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History of Canon's S & G series cameras

Started Dec 30, 2017 | Discussions
OP GeraldW Veteran Member • Posts: 8,872
Re: A series too

Henry,

No, that post was strictly the G & S series because of the way they shared sensors and processors and so had equivalent models.  G6 and S70 for example.

As far as the A series goes, I have three of those.  Two A710IS and one A720IS.  One A710IS was bought new for my wife, the other two were bought used at very low prices.  The used A710IS lives in my car 24/7.

Back in 2008 we went 6to the Galapagos Islands.  On one trip ashore , my wife brought her A710IS and I took my G7.  We took shots of the same animals, and when we got home, I couldn't tell her shots from mine without checking the metadata.

In spite of the faulty design of the OVF, I really liked the G7, and am now looking for a good used one.  The OVF on the A710IS/A720IS is properly designed.

-- hide signature --

Jerry

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Canon EOS M5 Canon PowerShot S95 Canon PowerShot G15 Canon G7 X II Sony RX10 IV +1 more
Jon_T
Jon_T Veteran Member • Posts: 6,393
Re: History of Canon's S & G series cameras
1

Thanks for posting, interesting compilation. PowerShot users interested can see the DPR Canon Compact Timeline HERE.

AFAIK, (i.e., HERE) the "SD" moniker started with the SD100 as it was the first Canon camera to use the SD Media Card; the "SD" in camera names limited to the USA cameras. Similar to the PowerShot "A" series for cameras using the "AA" batteries.

The S110 still my "go-to" camera when I want to travel light-as-possible. Can be comfortably carried in normal shirt pocket, and has a very good 24-120mm equiv. focal range.

Dreading the day the S110 dies as there's really no true replacement as to size, weight, and 24-120mm zoom range.

The S110's f/2.0 at 24mm comes in handy for lower-light indoor shots.

GeraldW wrote:

... In spite of the faulty design of the OVF, I really liked the G7, and am now looking for a good used one ...

May also want to look for a G9 (DPR Review HERE) that's in good condition. Basically the same camera, G9 has the newer 1/1.7 12 MP sensor and retained RAW that was omitted with the G7 release.

Cheers,
Jon

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 Canon PowerShot G15 Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Canon PowerShot S110 Leica C +16 more
panamforeman
panamforeman Senior Member • Posts: 1,296
Re: History of Canon's S & G series cameras

Jon_T wrote:

Thanks for posting, interesting compilation. PowerShot users interested can see the DPR Canon Compact Timeline HERE.

AFAIK, (i.e., HERE) the "SD" moniker started with the SD100 as it was the first Canon camera to use the SD Media Card; the "SD" in camera names limited to the USA cameras. Similar to the PowerShot "A" series for cameras using the "AA" batteries.

The S110 still my "go-to" camera when I want to travel light-as-possible. Can be comfortably carried in normal shirt pocket, and has a very good 24-120mm equiv. focal range.

Dreading the day the S110 dies as there's really no true replacement as to size, weight, and 24-120mm zoom range.

The S110's f/2.0 at 24mm comes in handy for lower-light indoor shots.

I had two Powershot G9s. They were very good cameras except for one thing: Every time you turned the camera off and as the lens was pulled back into the body it pulled dust in with it. Eventually the dust buildup was fatal. Rather than pay Canon what they wanted, which was excessive, to send it in and clean it I bought a new one on E-Bay. Eventually the same thing happened to the 2nd camera as well. (I later learned this was a big problem with the G9) By that time the G12 was out, so I bought one. I still have the G12 and have not had a problem.  But, of course I don't use it much anymore.

My powershots of choice these days is the G1X and the S110. And the EOS m2.

GeraldW wrote:

... In spite of the faulty design of the OVF, I really liked the G7, and am now looking for a good used one ...

May also want to look for a G9 (DPR Review HERE) that's in good condition. Basically the same camera, G9 has the newer 1/1.7 12 MP sensor and retained RAW that was omitted with the G7 release.

Cheers,
Jon

 panamforeman's gear list:panamforeman's gear list
Canon PowerShot S120 Panasonic ZS100 Canon Pixma Pro9000
Tog-meister Regular Member • Posts: 403
Re: History of Canon's S & G series cameras

GeraldW wrote:

I have been interested in this for some time, and thought perhaps some other long term Canon compact owners might find it interesting.

In looking up this data (it's all here on DPReview under Cameras>Canon) I found a few surprises. The first being that the two series didn't start with the larger G series; but 1999 with the S10. As most of you will probably already realize, Most of the G & S series are in pairs using the same sensor and processor in a smaller and larger package. So, in general, each new model of a G is accompanied by an equivalent S series model. There are, however, a few exceptions and there are more S series (14) than there are G's (12) and 3 SD's that filled in for the missing S's from 2006-2008.

In 2001, the G2 was issued at 3 MP; but there were two S's, the S30 & S40 at 3 & 4 MP respectively. Then in 2002 the 4 MP G3 came out along with the 4 MP S45.

In 2003 the G5 and S50 came out; but in 2004 we had the 7 MP G6 and two S's, the 7 MP S70, and the S60 at 5 MP. The S60 & S70 having the first lenses to extend to 28 mm. I really liked the color on the S70 and would like to have another for my "nostalgia" collection.

In 2005, there was no new G series camera; but Canon brought out the S80, the first S to use SD cards. It was no better than the S70, and had an unfortunately placed mode dial on the end of the camera that got reset every time I took it out of my pocket or pulled it out of its case. This also marked the end of the sliding "clamshell" front cover.

In 2006, we got the G7, the first G with IS. There was no S. Instead Canon started something new, a series of SD cameras that used the same sensor and processor as the G of that year. So in 2006 we had the SD900 Ti, in 2007 we had the G9 and SD950IS the first SD with a 1/1.7" sensor and IS; and in 2008, the G10 with 14.7 MP and the equivalent SD990IS. I thought the SD950IS was a particularly nice camera with its curvy (almost voluptuous) titanium shell.

Then in 2009, the G11 and the S90 with low noise sensors and processing. In 2010 the G12 got a front wheel, and the S95 got some slightly rearranged control locations; but they were basically the G11 and S90. The G15 came out in 2012, along with the S100, and a little later the S110. The last of the series of G & S with 1/1.7" sensors was the G16 and S120.

I still have my S90, mainly for nostalgia and its CCD sensor and great color; but my G15 was replaced by the G7X II with a 1" sensor.

I see that you have a G12. How is the image stabilization on it. How slow can you shoot?

Tog-meister Regular Member • Posts: 403
Re: History of Canon's S & G series cameras

GeraldW wrote:

Thanks for the nice reply. My first digital was a Kodak DX-6440 (4 MP). It got me started; but didn't last long and was replaced by the Canon G5. Noisy sensor; but good at low ISO and had really good resistance to highlight clipping. After that I moved up to the 20D. After walking around Rome all day with the 20D and a Sigma 18-125 lens, I was hot and tired, and my neck hurt. I was about to see if it could swim the Tiber. For most of the rest of our trip (a 14 day cruise) I used my 70D. After we got back home, I bought a Canon Pro 1 as a travel replacement for the 20D and just kept the 20D for stuff near home or on car trips. The Pro 1 was half the weight of the 20D and 18-125.

Speaking of the Pro 1, I've always considered it as a plussed up member of the G series. The sensor on the Pro 1 was an 8 MP 2/3" by Sony. ISO settings were way off - by about a full stop, so ISO 50 was actually 100, 200 = 400, and the noisy 400 = 800. With the fast f/2.4-3.5 lens it did fairly well in low light, and the noise was fine grained, so even an ISO 400 shot printed pretty well at 8" x 10". I'm about to get my Pro 1 collection of camera and accessories back from my daughter.

I've been waiting since the Pro 1 was discontinued in 2006 for Canon to produce the Pro 2. It has never come!

Wouldn't it be nice if the components were modular and you could just drop in a new AF module, new EVF, new sensor as you liked for your favorite old cameras? Those Pro1s were sexy pieces of machinery!

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