidentally, that's not a criticism of the camera or Canon. The G2 is regarded as one of the best - if not the best - 4-megapixel cameras around for sheer quality of image, much of which no doubt has to do with Canon's unequalled pedigree when it comes to photographic optics. It's also true that megapixel count is just one factor in the image quality equation (compare a 3.3 megapixel digital SLR image to one from a 4- or even 5-megapixel compact camera and you'll see what I mean).
So by sticking to a working formula, Canon has refined rather than redefined its state-of-the-art, and even at this stage of the review it's fair to say there are few cameras in production today that can compete with the G3 on image quality.
G3: plain Jane power
At first glance the 4.7 x 2.7 x 3-inch G3 looks (for want of a more inspiring
word) functional. That might sound harsh, but it only added to my surprise once
I held it, fired it up, and realized just how deceiving looks can be.
I have to admit, as a long-time SLR user, I find the compact point-and-shoot camera design too, well, compact for my liking. I don't think I'm alone either, judging by the number of manufacturers styling their top-end compact cameras on SLR-type frames (curved hand grips, viewfinders, and hot shoe flash mounts, albeit without interchangeable lenses).
You won't find a square edge on the G3, but it still looks like a box with a curvy handgrip plugged on for show. On closer examination, however, the simplicity of the design is clear: straightforward, easy-to-use and invitingly uncomplicated. Imagine a BMW sports sedan in a Toyota Corolla frame and you'll get an idea of what I mean; while it's not much to look at, it more than makes up for it once you use it.
Build quality is good if not solid, with the front, top and LCD monitor frame made from a metal alloy and the rest of the body a hardwearing plastic. Simple design touches like aligned flash and viewfinder panels on the face of the camera add to its chic appeal, but won't pull at the heartstrings of function-minded professionals.
Perhaps the best design touch is Canon's trademark flip-out and twist LCD screen (how I wish my EOS D30 had one of those!), a superb mechanism that not only protects the screen from accidental knocks and scratches when the camera's not in use, but also allows the photographer to tilt the screen a full 270 degrees and hold the camera in positions otherwise impossible with other cameras. This feature alone sets the G3 apart, and I can't see how other manufacturers who don't have it can avoid adding it to future models.
Holding the G3 feels comfortable. Its size and weight are custom made for frequent use, and make the camera easy to hold steady in low-light, slow shutter situations. I strongly advocate the use of a tripod wherever possible, knowing from experience how even the slightest camera shake can ruin otherwise perfect pictures, and fortunately the size of the G3 makes even a lightweight, portable tripod sufficient for most shooting conditions.
On top of the camera a non-backlit status panel displays all the information a photographer needs to know about the current camera settings, from ISO speed to file format and compression, number of shots remaining (based on the capacity of the memory card installed and the resolution setting), remaining battery life and exposure compensation (if any).
The only major flaw I could find was the viewfinder (not to be confused with the
LCD screen in viewfinder mode). Unlike other high-end cameras that have opted
for an electronic eye-level viewfinder (similar to those found in digital
camcorders, even Canon's), the G3 sports an optical tunnel
viewfinder that simulates the view through the cameras lens, give or take a
minor parallax error (the position of the viewfinder in relation to the lens
introduces a slight shift between what the photographer sees and what's
actually captured).
This type of viewfinder is not new and its problems not unique, but Canon's attempt at moving the viewfinder closer to the lens to limit the parallax error also introduced an unwelcome artefact - the lens barrel partially distorts the viewfinder, most noticeable at wide angles but also at the maximum zoom. For me this makes the optical viewfinder unusable, because properly framing an edge-to-edge shot with all its detail is almost impossible. Add to that the lack of any status or focus indicators when looking through the viewfinder and you wonder why Canon even bothered including it in the first place.
That said, the outstanding quality of the LCD viewfinder more than compensates for its sibling's weaknesses, and I found myself using the LCD screen exclusively for framing, focusing and exposing my pictures. With 100% frame coverage (the optical viewfinder offers a miserly 84%), the LCD viewfinder gives more feedback to the photographer than even the most sophisticated SLR TTL viewfinders. Qualities such as exposure compensation, white balance and flash output can easily be "seen" before they're exposed, making the picture taking process far more intuitive and predictable.
While this means less to experienced photographers who understand their art intrinsically, it's a great boon for everyone else new to photography or just new to the G3.
Everything else on the camera is just where you'd expect to find it. The battery compartment at the base of the handgrip accepts Canon's standard BP-511 Lithium Ion power cell, which provides sufficient power for hundreds of exposures and previews (less with flash and continuous LCD usage). Right above it on the side of the camera, a plastic door hides the Compact Flash compartment. The G3 accepts both type-I and II Compact Flash cards (including the IBM Microdrive with capacities up to 1GB or more) so you won't be left short of storage options.
A hinged plastic door on the opposite side of the camera seals the input and output connectors (DC-IN, USB and A/V Out).
On the front of the camera, a bayonet-type removable lens ring (similar to the lens
release mechanism on Canon's EOS SLR cameras) accommodates a conversion lens
adapter, which can be used to mount 58mm thread filters, wide-angle, and
telephoto lens attachments. The G3's flash and auto focus assist light are also
front-mounted, although a retractable, high-mounted flash unit would have been
more practical (and useful) for avoiding red-eye exposures. A hot shoe flash
mount on top of the camera provides full E-TTL flash exposure control with
Canon's line of dedicated EX flash units, and basic exposure control with third
party units.
Canon reportedly supplies a handy IR remote control unit with the camera (for some reason my review model didn't come with one) that can be used to trigger the shutter, control the zoom, and playback stored images as a slideshow on a TV set. Sounds very useful indeed, but without testing it I can't tell you for sure.
G3: knobs and dials
The clever design of the G3 extends to its numerous knobs and dials mounted on
various parts of the camera body. New to the G3 is a control dial (familiar to
EOS SLR users) that can be rolled or pressed to change functions and select
preferences such as aperture size (in Av mode) or shutter speed (in Tv mode).
(Find out more about these and other modes below). In practice though it's
nowhere near as intuitive or as fast as an SLR control, but useful nonetheless.
Above the control dial is the shutter release, surrounded by the electronic zoom handle. Zoom is available in 12-step increments, but zoom speed is non-proportional (i.e. you can't zoom faster by turning the zoom handle more aggressively). The exposure mode dial that selects between the camera's various shooting modes flanks the shutter release. In brief these modes include:
The last control on top of the camera is the on-off switch and camera function
selector. This spring-loaded device is used to power the camera on for either
playback or recording with a gentle flick either left or right of centre, which
is both quick and easy to use, but also prone to breakage (I can just see the
tiny plastic switch losing itself on a daytrip in the middle of nowhere).
Your options don't end there however. The back of the camera is a grid of buttons and switches, from the clever white balance and exposure compensation levers mounted on the auto focus zone selector, to the more obvious Menu, Set, Function, Display and Exposure Lock/Focus Lock buttons. Depending on the camera mode you're in, most of the buttons will have different functions, and it's beyond the scope of this review to go through every one of them.
Let me just say that in two weeks of using the G3 I've picked up the manual once, and then only for a cursory glance-over. Full marks to Canon for the most intuitive and user-friendly menu system around.
G3: in the field
I can go on describing what the G3 looks like and what all its buttons do
for hours, but if I haven't lost some of you already I will soon enough. So
forget what you've just read and let's get to the business end of this review.
A wise man once told me that photographers make pictures, not cameras. While that's mostly true for film cameras, there is a caveat to the rule when it comes to making pictures with digital cameras. Composition and creativity given, the quality, clarity and "life" of a digital picture depend as much on the electronic brain of the camera as it does on the photographer's ability. Limit the picture-taking range of the electronics, and the photographer has that much less to work with.
Thankfully digital photography has advanced to such a degree that even modestly
priced digital cameras can produce images that, when printed or displayed on the
Web, rival anything that can be extracted from film. There is a limit to that
statement, of course, and only high-end SLR digital cameras can currently
challenge film for professional photo reproduction. Still, for 99,9% of
photographers out there (that is, you and me and Uncle bob in Atlanta), the
modern crop of compact digital cameras will do the job most of the time for
prints that rival those made from 35mm film in the family photo album.
What gives digital cameras like the G3 an edge over their film-based counterparts is the degree of guidance they can give the photographer. Everything from exposure to focus can be visually discerned before the picture is taken; so "good" pictures are made possible more of the time. With no film to waste, more pictures can be taken, and more pictures taken make better photographers. All things considered, digital technology will arguably raise the level of photography as a hobby, inspire photography as an art, and advance it as a science.
Looking closely at the 1,000-plus pictures I've taken with the G3 in the last fortnight, I'd say this beautiful little camera does all three.
From a purely equipment-oriented perspective, the G3 is a fast camera, with shutter lag (the time between pressing the shutter release and the actual exposure), auto focus and exposure lock relatively speedy at this level. The camera does take a few seconds to start up and extend the lens barrel, but that's not significant since I can't see anyone using it to take instant snapshots.
Before I get a barrage of mail arguing that this is what a camera like this should be able to do, let me qualify my statement by saying that once the G3 is powered up and ready, an alert photographer will be able to capture the most immediate of moments without too much fuss, but please don't expect SLR responsiveness from a compact camera. Auto focus lag, for example, has been measured between 0.7 and 2 seconds, depending on available light and zoom ratio, which isn't even on the same scale as an SLR's microsecond auto focus responsiveness.
The G3 can shoot up to 2.5 frames per second (1.5 when using the LCD screen), which is again decent at this level. This is not a camera designed for action or wildlife photography (as the modest zoom would suggest long before drive speed is taken into account), but from family picnics with scattering toddlers to grand landscapes with immobile mountains, the speed is more than useful.
With four million pixels to play with, the G3 can output files in one of four resolutions: full (2272x1704 pixels), high (1600x1200), medium (1024x768) and low (640x480). It also has several compression options, from lossless (RAW) to super-fine, fine and normal (JPEG lossy). For maximum quality, either RAW or super-fine JPEG modes should be used, with everything else introducing unwelcome JPEG artefacts that affect picture quality, especially at higher ISO ratings.
A nifty feature of the G3 allows you to save a picture as a RAW file after it's been taken, as long as it appears on the preview screen. This gives you extended flexibility for post-processing you images.
Adding to its creative guile, the G3 offers the photographer a high degree of in-camera control over his images. Gone is the G2's colour effect exposure mode, replaced by the G3's effects function. These range from 'off' (no effect) to vivid, neutral, sepia and black-and-white saturation and a low sharpening mode. Custom effects can also be selected, allowing the photographer to control the contrast, saturation and sharpening of each exposure, although the degree of control is limited to +1 and -1 either side of 0.
My favourite function of all is the G3's built-in digital neutral density filter that blocks up to 3-stops of light. In basic terms this means bright, contrasty scenes can be brought into the 'range' the CCD can record, producing more balanced exposures. A ND filter is also useful in darker scenes to allow for slower shutter speeds and smaller apertures, useful for converting flowing water to a misty blur, or blowing out distracting backgrounds with a shallower depth of field.
G3: at the PC
Unlike conventional photography, digital photography usually involves viewing,
editing and printing your captured images from a PC and printer. The G3, like
many other cameras in its class, can bypass the PC altogether and plug directly
into a compatible photo printer for out-of-camera printing. For most serious
enthusiasts, however, the PC editing stage is not only a vital but also an
enjoyable part of the experience.
Canon bundles the G3 with a fairly stocky suite of software applications that complement each other and the camera's functionality. Included on the 'Canon Digital Camera Solution' disk (I got version 11 with my camera if that means anything to you) are five main applications:
Also on the CD are TWAIN (Windows 98) and WIA (Windows XP) drivers for the G3
that enable your camera to talk to your operating system and other installed
applications. You can, for example, use the WIA driver to import photos from the
camera directly into Photoshop, something I found myself doing more often than
not considering I was using Photoshop as my photo editor anyway.
In case you're wondering, the G3 does ship with a serious image editor, Photoshop 5 LE. I guess it's a bit much to expect a more recent or more powerful version of Photoshop for the price of the camera, but it would have been nice to see either Photoshop Elements 1 or 2 included as a bonus. These aren't wildly expensive applications, and any software with the 'LE' (Limited Edition, crippled, not altogether there) moniker just gives me the creeps!
I'd also have liked to see all the applications updated and designed for Windows XP, but again that excludes the masses out there that aren't XP converts just yet. They all work perfectly well under XP, but are clearly designed with dated interfaces from Windows of old (except for ZoomBrowser 4.0, which has had a major facelift since the last version).
G3: the verdict
Considering how crowded the top-end of the consumer digital camera market is
becoming, it's refreshing to see that Canon - long considered one of the world's
finest camera makers - is using its experience to deliver products that
consistently match and exceed expectations.
Like the G2 before it, the PowerShot G3 probably offers the best combination of features, value, functionality and included accessories of any other camera in the 4-megapixel class. More importantly, it offers the best image quality from a 4-megapixel compact that I've seen anywhere, lacking perhaps in the colour saturation and "punchiness" of some of the competition, but compensating for it with clear, well-exposed, natural colours that faithfully reproduce almost any scene.
The G3 builds on all the strengths that made the G2 a leader in its class, adding to it features that many serious photographers and hobbyists alike will find useful. The optical zoom may be slightly limiting, but the quality of Canon glass can't be rivalled. Auto focus speed is not blinding, and the less said about the optical viewfinder the better, but control of the image through Canon's superb LCD implementation is second to none.
For me the G3 represents an ideal compromise between the bulk and power of a digital SLR and higher-priced, higher resolution "prosumer" cameras passing themselves off as SLR alternatives. It doesn't pretend to be something its not. It's a capable, feature-rich camera that uses advanced digital technology and pedigreed optics that makes for an affordable, well-rounded product that can go anywhere, anytime and get any shot you need it to, perfectly.
The Canon PowerShot G3 earns the full five Go Inside Review Lights.
G3: image gallery
I've deliberately avoided dissecting any of my own images in the course of this
review because inevitably my opinions will be biased. However, a digital camera
review is meaningless without some indication of how well it performs, and that
means seeing the results for yourselves.
Below is a series of images taken over the past fortnight. I've tried to capture the range of the camera with a number of different subjects and lighting conditions. All photos were taken with the PowerShot G3 camera at ISO 100 and saved in JPEG format. The photos have only been edited slightly to fit within the size constraints of this publication.
Click on each of the thumbnails for a larger version of the image.
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Copyright © 2003