Will the G1 make a super P& S camera?

My wife has been using her beloved Canon G3 for several years now. She photographs maps and documents using live view and the swivelling screen.

For smaller documents it's fine, but for bigger ones the resolution (4mp) isn't good enough to make out small faint writing and details.

I've offered her the use of my Oly E3 (which I personally am very happy with) but she doesn't like its size and weight. In any case, she would prefer a camera of her own.

I am looking at the G1 wondering if it will work for her. She doesn't like adjusting settings, prefering to use it in Auto while concentrating on the subject.

Higher resolution P & S cameras with small sensors seem to lose at least as much in noise and noise reduction as they gain in pixels.

Is the G1 the solution?

My main reservation is the relatively slow kit lens.

I'd love to hear opinions of owners.
--
Rens

as one would have to with the E-3, in other words if the ONLY thing she didn't like about the E-3 is the size/weight then she'll love the G1.

Focusing using the live view and zoom for manual fine tuning is wonderful on the G1 and I'd think it would work really well for her.

I've got both an E-3 and a G1 and I like them both quite a lot.

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

In fact she's not keen on fiddling with controls, wants to use Auto and forget the camera.

It should be fine, I'll check it out tomorrow. Our local shop is offering a surprisingly good deal on the G1 right now.

Thanks for the response,

--
Rens

You can put the G1 in full automatic and it will take better images than most point and shoot cameras under even worst conditions.

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida

Ive just tried mine on full Ai, perfect! Close-up (ish). ISO 800, sharp, no noise, nice jpeg files and no post needed. Here you go -



Matt

1) What are those things?

2) May have been even better with -1/3eV?

bcardellini said:

Re: She should have to do little fiddling!

Click to expand...

She's happy to fiddle in photoshop, I think it will work fine.

Jacobs are offering the G1 plus 14-45 for £450 (including £50 cashback), which seems pretty good.

Though two days ago they were offering it for £400.

--
Rens

Rens said:

bcardellini said:

Re: She should have to do little fiddling!

Click to expand...

She's happy to fiddle in photoshop, I think it will work fine.

Jacobs are offering the G1 plus 14-45 for £450 (including £50
cashback), which seems pretty good.

Though two days ago they were offering it for £400.

--
Rens

Click to expand...

Its a real shame you didn't see the post warning people that the Jacobs deal was ending, mind you the twin lens kit deal is still the same price, £599.

Mark.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/30657645@N03/

I just got mine at Jacobs on Tuesday. It was £399 including the cashback offer and they did the long lens for half price- so £550 all up for the two lens kit once I claim the cashback. So if you can still get the 2 lens kit for less than £600 and do the cashback then you're no worse off.

I've only been using it in point and shoot mode (IA) so far and it seems to work well. Starts up fast and you could use it like that without even opening the manual.

Rens said:

For smaller documents it's fine, but for bigger ones the resolution
(4mp) isn't good enough to make out small faint writing and details.

Is the G1 the solution?

My main reservation is the relatively slow kit lens.

Click to expand...

I'm not an owner, but I would suggest that you might need relatively slow apertures to achieve sharp images over an entire large document -- since the corners of the document are further from the sensor than the center, they might exceed the depth of field at fast apertures.

Other than that, I think the G1 ought to work fine. Set it on aperture priority and let it do it's thing automatically otherwise.
--
-Jay

http://flickr.com/photos/48504267@N00/

My G1 arrived yesterday and I had to choose between studying the manual and trying a few photos. I opted for the photos, and it is a little scary how well this thing does just straight out of the box. I am sure it will beat your wife's present camera for both image quality and ease of use.

My only reservation would be corner sharpness on something like a flat map. It probably won't match the quality of a true macro lens, but I'm very confident it will be a step up for your wife.

--
Gato

Alt Portraits:
http://www.silvermirage.com/altpix01.html

So far she loves it.
--
Rens

bcardellini said:

1) What are those things?

2) May have been even better with -1/3eV?
--

Click to expand...

Prob right - but it was really late and was just messing with the jpegs, usually shoot raw.

BTW they are table decorations, bloody odd things that my wife insists on putting out and I keep removing.

G1 is really good though, Im more impressed with this camera than I ever was with my 5D.

sure, just put it in 1A or P and go to it.
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Dave Lewis