CanonG7 - the next great Street camera? - General opinions sought too

mutineer · April 20, 2007

my daughter lost my SD400
my SD500 got ripped off

went to get a new SD

saw the G7 :lust

build quality is off the charts for a P&S
lots of manual control

I love the look and feel - has a very analog feel, fake as it may be, I like it

I also think it may be a great street photography camera

I know every pro reviewer has slammed the hell out of Canon for dropping RAW on the G series - I could care less, I am still leaning post processing

the size is a lot bigger than the SD series, the elph's disappear in your pocket but the extra controls and the feel of this camera balancd that out for me - feels like a poor man's rangefinder. I know it will never be a Leica, but I ain't got that kinda coin
does anyone here have one?

any thoughts on the G7? I need a P&S to go along with my D70

any other suggesstions?

mr peas · April 20, 2007

I was interested in buying either the G6 or the newer G7 before I had my Sony F828. Check out these pages from dpreview I bookmarked:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong7/

I liked the way they compared both the G6 and G7 here. I liked the way the G6 still had CF cards, can shoot RAW (as the G7 cant) and stuff like diff/larger batteries and remotes. Check it out and make a decision for yourself.

Unsure if the G6 came in black though. Good luck!

Jangie · April 20, 2007

I got my gf a G7 at the same time I picked up photography as a hobby (I got myself a film EOS), and I have to say, it's a pretty cool camera. As far as things that annoy me about the G7 just from playing with it from time to time, startup time seems to take quite a while as compared to my film camera (probably to be expected), and the size definitely makes it an issue for portability. Also, I found that the placement of the on/off button made it so that as I was taking it out of my pocket, I would accidentally hit the button, causing the lens to come out and hit against my pocket. Probably not too good for the lens... Also, as it's not an SLR, if you go really wide, you'll see the barrel of the lens through the viewfinder. Not sure if you'd be looking so closely with P+S stuff, but it definitely is there.

I'd say that playing with it a bit more would be good. The manual stuff seemed a bit awkward to me as the dial placement isn't where I think it should be, so if you're getting the camera for that, definitely take a stab at playing with those controls and see if they work for you. Otherwise, I think this is a really solid P+S with a ton of nice-to-have features.

If I can answer any questions, just add them to the post and I'll try and grab hold of the camera when she's not looking.

merg5418 · April 21, 2007

G7

mutineer wrote:

my daughter lost my SD500
my SD600 got ripped off

went to get a new SD

saw the G7

build quality is off the charts for a P&S
lots of manual control

I love the look and feel - has a very analog feel, fake as it may be, I like it

I also think it may be a great street photography camera

I know every pro reviewer has slammed the hell out of Canon for dropping RAW on the G series - I could care less, I am still leaning post processing

the size is a lot bigger than the SD series, the elph's disappear in your pocket but the extra controls and the feel of this camera balancd that out for me - feels like a poor man's rangefinder. I know it will never be a Leica, but I ain't got that kinda coin
does anyone here have one?

any thoughts on the G7? I need a P&S to go along with my D70

any other suggesstions?

I purchased a G7 in Oct. 06. I travel on business @ 40% and wanted something smaller than my 20D to lug around. I've been very pleased with it. The ISO control knob is great. It gets a little noisy over 400. I shoot in RAW with the 20D but haven't felt deprived with the G7. Prior to purchasing the G7, I tired the D-Lux 2 - too noisy, but I fell in love with 16 X 9 format, which you can select on the G7.

pathfinder · April 23, 2007

If it would shoot RAW I would buy it.

But not until then

Terrence · April 23, 2007

From all the reviews I read, the G7 performs poorly above ISO 400. That is the primary reason I have stayed away from it, since my shooting situations with a camera of this size are indoor, low-light.

pathfinder · April 23, 2007

I am still hoping for an affordable APS sensor based range finder camera.

The Leica M8 is appealing but not afordable for most of us.

Smaller sensors are going to continue to be plagued with noise at higher ISOs that are not the bane of APS sensored cameras.

wxwax · April 23, 2007

Geez, Mutt, how did I miss that you're the one who started this thread?

bham · April 23, 2007

For what is sounds like your intended use is it would be a great camera for a second camera.

I have 5 Canon G6's and they are great for many things, especially with a external flash.

The best thing about the G series that I wish the 30D and 5D series had is the custom 1 and custom 2 settings. It allows you to create a setting in manual and then save it. This is the reason we use the G6's.

mutineer · April 28, 2007

is it wrong that the day they deliver your new camera

and you get the battery charged up

that you walk to your car

stop in the pisser in the parking garage

(playing with the B&W conversion sure made it look a lot scarier of a place to take a whiz)

wxwax · April 28, 2007

Damn, you're a photographer too?

I very much like the second one, really nice B&W, sordid scene.

So I take it you likie?

mutineer · April 29, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Damn, you're a photographer too?

I very much like the second one, really nice B&W, sordid scene.

So I take it you likie?

I am very happy with the camera.

As with all things though, the endorsement is qualified.

If you are expecting DSLR performance you will be sorely disappointed. By a D40 (or a digirebel, I know we are canon heavy around here) if you want sports, no lag, and easy to hold.

Buy this is you want 90% of DSLR ability to fit in your pocket. Street photography, travel, snapshots, documentary/documentation etc.

The "ergos" or how the camera fits into what I wanted it for

As noted I wanted a camera that I am a lot more likely to grab on the way out than a DLSR but with a lot of the control. At leat as important, to me anyway, I wanted a camera that felt like a damn camera, not a computer accessory.

The build quality is enormously satisfying - I think of it as a poor man's rangefinder. More than anything else this is what drew me to the camera. Metal body, knurled dials, black body, and a satisfying weight.

The Industrial Design at Canon team really managed to give it an analog feel. It appeals to the same part of me that love my '04 Triumph Bonneville. It maintains enough of the sprint of the old object to be spiritually satisfying while still giving you enough of what you need to from modern equipment to get an effective job done.

My original intention was to keep it at work a lot of the time, drop it in my pocket and spend the occasional lunch hour wandering downtown and getting some street photos.

It is a lot of camera to drop in your pocket - probably too much for how I dress for work (I wear suits 90% of the time). If I use for what I bought for I will be carrying it around in my hand when dressed in a suit. Yes, a guy in a suit walking around snapping pictures st lunchtime downtown does look odd. Strangely enough I find myself having to push myself to actually take some pictures because I feel out pf place. The semiotics of this, along with why street photography fascinates me would make a great paper if I was still a college kid.

The G7 goes OK into jeans but it is big, think old man's wallet

If you consider what you wear part of your gear a set of regular old cargo pants would make a perfect camera bag for this camera. A battery, a metz flash, an onmibounce and an extra card would all fit easily in the pockets and disappear pretty quick when you are just walking around. (I don't have the flash or omni yet, but I will)

The lack of a grip, like the one found or prior G's, is what makes it more likely to be picked up on the way out the door and what makes someone with big paws like mine get frustrated with using it but there is no real way around this.

I put on a small wrist lanyard that I had laying around and this make an OK way to carry the camera around. It comes with an neck strap which just looks silly and cheap. To my mind having in your right hand ready to shoot is the way to carry it around.

The optical viewfinder is ridiculously small and difficult to use for me. I find myself holding the camera away from my face and using the LCD, which makes for some very poor technique. If I do not break this developing habit I will surely miss some otherwise good pictures, even with the image stabilization.

The tech side

First let us dispense with the religious issues - I can live without RAW

My "workflow" is simply not that developed

If you are like 94% of the shooting public neither is yours. Letting Canon's incredibly selfish protection of their DSLR market by dropping RAW keep you from buying this camera is a mistake. If you need RAW you probably already have a DSLR anyway. I am pissed at Canon for hobbling this camera in this fashion too, but I also hate bad weather, my emotional response to either is likely to have the same effect on each.

Shutter lag seems to be worse than I thought it would be. With the flash is it is unforgivable in a camera at this price. My SD500 felt faster.

I'm going to play with custom settings to see if I can get around that with running around with the shutter button at half press which is really not realistic.

After looking at the specs from prior G's I would rather have the faster/wider lens over RAW

I know little about effective use of flash so I cannot comment intelligently on the settings regarding curtain and all that black magic

Much has been made of the lack of the swivel LCD from prior G's. The new LCD has such a wide viewing angle that I do not think you lose a lot of that functionality. Holding a camera over your head and utrningh te LCD 180 or moves like that cannot be repeated, but for the shot of the stall I held the camera about a foot off the ground and could see plenty of info to frame the shot. It was a quick snap, as you can see in the original below, if I had put more thought into framing the shot a crop would not have been necessaary.

Neat Side Benefit

If you, like me, are the front end bottom half of the learning curve this camera has a really neat benefit.

The very nice LCD shows in real time the effect of changes to manual settings. Changes in f stop and aperture have an immediate effect on the viewed image on the LCD. Immediate feedback has shown me more in the few days of owning this little G7 than I got out a hell of a lot more time of owning a DSLR.

A lot of what I learned is surely obvious to most here, but a lot of things I probably should have already understood really became apparent to me though this feature.

This camera would make an incredible teaching tool in a 101 type photo class.

The pictures

The conversion above took about 10 minutes or less in Elements 5.0
Used the Conversion tool, upped contrast, played with shadow and highlighting some.

Upped the blue, dropped red some I think and cropped. Used Skew a little on the shot of the stall.

here are the originals

silica · April 29, 2007

I had a G7 and sold it. It took nice photos, but three things killed it for me:

1. No battery indicator

2. No RAW format

3. No articulated LCD display (I could live with this one if it had #1 and #2)

ian408 · April 29, 2007

Do you plan on taking it on the bike and if so, will it fit in a pocket or is
it tankbag material?

mutineer · April 29, 2007

ian408 wrote:

Do you plan on taking it on the bike and if so, will it fit in a pocket or is
it tankbag material?

I have a Firstgear Kenya with a fron pocket that has a strech lanyard built in.

For most of the day I forgot the G7 was there

um, as in took almost no picture because I forgot it was there.

It would fit in most inside pockets of most jackets pretty easily I think
It also well enough made that if you landed flat on you chest it would break the hell out of your ribs I think
better off in a tankbag I think, just for that reason
of course I carry it my pocket, because I typically fail to take good advice, even if it is my own

two of the four or five pictures I took

just quick snapshots - cropped and quick fixed

and a quick video

cut a few seconds off in windows movie maker which I downloaded and used for the first time just now

cumbersome little tool it is too

I am sure there is a easier way to do it I just don't know what it is

it is nice having a movie feature again if for no other reason than the novelty of it

the video was a lot higher quality when I played the file right off my camera

and as for the pipes

forget you guys

I am saving lives

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/68nD5cTsBVA"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/68nD5cTsBVA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

mutineer · April 29, 2007

can't embed videos here I guess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68nD5cTsBVA

wxwax · April 29, 2007

Damn, that sounds good.

Great write-up, Mutt.

ziggy53 · April 29, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Damn, that sounds good.

Great write-up, Mutt.

Excellent review from a personal perspective. You told us the good, the bad, and showed us the beautiful.

BradfordBenn · May 26, 2007

Thanks for the write up, I am looking at this one also...

erich6 · May 27, 2007

NIce write-up. I too like the look & feel of this camera and I almost got one. The other camera that I like is the Panasonic D-Lux series. For the G7 my problem was the lack of wide-angle coverage and RAW. The D-lux sensor is just too noisy. So I'm holding on to my money until I get a camera that I'm satisfied with. I have a DSLR and a cheap Kodak P&S so I either go for quality or settle for snapshots for now....

If Canon put a wider lens coupled with a sensor like the one in the Fujifilm F30 and RAW they would have a hands-down winner.

Erich

Bentspoke · May 27, 2007

I still want one, but can't believe it costs more than my Rebel with kit lens did.

CanonG7 - the next great Street camera? - General opinions sought too

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