DSC-V1 or Canon G5? Totally confused :(

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5 and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

I have owned two and returned two G-5 and I still have the V-1. To me the V-1 give more natural colors the G-5 is cartoonish. And talk about purple fringing the 5 wins hands down. What I do like about the G-5 is the LCD screen it is fantastic even in bright daylight it works great. But it has more weaknesses than the V-1 another one is lousy low light focus. I was hopeing the G-5 would have offered more than the G-3 but it only 1MP more and black. I do like hte black.

I have the Sony f707 and v1 myself. If size and weight are not issues then look at the 717 or to confuse you more, think about waiting a couple of months for the 717 replacement which should be dynamite, rumored to be 8 megapix.

I'm very happy with the v1 because of it's features, especially the wt. and size.

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V1 and Canon Elan7
http://www.pbase.com/lilredspy/galleries

What does the F717 (or its successor) have that the V1 does not (apart from megapixels)? I like the size of the V1 however would go for a bigger camera if it gave me something more that is really worthwhile.
photoniq

Gerrit Pang said:

I'm very happy with the v1 because of it's features, especially the
wt. and size.

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

It's the big older brother to v1. Nice big zoom also a Zeiss. Go to dpreview and check out the specs between v1 and f717. It's a very good camera, just too big and heavy for me to carry while travelling, although many people don't complain, so it's personal. Once the dust settles after the excitement and hysteria that you will see erupt in a few months when the 717 successor is introduced, the f8?8, I will probably get that too.

photoniq said:

Gerrit Pang said:

I'm very happy with the v1 because of it's features, especially the
wt. and size.

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Natalia W. said:

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V1 and Canon Elan7
http://www.pbase.com/lilredspy/galleries

Click to expand...

--I have had a V1 for a month and i am absolutely delighted with it. I sold my Nikon 5700 because of its slow performance and disasterous low light focussing. The V1 which is only a little more than half the price is so much better at both and returns stunningly sharp images even in low light because of the laser focussing. I have no experience with the canon so I cant comment , but holding a G3 I was struck by how 'plasticky' it felt. If you buy a V1 get some 256 Memory stick PRO cards which are dropping in price (less than £100 in the UK)
Their performance is MUCH faster than the standard memory stick.
Ian Macilwain

Ian Macilwain said:

Natalia W. said:

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V1 and Canon Elan7
http://www.pbase.com/lilredspy/galleries

Click to expand...

--I have had a V1 for a month and i am absolutely delighted with
it. I sold my Nikon 5700 because of its slow performance and
disasterous low light focussing. The V1 which is only a little more
than half the price is so much better at both and returns
stunningly sharp images even in low light because of the laser
focussing. I have no experience with the canon so I cant comment ,
but holding a G3 I was struck by how 'plasticky' it felt. If you
buy a V1 get some 256 Memory stick PRO cards which are dropping in
price (less than £100 in the UK)
Their performance is MUCH faster than the standard memory stick.
Ian Macilwain

Click to expand...

Cheers for the advice Ian. Is it worth buying it in the US now days? http://www.unbeatable.co.uk have it pretty cheap - i think at MOST I would save 100 quid (if that) in the US.

I had the Canon Elph S400 for a couple of weeks and returned it because of the soft focus when it did focus, and I didn't think the quality was as good as the Olympus Stylus 300 and 400 I had for awhile. I know there are people who have stated to check out the F717 which is a very good camera, but I gather from your post that you like the idea of a smaller camera, which I do too. The V1 was larger than what I wanted to begin with, but because of the quality of the pictures, the ability to focus everytime in any light source, and the size is not that bad, I ended up buying it. Since then I have never looked back. I have had a lot of cameras over the years, and by far the V1 has been the best camera I have ever owned including all my 35mm film cameras. I just couldn't be happier. It has all the manual controls necessary to learn photography and take it to any level you wish. The auto feature allows you to use the camera as an excellent point & shoot camera. The built in flash is probably more powerful than any of the cameras in it's class. So indoor pictures are great. The G Series cameras are considered to be good cameras, but not to my liking. Olympus cameras have been my favorite digital cameras until the V1. If size didn't matter to me, then I would of considered the F717 because from what I see, the picture quality is also great on that camera. Have fun shopping, but my choice is the V1, a camera that gives me photographic joy everyday.

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!

Gene - thanks for that info! So does the 717 produced noticably better pictures than the V1?
Regards,
photoniq.

Gene Miller said:

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!

Click to expand...

I don't think so. In fact some reviewers have suggested that the picture quality is slightly better on the V1, but not according to the owners of the F717. The V1 is a slightly more advance camera than the F717, even though the F717 may have a few more features than the V1. I have not really checked out the F717 since it is not a camera I would buy because of the size. I didn't want to get rid of my S400 even though I thought the picture quality was lacking and the focusing was terrible, but I loved the size of the Elph. But like I said, for me, the V1 is perfect. A great compromise between size, functionality, and quality. For me it is the best camera on the market at this time. But since we all have different needs, different taste, and different biases, it is hard to recommend a camera that will work for everybody. I can only tell you that for me it is a great camera. Everyday the V1 keeps amazing me. A truly a delightful photographic instrument that I am really enjoying. A fun, fun camera to use with excellent results. Take care and enjoy shopping.

photoniq said:

Gene Miller said:

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
C700uz, E100rs, V1, i950
http://www.pbase.com/gene
Life is just a stage and we all have enough pictures to proof it!

Gerrit Pang said:

photoniq said:

Gerrit Pang said:

I'm very happy with the v1 because of it's features, especially the
wt. and size.

photoniq said:

Folks - let me start by saying I am NOT a troll!

For the last few years I have been using a Canon Ixus (Elph in the
US I think) digital camera. It is really convenient because of its
small size. However, after seeing some GREAT landscape pictures
and portraits that a colleague has taken I have been bitten by the
bug. I want to take photography up as a hobby and am looking for a
digital camera. My budget is up to about 700 or 800 dollars.

Looking at the cameras out there I boiled it down to the Canon G5
and the Sony DSC-V1. Are these good choices or are there other
cameras I should look at? Out of the G5 and the DSC-V1 the Sony
seems to be smaller and cheaper with virtually all of the same
features (important featues I am likely to use that is). Would you
folks disagree or agree? If you disagree could you tell me the
main differentiators? Will both of these cameras allow me to learn
how to take great pictures with manual settings?

Hope someone can help - can't WAIT to get snapping.

Photoniq.

p.s. cross posting this to the Canon forum too

Click to expand...

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I to have the 717 but I am finding I enjoy the V-1 much more. I also like the colors and the it seems that it gives you a more brilliant picture. But I can't wait to see the 717 replacement I have a feeling you haven't seen nothing yet!!