Canon PowerShot G3 Digital Camera (Canon-8120A001)

Canon PowerShot G3

PowerShot G3 Digital Camera (Canon-8120A001) Review, by Alan Stafford January 27, 2003

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• Reviewed by: dntsaycant

  Strengths: None

  Weaknesses: Plenty

  Overall: All the critiques on the downside of this camera are right on target: Bulky; viewfinder obscrued by barrel of camera; blurry pictures; discolored; etc., etc.. And the list goes on. I don't understand how this camera could even be rated anything except UNACCEPTABLE. And, I certainly cannot fathom some of the other posts here complimenting this camera and giving it anything other than a two-star rating.I received this as a gift from my wife. I have a two-megapixel camera, which I've owned, now, for three years. When I compare the same-scene photo shots, taken one right after the other, from both cameras, there is no comparison: my old camera wins hands-down. The photos of my oldie are clear and crisp; those from G-3 are enough of a blur that one notices it immediately. And, in printed form on photo paper, the differences are more than obvious. This G3 is a camera one just cannot trust to take that one precious moment in time and capture it. Period. So, do yourself a favor: forget purchasing this hardware. Or, you'll end up in our shoes: $500 poorer; told by tech support it's YOUR FAULT that they're blurry, you shake; (my wife and my whole family have the "shakes" too, I guess) and, there's nothing wrong with the camera, so don't bother to send it back in for repair. (Ya gotta love it!!!!)Anyway, please spare yourself the pain. You'll be delighted you heeded my warning.Ernie

• Reviewed by: shelby1214

  Strengths: superb battery life. excellent picture quality. outstanding features

  Weaknesses: it is a little bulky

  Overall: I was really leery about switching from a 35mm to a digital camera and after much research I decided on the G3 and have not regretted it yet. I have taken thousands of pictures after purchasing a 512 mb card. I blow up many pictures to 8x10 and they come out flawlessly. I would strongly recommend this product to anyone.

• Reviewed by: kline

  Strengths: Excellent quality hardware, fit and finish. Versatile functions. Swivel LCD viewer is a fantastic asset. Photo speed is good (use CF Ultra II). Battery life is very good.

  Weaknesses: Auto-focus takes some getting used to. Lens partially obscures optical view finder. Battery life indicator not evenly progressive.

  Overall: The Canon G3 is an excellent mid-size digital camera for the price. I have owned one for 7 months as of this writing and have had very satisfying results. I highly recommend it for any photographer that wants an ample range of features, while keeping the base cost to less than $500. It is nicely weighted, feels solid, and is small enough for easy traveling (compared to an SLR). It has versatile functions for a variety of photographic situations, including aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual. Great night photography results are finally in reach without having to have a lot of skill! The 4-megapixel capacity is very adequate and photos are professional at maximum resolution with minimal compression. dpreview.com recommends the G3 over the G5 (see their site for details). The swivel LCD viewer is a fantastic asset, allowing highly creative photography (you can put the camera where your head won't fit!)--I use it extensively and can't imagine having a digital camera without it. I wish they made them on Digital SLRs! The greatest weakness of the camera is the auto-focus mechanism, in that it doesn't always focus on what you're looking at. And with the very small LCD viewer, you may have a blurry photo that looks in focus because of the viewer size (it scales down the actual photo size, of course). I've had a number of photos turn out a bit blurry, because the G3 locked onto a wall rather than the people in front of it. This isn't a "don't buy the camera" problem--you just have to get used to how the camera functions. Next to that, I agree with the other reviews, that another notable weakness is the optical view finder. It is partially obscured by the lens and even more so with the lens adapter attached (for using 58mm filters). But I only use it when battery power is getting low (the LCD is the biggest drain on the battery, but it is easy to use it sparingly by either turning it off with a menu option or closing it to the body). One minor complaint I have is that the battery life indicator is not evenly progressive. When the first power bar disappears, you must use power cautiously (rather than 50% power left, it is more like 20%). But again, battery life is very good. The only odd quirk I've run into was in 2 different photo situations: When photographing a neon sign that was a purple/blue shade, it did not capture properly--no sign of purple, just blue. Weird. But then, I've heard of other cameras distorting many more commonly encountered colors. It's too bad the G5 didn't stand up to the precedent set by the G3 (kind of like the styling of the new BMW 530i, vs. the previous 2003-1997 models)! The G3 is hard to come by new... but if you find one in nice shape used, I'd get it. It really is a "prosumer" model, delivering professional quality for the photo enthusiast consumer.

• Reviewed by: mtech2

  Strengths: Great all around Pro-sumer camera. Great color, a full line of features, very expandable.

  Weaknesses: Viewfinder Problem (as noted previously), Hard to focus in Low Light situations, some features are not enabled with add on flash.

  Overall: I have been very pleased with the purchase of this camera. As far as I'm concerned you can't go wrong. It is a great beginner camera as you can get as technical as you like while still having a very accurate "Auto" feature which will produce a great picture 99% of the time. You can easily add on lenses and filters. With the addition of the exteranl flash it truly is a great all around camera.

• Reviewed by: Astrol

  Strengths: Optics, Controls and features access, Color accuracy, Superb White balance, Battery life, Articulated LCD, Completeness of package, ie: remote and power adapter

  Weaknesses: Infrequent auto focus misses (1 out of 50 or so)

  Overall: Like the others before me, I researched this purchase to death. There were very few available cameras with the necessities I desired. Other models considered included the Pentax Optio 550 the Olympus 750. The G3 easily delivered the most complete package out of all contenders and to my mind remains in the top tier of digi-cams anywhere regardless of price. The thoroughness of the Canon approach combined with the high quality of product delivered is very satisfying to me as a consumer. The combination of the thoughtful remote and the video out makes for an easy presentation on any modern TV set. Unlike many cameras with no video out capability, some of them quite popular, screening and evaluating photos is quite easy and requires no computer. This is essential for travel/vacation photos. Along with the supplied 32MB, I have (2) 256MB cards and will have even more when traveling to the Hudson Valley this fall. Large capacity storage is an absolute necessity for these situations (unless one is also taking a laptop along for downloading...I currently do not but am thinking about it!!!) Image quality is superb and the color accuracy (Canon greyscale) is difficult to outperform. I know...I have tried...and failed. Were it not for the increased CA with the G5 I probably would have gone that route. But the trade-off in lens speed required to correct the problem made the G3 a true no-brainer. Color me happy.