Top of camera controls

Top of the camera are a variety of controls, at the top right is the new control dial which can roll and also be pressed to change / confirm settings. In use I found it to be frustrating, especially for selecting shutter speeds as you have to turn it relatively slowly otherwise it can't keep up.

Below this we can see the shutter release button surrounded by the zoom controller which is a non -proportional type. There are 12 focal length positions between wide angle and telephoto. To the left of the shutter release / zoom controller is the drive button which allows you to select between continuous and self-timer drive modes. At the bottom right is the exposure mode dial.

Note the unique new power / mode dial, this is spring loaded, simply twist to the left for record mode or to the right for play mode. Press the 'Off' button to power the camera off. Note that the G5 is a shooting priority camera, this means that in play mode you can simply half-press the shutter release to return to record mode.

Power Switch

Record (shooting) mode

Immediately switches to shooting mode, lens extends (if it is not already) zoom resets to the last used position and camera prepares to shoot (depending on exposure mode - below).
Power Off

Switches the camera off, lens retracts. If there are any images still in the cameras buffer it will continue to write them out to the storage card before fully powering off.
Play mode

Displays the last image shot (or the last image on the storage card). All controls revert to their play mode function. Remote control is automatically enabled. Half-press the shutter release to return to record mode.

Zoom Controller (Record mode)

Zoom telephoto

Zooms the camera's lens towards the telephoto setting, maximum optical zoom of 140 mm (35 mm equiv.). A full zoom from wide to tele takes 2.7 seconds. If the camera is already at maximum optical zoom and digital zoom is enabled the camera will apply increasing levels of digital zoom.
Zoom wide angle

Zooms the camera's lens towards the wide angle setting of 35 mm (35 mm equiv.). A full zoom from tele to wide takes 2.7 seconds.

Zoom Controller (Play mode)

Image magnify (in)

Magnifies the displayed image, there are ten steps up to 10x magnification. Magnifying is very fast, if you hold the zoom controller in the tele position you can be at 10x zoom in around one second.
Image magnify (out)

If the displayed image is magnified pressing the zoom lever towards wide zooms out of the magnification.

Drive / Self-timer Mode Button

Drive Mode

Selects between different exposure drive modes:

 • Single shot
 • Continuous (either normal or high speed - menu option)
 • Self-timer (with remote control enabled)

Exposure Modes

Automatic Exposure

Camera has complete control over exposure, point-and-shoot operation, the majority of manual features are disabled, you can't alter exposure compensation, ISO or use RAW mode. You can set flash mode, macro and image size / quality.
P

Program Auto Exposure

Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, can set the ISO, exposure compensation, use AE lock, bracketing etc. The G5 has program shift, this is activated by pressing the * (AE/FE-Lock) button, you can then select from various equivalent exposures by rolling the command dial.

Example (pressing * metered 1/50 sec, F4.0):

 • 1/30 sec, F4.5 (roll left)
 • 1/40 sec, F4.0 (roll left)
 • 1/50 sec, F4.0 (metered)
 • 1/60 sec, F3.5 (roll right)
 • 1/80 sec, F3.2 (roll right)
Tv

Shutter Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will attempt to select the best aperture for a proper exposure. Shutter speed is displayed on the LCD, press the left / right arrows to select different shutter speeds. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the aperture, the LCD view changes to reflect the look of the final image. If the exposure is outside the cameras exposure range the aperture will appear in RED.

Available shutter speeds: * Note: Aperture / shutter speed rule
1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1250, 1/1000, 1/800, 1/640, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40, 1/30, 1/25, 1/20, 1/15, 1/13, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.3, 1.6, 2, 2.5, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15 secs

(Shutter speeds of 1.3 seconds or slower will enable the cameras noise reduction system).
Av

Aperture Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will attempt to select the best shutter speed for a proper exposure. Aperture is displayed on the LCD, roll the command dial to select different apertures. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the shutter speed, the LCD view changes to reflect the look of the final image. If the exposure is outside the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will appear in RED.

Available apertures: * Note: Aperture / shutter speed rule

Wide: F2.0, F2.2, F2.5, F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0
Telephoto: F3.0, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0
M

Full Manual Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above. Roll command dial to change shutter speed, click command dial to switch to aperture. When you half-press the shutter release the camera meters the scene and displays a numeric indication of how far over or underexposed the image is (compared to its metering). This value is in EV's (exposure value / stops), if the exposure is under or overexposed by more than 2 EV's the camera simply displays -2 or +2 in red.

* Aperture / Shutter speed rule

Because of mechanical limitations inside the camera body the G5 has to compromise on the availability of shutter speeds at certain apertures.

Zoom position Aperture Max. Shutter Speed
Wide angle F2.0 - F3.5 up to 1/1250 sec
F4.0 - F8.0 up to 1/2000 sec
Telephoto F3.0 - F5.0 up to 1/1250 sec
F5.6 - F8.0 up to 1/2000 sec

Scene Exposure Modes

The exposure modes described below are designed to be easy to use camera presets. Macro focus, image adjustments (ISO, contrast, sharpening, saturation), AEB, AE Lock, FE Lock, metering and RAW mode can not be selected in these modes.

Portrait

In this mode apertures are kept as large as possible (small F number) to produce a blurred background to help define the subject in a portrait shot. Note: Macro focus is available in Portrait mode.
Landscape

In this mode the flash is by default disabled (although you can enable it) and focus is locked at infinity. Apertures are kept as small as possible (large F numbers) to produce the largest possible depth of field. Macro focus is also disabled. Designed to be used for taking landscape shots.
Night Scene

Known on other cameras as "Slow Sync Flash". Put simply in this mode slow shutter speeds are used to capture a dimly lit background (buildings at night for example) and the flash fires briefly to illuminate a foreground subject. Note you can now select between 1st or 2nd curtain sync.

Other Exposure Modes

Stitch Assist

Designed to make shooting of panorama / stitch shots easier. You have a choice of five different stitch modes: left-right, right-left, down-up, up-down or 4-frames in a square. The display changes to show previously shot frames in the sequence to help alignment of each frame. Exposure and White Balance are locked to the first frame.
Movie Mode

Record short movie clips:

 • 320 x 240, 15 fps, max 3 minutes (including audio)
 • 160 x 120, 15 fps, max 3 minutes (including audio)