Canon G1 Review, Phil Askey, September 2000
Review based on a production PowerShot G1, Firmware Version 1.00
A departure from the norm? Not what was expected? A few
sites have claimed the G1 is the "replacement for the Pro 70".
I personally have other thoughts. The G1 is a direct competitor to Nikon's
990 and Olympus's C-3030Z, it has a completely different form-factor to
the Pro 70 (it's more like the S range) and doesn't feature Canon's recently
announced 10x optical zoom stabilised digital camera lens.
The G1 is slightly larger and heavier than the S10/S20
size but still smaller than some of its competition. The G1 appeared sporting
all the features many people had been begging for, a flip-out and twist
LCD, RAW file format, Microdrive compatibility, flash hot-shoe, lots of
manual features.. The question is was Canon a few months too late to capture
the prosumer 3 megapixel market or will the G1 make its mark in digital
camera history?
More Lens Confusion
Remember my Epson PhotoPC 3000Z review? Where I spotted
the lens on the 3000Z was identical (in design) to that on the Sony. Well
guess what? The lens is back. The lens on the G1 appears identical to
that found on the Sony S70 and Epson PhotoPC 3000Z. Close inspection shows
the aperture diaphragm to be the same, the internal structure and make-up
of the lens system to be identical. This of course doesn't mean that the
same glass is used or that it's coated in the same way but it does raise
an interesting question... Epson call it an "Epson Digital Camera
Lens", Sony call it "Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar" and Canon
call it "Canon Zoom Lens".. Which is correct?
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| Epson PhotoPC 3000Z |
Sony DSC-S70 |
Canon PowerShot G1 |
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to
read the Digital Photography
Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand
some of the terms used).
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Photographs of the camera
were taken with a Nikon D1 / Coolpix 990, images which can be viewed
at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom
right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a
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window.
To navigate the review simply
use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section
either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the
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This review is Copyright 2000 Phil
Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any
electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.
For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images)
please contact: Phil Askey.
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