How is the G7 better than the S3IS?

In Canada, Staples sells the S3IS for $446.91 and the G6 goes for $659.95 at Simons in Montreal, that's a very big difference for a few pixels. I am trying to justify buying the G7 but really can't find enough differences between the two models. The way I see it, the S3 should be more interesting except for the physical size. What are your thoughts on that?

Mike.

I've had both, the S3 IS is a great camera. Its fun to use and has good IQ, the movie mode is top notch too. The only complaint I had with the S3 IS was it suffers from CA's and Purple fringing but thats very common with such long zoom range cameras.

The G7 has better IQ, and offers some features that the S3 IS lacks but for the money the S3 IS is a better buy.

The G7 is at top price because it just came out. The enthusiasts are willing to pay the early premium. When the S3 came out a few months ago, it was at the price the G7 is at now. In a few months, they will both be almost at the same price.

The G7 has a much larger sensor (1/1.8 vs 1/2.5). Its picture quality should be better and I understand that it is has less CA/PF.

The S3 is much more flexible, twice the zoom and a flip LCD. It depends on your priorities. If you want the best possible IQ, if you want to use better a flash, the G7 might be a candidate. An entry level DSLR should also be considered.

If you want flexibility, the S3 is a better choice.

Frank

Sensor Size
Digic III
Extra Mega pixels.

There are very few Digcams available which can match the versatility of S3is. G7 might have a slight edge in the IQ but a bit if tweaking/PP its almost same.

S3IS when introduced was listed at 599$ and 3 months down the line, you can get it for 399$. I would say wait for a while if you are interested in buying G7.

I have S3IS and i love it. I have owned it for 5 months now and still never fails to amaze me.

Is there a noticeable difference between the G7 and the S3IS in low light and action photography? Any samples out there to show the difference?

But apart from that, your list is spot on.

Basically, the G7's lens does not have the reach of the S3's, so image quality is better (you always have to trade between reach and IQ, no way around it). The G7 is also slightly smaller, has a newer sensor with more MP (not necessarily a good thing).

On the other hand, it lacks a swivel LCD, a 12X zoom, stereo sound high-quality movies, a pop-up flash, 0 cm macro, among other things.

I'd say if you are THAT intend on image quality, you should get a DSLR. If not, the difference probably isn't worth it. The S3 packs a better package, and what it does it does very well indeed.
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

The smaller size of the G7 may be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.

The ability to use external flash with the G7 could be a huge advantage or not important at all depending on what kinds of pictures you take.

The longer reach of the zoom could be a major factor in favor of the S3 again depending on what kinds of pictures you normally take. On the other hand you can do more cropping of the G7 image due to the 10 megapixels which would negate some of the S3 benefit.

The G7 should have better image quality and better high iso performance but again the difference may not be meaningful for the type of photography you are doing. Can't really tell too much about this without seeing some side-by-side comparisions.

Things in G7 that are better than S3:

1. Larger sensor with Higher resolution, 1/1.8" vs 1/2.5"
2. Better construction.
3. Larger LCD
4. Hot shoe

S3 has something going for it as well. It is a mega-zoom camera and has a 12x zoom vs. 6x zoom. S3 also has a flip-out LCD which can be useful in some shooting situations.

As some have pointed out, G6 is newer and still selling at initial release price. I believe in US, S3 was $499 when first released. G6 is released at $500.

VE2CJW said:

In Canada, Staples sells the S3IS for $446.91 and the G6 goes for
$659.95 at Simons in Montreal, that's a very big difference for a
few pixels. I am trying to justify buying the G7 but really can't
find enough differences between the two models. The way I see it,
the S3 should be more interesting except for the physical size.
What are your thoughts on that?

Mike.

Click to expand...

no text

You've a dedicated forum here

http://www.canons3is.com

regards

Franklin said:

1. Larger sensor with Higher resolution, 1/1.8" vs 1/2.5"
2. Better construction.
3. Larger LCD
4. Hot shoe

S3 has something going for it as well. It is a mega-zoom camera and
has a 12x zoom vs. 6x zoom. S3 also has a flip-out LCD which can be
useful in some shooting situations.

As some have pointed out, G6 is newer and still selling at initial
release price. I believe in US, S3 was $499 when first released. G6
is released at $500.

VE2CJW said:

In Canada, Staples sells the S3IS for $446.91 and the G6 goes for
$659.95 at Simons in Montreal, that's a very big difference for a
few pixels. I am trying to justify buying the G7 but really can't
find enough differences between the two models. The way I see it,
the S3 should be more interesting except for the physical size.
What are your thoughts on that?

Mike.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Since you put it in you original post. When people say size doesn't matter they probably aren't talking about cameras. If you look through the most of the posts on why people hate/love the G7 size is a huge factor. Most who love it don't care that is missing some of the main features of the other G series cameras such as the tilt/swivel LCD or the F2.0 because removing these things helped get the size down. the olf G series coudl not fit in a apocket and the new one can. The flip side to that argument is the old G series was already much smaller than a DSLR but was big enough to have a good grip and feel and they want all their stuff back who cares about making it smaller. Other point in its favor are the Hot shoe and the larger sensor (which has more pixels on it which probably cancels out some of its value from a dynamic range and noise point of view)

The bottom line it the G7 is new and has nothing really competing with it yet, while the S3IS is older (6 months makes a big difference in price) and has 2 other cameras with nearly identical specs competing with it as well the three predicessors to these competing cameras (I'm sure they are still obtainable). If you look at the prices in 6 months I suspect the gap will be closed some. If the G7 sells well then it will still be higher (especially if an S4IS is out).
--
The Dude

bdery said:

But apart from that, your list is spot on.

Basically, the G7's lens does not have the reach of the S3's, so
image quality is better (you always have to trade between reach and
IQ, no way around it). The G7 is also slightly smaller, has a newer
sensor with more MP (not necessarily a good thing).

On the other hand, it lacks a swivel LCD, a 12X zoom, stereo sound
high-quality movies, a pop-up flash, 0 cm macro, among other things.

I'd say if you are THAT intend on image quality, you should get a
DSLR. If not, the difference probably isn't worth it. The S3 packs
a better package, and what it does it does very well indeed.

Click to expand...

I would fully agree with all the above. Although the G7 has a hotshoe, the moment one decides to carry an independent flash unit, the advantages of a compact size disappear.

I would agree that the S3 is by far the best P&S currently offered by Canon, although there may be some slight advantage in IQ in the G7 (although not really demonstrated). But the versatility of the lens and incredible movie move more than compensate for this (if they need to compensate at all). The S3 has all the manual modes of the G7 and, IMHO, some of the controls are far more ergonomic than in the G7. I find that it is much easier changing ISO with the S3 than with the G7.

bdery said:

But apart from that, your list is spot on.

Basically, the G7's lens does not have the reach of the S3's, so
image quality is better (you always have to trade between reach and
IQ, no way around it). The G7 is also slightly smaller, has a newer
sensor with more MP (not necessarily a good thing).

On the other hand, it lacks a swivel LCD, a 12X zoom, stereo sound
high-quality movies, a pop-up flash, 0 cm macro, among other things.

I'd say if you are THAT intend on image quality, you should get a
DSLR. If not, the difference probably isn't worth it. The S3 packs
a better package, and what it does it does very well indeed.
--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

Click to expand...

Agree with everything except 'you always have to trade between reach and IQ, no way around it.'

If you add money to the equation, you can have both reach AND image quality.

VE2CJW said:

In Canada, Staples sells the S3IS for $446.91 and the G6 goes for
$659.95 at Simons in Montreal, that's a very big difference for a
few pixels. I am trying to justify buying the G7 but really can't
find enough differences between the two models. The way I see it,
the S3 should be more interesting except for the physical size.
What are your thoughts on that?

Click to expand...

I bought the S3 last may, sold it last week after taking more than 8000 pictures with it to get a G7 (couldn't justify to keep both camera).

The S3 is better at movies with it's dedicated movie button, you don't have to be in movie mode and you can still take picture while recording with a gap in the movie (wow, third time today I've said that !)

The grip is better on the S3, it does "feel" really good holding it but I find the controls are better on the G7, the rotating dial is really nice.

The EVF on the S3 is really nice, you get all the information of the LCD but the resolution is not that good. On the G7 you get an almost useless Viewfinder but it's sometime better in different lighting situation (bright sunlight). The LCD on the G7 is almost twice the resolution, it's the first P&S that I can focus manually.

The manual focus on the G7 is on a league of it's own with a P&S, the rotating dial does a great job.

The S3 zoom is great but sometimes slow and does suffer from CA.

AA batteries are way better and you can sometime get close to 600 shots with one set on the S3.

I did use the swivel screen often but I also find it annoying t be always flipping the thing. It is also on the small size on the S3, 2" vs to the 2,5" on the G7.

The G7 has probably a higher image quality, better lens and higher MP but the images don't have the smooth Canon quality. Being higher resolution, I'm sure when reduce, you get more details but I haven't really tested the G7 yet.

Last august I went on vacation in Peru, took close to 3500 pictures but I didn't really like to travel with the S3, it's just too big to put in a jacket, I was playing with the flip screen all the time. I had an adapter ring and filter just in case so in the end, it was more like a baby DSLR than a P&S. As a travel companion, I was also missing the simplicity of the AiAF, and smaller size.

After the trip I decided to either get a cheaper camera or sell the S3, I saw the G7 and it was the best both world, Great quality, Small package.

You have to hold a G7 in your hand to really appreciate the build quality, really impressive, it "feels" more like a real camera to me.

p.s Its way too expensive in Montréal but I was tired of trying to order online and didn't want to wait for Simon's, I paid 699 $ but I don't regret it.

--
Stephane

thermal1 said:

Agree with everything except 'you always have to trade between
reach and IQ, no way around it.'

If you add money to the equation, you can have both reach AND image
quality.

Click to expand...

I should have said "for a price". But even then, you don,t get everything. Look at the pro DSLR lenses, the ones with 10X zooms. They'Re never the best lenses in a lineup, nevre even close to the top. You can get an amazing zoom competing with primes, but it's going to be something like 4X, not much more.

Best example : pick Sigma, or Tamron, or any of the "big ones" (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Oly, etc etc) and look at their zoom lenses... 18-200 lenses from all of them (10X and more) with much vignetting, softness, hard to find sweet spots. Now look atht e same brands, also offerig 70-300 lenses (around 4X). Those can compare pretty well with primes, even if they'RE not quit as good.

--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

I have both.

I got the G7 primarily because I wanted the larger movie capability (4GB vs. 1GB), the larger LCD (which is really nice), the optical viewfinder, and the new Digic III, which adds a host of new features.

My opinion is that the S3 is the best deal and the 2nd best digicam in Canon's current line-up. It's really hard to beat. The stereo mic on movies and the instant movie button are exclusive features.

The G7 continues to impress me. The images are really outstanding, especially when I have the 580EX flash attached. To my eye, without external flash, they're slightly better than the S3's. Without flash attached to the hotshoe, it's also much more portable than the S3. The solid construction, layout of controls, and nostalgic look are also very attractive features to me.

Finally, one really important difference to me is the viewfinder. Even though the S3 has an electronic viewfinder that can review images, camera settings, and even histograms, I don't like looking through it. It distorts what I'm shooting too much for my liking. The G7 has an optical viewfinder, which I greatly prefer.

Hope that is helpful to you. I believe you'll be happy with the images of either one.

Dave

KwhyChang said:

I have both.

I got the G7 primarily because I wanted the larger movie capability
(4GB vs. 1GB), the larger LCD (which is really nice), the optical
viewfinder, and the new Digic III, which adds a host of new
features.

Click to expand...

Hello? Anybody there? The 1 GB limitation is per clip and I do not know anybody apart from some weird cinematographers that take continuous clips of 10 min. If you are one of them, well and good, but the 1 GB limitation is really irrelevant because nobody, I mean nobody, makes "takes" longer than 10 min. And you sacrificed stereo sound and fast focus will zooming for this??????

DP13Photo said:

My opinion is that the S3 is the best deal and the 2nd best digicam
in Canon's current line-up. It's really hard to beat. The stereo
mic on movies and the instant movie button are exclusive features.

The G7 continues to impress me. The images are really outstanding,
especially when I have the 580EX flash attached. To my eye, without
external flash, they're slightly better than the S3's. Without
flash attached to the hotshoe, it's also much more portable than
the S3. The solid construction, layout of controls, and nostalgic
look are also very attractive features to me.

Finally, one really important difference to me is the viewfinder.
Even though the S3 has an electronic viewfinder that can review
images, camera settings, and even histograms, I don't like looking
through it. It distorts what I'm shooting too much for my liking.
The G7 has an optical viewfinder, which I greatly prefer.

Click to expand...

You may like looking through it, but only frames 80% of the picture and I would think that this really destroys the whole reason for any finder. But if you can deal with it, fine. And I challenge people here to actually swear that changing ISO is better with the dial than with the ISO key of the S3. One can cycle through all ISO settings in the S3 within a second or so. You cannot do this with the G7.

Having had at least 3 G-series cameras, I think that the G7 is the pits. It is an overpriced pocket camera with many design limitations and I am quite surprised that those who used G cameras in the past would find it remotely in the spirit of the G cameras. Even the silly lens is slower than the one on the G6. Essentially, Canon updated some A-series cameras and slapped the G7 designation to it.