G3 Must Haves??

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them, please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a hardcover case for the camera?

That really depends on what you want, and what type of photography you plan on using this for. The 2 things that I feel everyone MUST have are:

1 - an extra battery
2 - a good case (mine's soft)
3 - a good sized compact flash card ( mine's a 512mb)

I have a couple wants , which are a lensmate adapter with a UV filter to protect the lens, and possibly a wide angle lens at some point in the future.

CHIA

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

A good external flash... I have the 420EX. The Canon wide angle and telephoto lenses along with Lensmate adapters. Skylight and polarizer. Extra battery. Preferably a minimum of 256 mb CF card. Wrist strap (Prostrap is good). Lenspen or some other lens cleaning system. And a great printer.

CHIA said:

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Diana
http://www.pbase.com/dlundin

The first accessory I would add is an external flash. The second a good tripod and 3rd, monopod.

For those tack sharp pictures you cannot beat a good, solid, tripod. The monopod is extremely helpful in those places where you cannot or are not allowed to take a tripod ( crowds, museum etc).

Dale53

Jorge

I got my G3 a week ago - stand by to be very pleased. As well as a spare battery, case and 256 Mb flash card, I got an external charger so that I don't have to charge the batteries in the camera.

I have ordered the Lens adapter so I can use filters (for protection and effects) and maybe get the Canon wide and/or tele converters at some time.

I got a LowePro soft case, very impressive.

Greg

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

mine:

1. first of all !!! - http://www . lensmateonline.com/g3.html
52mm one or more adapter (also 52 mm UV filter)

2. extra battery - http://www.batterybarn.com/dbp511.htm
VidPro Co AC-511

3. at least 512 mb CF card - http://www.powerinnumbers.com.au
mine is RiData

4. last but not least Canon Speedlite 420EX, can't imagine taking photos without it! plus omnibounce (Sto-fen) or ProMax (Lumiquest)

5. For: g3 with 52mmm adapter, 420ex, two CFcards bag like mine is OK
Lowepro D-Res AW50

6. Some people may not agree with but another one on list is

BREEZEBROWSER

Paul

1. Spare Battery and at least a 512mb cf card.

2. Good monopod or tripod. I have a Bogen monopod with retractable legs. It is great for a camera of this size. I very rarely use my tripod anymore.

3. A good bag. Get one big enough the first time. It will save spending money on two or more bags. If you end up with a flash and converter lenses and adapters and filters you will need a bag of fairly good size. I have a tamrac epedition 3. It is a backpackers bag which can also be handheld. It is very well made and offers great protection for all your equipment.

4. The canon or lensmate 58mm adapter. I reccomend 58 mm because that is the size that the converter lenses come in and it will avoid the use of step rings. (a pain in the rear) And there is not a substantial difference in cost between 52mm and 58mm filters. I personally have a canon adapter for each of my conversion lens. It saves haveing to screw on each time I want to use one.

5. A good UV filter to attach to your adapter for lens protection. I reccomend the Hoya super Hmc Pro 1 with a lens cap to fit over it. I use a canon 58mm with the spring loaded snaps.
6. The canon converter lenses are a nice addition but not neccesary right away.

discopolana said:

mine:

1. first of all !!! - http://www . lensmateonline.com/g3.html
52mm one or more adapter (also 52 mm UV filter)

2. extra battery - http://www.batterybarn.com/dbp511.htm
VidPro Co AC-511

3. at least 512 mb CF card - http://www.powerinnumbers.com.au
mine is RiData

4. last but not least Canon Speedlite 420EX, can't imagine taking
photos without it! plus omnibounce (Sto-fen) or ProMax (Lumiquest)

5. For: g3 with 52mmm adapter, 420ex, two CFcards bag like mine is OK
Lowepro D-Res AW50

6. Some people may not agree with but another one on list is

BREEZEBROWSER

Paul

Click to expand...

The two most important things in my opinion are:

1) Memory (lots of compact flash or some way to transfer the images to another device on the road)

2) Lens adapter with UV filter (for lens protection) and a Polarizing filter (essential for outdoor & landscape photography)

Other nice things to have (not in any particular order of importance)

Camera case for G3 (the Lowepro TLZ mini is small and fits the G3 perfectly)

External Flash (the 420ex works superbly with the G3)

Extra battery and external charger

RAW conversion software (breeze browser, Yarcplus, Adobe RAW)

Close-up lens set (for macro photography)

Tripod

Bob

--
http://www.pbase.com/olybob/

As has been said, how you plan to use it will affect what you really need. For me, the most important extras have been:

1) Tripod. Already had one, but in exploring all the manual features of the G3, I'm using it way more than I did with my last camera.

2) Camera bag big enough to tote everything that came with the camera. And any other extras you intend to buy.

3) USB card reader. I wanted an easy way to take pictures to the lab for printing, but there's no way to write files to the CF card through the camera. My only other option was to burn them to CD, but that's time and resource consuming. A reader can be bought for as little as $14. Maybe less if you get a rebate.

4) External flash. Preferable a Speedlite 420EX or 550EX. If you take any indoor pictures, this is by far the single biggest way you can improve your picture quality. I love my 420EX.

Lots of people say you should have an extra battery, but in 3 years of digital camera usage, I've only had my battery die while shooting once. And that was because I forgot to charge it up that morning. I suppose this really depends on how many pictures you tend to take in a day, and in what sort of situations. Also, maybe people who have been in digital photography longer are used to older cameras that gobbled batteries like candy. The G3 is, in comparison, a very miserly power user.

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

I will admit that the EX420 does an excellent job of lighting when coupled to a G2 or G3. I personally couldn't handle the double flash and the length time delay between the pre-flash and the exposure flash. I never got the feel of what I had snapped. It seemed like the exposure flash went off when my finger was coming up from the shutter. I have opted for a Vivitar 285 that triggers at the bottom of the shutter pressing. Any suggestions on use of the EX420 would be appreciated.
Jim

discopolana said:

mine:

1. first of all !!! - http://www . lensmateonline.com/g3.html
52mm one or more adapter (also 52 mm UV filter)

2. extra battery - http://www.batterybarn.com/dbp511.htm
VidPro Co AC-511

3. at least 512 mb CF card - http://www.powerinnumbers.com.au
mine is RiData

4. last but not least Canon Speedlite 420EX, can't imagine taking
photos without it! plus omnibounce (Sto-fen) or ProMax (Lumiquest)

5. For: g3 with 52mmm adapter, 420ex, two CFcards bag like mine is OK
Lowepro D-Res AW50

6. Some people may not agree with but another one on list is

BREEZEBROWSER

Paul

Click to expand...

--
Jim Fels

I agree with ShootIt, the G3 battery lasts so long I have yet to see a need for a second battery.

And certainly buy a big enough bag the first time....I ended up buying two...because i bought too small the first time!!!!

the 420EX rocks!

ShootIt said:

1) Tripod. Already had one, but in exploring all the manual
features of the G3, I'm using it way more than I did with my last
camera.

2) Camera bag big enough to tote everything that came with the
camera. And any other extras you intend to buy.

3) USB card reader. I wanted an easy way to take pictures to the
lab for printing, but there's no way to write files to the CF card
through the camera. My only other option was to burn them to CD,
but that's time and resource consuming. A reader can be bought for
as little as $14. Maybe less if you get a rebate.

4) External flash. Preferable a Speedlite 420EX or 550EX. If you
take any indoor pictures, this is by far the single biggest way you
can improve your picture quality. I love my 420EX.

Lots of people say you should have an extra battery, but in 3 years
of digital camera usage, I've only had my battery die while
shooting once. And that was because I forgot to charge it up that
morning. I suppose this really depends on how many pictures you
tend to take in a day, and in what sort of situations. Also, maybe
people who have been in digital photography longer are used to
older cameras that gobbled batteries like candy. The G3 is, in
comparison, a very miserly power user.

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

What are the benefits of using Canon EX series flash over non-Canon brand such as Sigma, Vivitar? I think Canon flashes are too pricey, so unless there are obvious benefits I would go with a cheaper brand. Any suggestion?

Sorry Rick, couldn't help but notice........

So how many legs does your monopod have?

Rick Beck wrote:
I have a Bogen monopod with retractable legs.

Yep, 12 days in and I have been looking at bigger bags already. Doh!!

rburbank said:

And certainly buy a big enough bag the first time....I ended up
buying two...because i bought too small the first time!!!!

the 420EX rocks!

ShootIt said:

1) Tripod. Already had one, but in exploring all the manual
features of the G3, I'm using it way more than I did with my last
camera.

2) Camera bag big enough to tote everything that came with the
camera. And any other extras you intend to buy.

3) USB card reader. I wanted an easy way to take pictures to the
lab for printing, but there's no way to write files to the CF card
through the camera. My only other option was to burn them to CD,
but that's time and resource consuming. A reader can be bought for
as little as $14. Maybe less if you get a rebate.

4) External flash. Preferable a Speedlite 420EX or 550EX. If you
take any indoor pictures, this is by far the single biggest way you
can improve your picture quality. I love my 420EX.

Lots of people say you should have an extra battery, but in 3 years
of digital camera usage, I've only had my battery die while
shooting once. And that was because I forgot to charge it up that
morning. I suppose this really depends on how many pictures you
tend to take in a day, and in what sort of situations. Also, maybe
people who have been in digital photography longer are used to
older cameras that gobbled batteries like candy. The G3 is, in
comparison, a very miserly power user.

Jorge Saavedra said:

i'm going to be a new owner of the G3 sometime this week. (i
ordered it today online, i should receive it by Wednesday). well i
wanted to know what are some things that i should get. (regardless
of what i'm going to use it for) if you can't list all of them,
please direct me to a site which does. also does anybody have a
hardcover case for the camera?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...