The PowerShot G5 was announced at the beginning of June 2003, it is the five megapixel 'companion' (it doesn't directly replace) to the four megapixel PowerShot G3 (which wasn't called the 'G4' because of the similarity between the word '4' and 'die' in certain Asian languages). The difference between the G3 and G5 are limited to:

  Canon PowerShot G5 Canon PowerShot G3
Body Black Silver
Sensor 1/1.8" 5.24 megapixel 1/1.8" 4.13 megapixel
Effective pixels 5.0 million 4.0 million
Image sizes • 2592 x 1944
• 1600 x 1200
• 1024 x 768
• 640 x 480
 • 2272 x 1704
• 1600 x 1200
• 1024 x 768
• 640 x 480
Continuous • High speed: 2.0 fps, max 8
• Standard: 1.5 fps, max 11
  * (Large/Fine, LCD Off)		 • High speed: 2.5 fps, max 15
• Standard: 1.5 fps, max 14
  * (Large/Fine, LCD Off)

How much bigger?

Resolution upgrades and if they make sense:

  • Two to Three megapixels - 1,225,728 more pixels - 64% increase (Average)
  • Two to Four megapixels - 1,951,488 more pixels - 102% increase (Good)
  • Two to Five megapixels - 3,118,848 more pixels - 162% increase (Very good)
     
  • Three to Four megapixels - 725,760 more pixels - 23% increase (Not worth it)
  • Three to Five megapixels - 1,893,120 more pixels - 60% increase (Average)
     
  • Four to Five megapixels - 1,167,360 more pixels - 30% increase (Not worth it)

Thus if all you're interested in is increasing resolution (not necessarily for features or other image quality improvements) you must first analyze just how much more resolution you're going to get. From the quick calculations above you can see that four megapixel digital camera owners should wait for the next big leap (seven / eight megapixels).

Review Notes

Because of the similarity between the G5 and the G3 (they're almost identical apart from resolution) the first half of this review (body, operation, menus etc.) is based on my G3 review posted in December 2002.