Canon PowerShot G3 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

by Canon

Product Details

Product Manual [3.68mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 4.8 x 3 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B00006LU7J
• Item model number: G3
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #7,614 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 1, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Few digital camera lines have been as successfully branded as Canon's Powershot. And the best known in that line was the powerful and fun to use G2. Now, Canon's following it up with their G3, which has the same four megapixels of resolution but now offers an improved 4X optical zoom and other updated features.

With a revamped body, the G3 feels a bit more comfortable in the hands. A mid-sized camera, you'll notice it hanging around your neck, but its 14.5 ounce frame won't weigh you down terribly. With a high-speed CompactFlash card, the G3 can take video clips of up to three minutes complete with sound.

You'll want to consider an upgrade to one of those cards, as the G3 ships with only a 32 MB standard CF card--not bad for bundled memory, but you'll be happier with more storage room. Images taken at the highest resolution quickly filled up the 32 MB card, but were highly detailed as well as bright with realistic colors.

The G3 features the same large, bright 1.8-inch LCD as its predecessor, making it easy to frame your shot in anything except direct sunlight. Like earlier G models, the LCD flips out and can be rotated around completely, letting you view it from any angle.

This works well with the G3's two options for self-timing, 2 and 10 seconds, so you can see what you're doing from the target viewpoint. And the G3's above-industry-standard 4x optical zoom lets you get in closer than the G2's 3x zoom as well.

Compatible with Canon's Direct Print feature, you can output images from the G3 directly to any of Canon's Direct Print line of printers. The G3 is a great choice for a 4 megapixel, 4x optical zoom camera with a wealth of features. --J. Curtis

Pros:

• 4 megapixels and 4x optical zoom
• Three minute video clips with sound
• Well designed

Cons:

• Only 32 MB CF card

Product Description

It's all up to you with the PowerShot G3. With its 4.0-megapixel CCD sensor providing amazing resolution images, which stay sharp even when printing up to A3, this digital camera is destined to capture your imagination as well as super sharp images. The secret behind the PowerShot G3 isn't just one innovative feature. It's the intuitive way all of its advanced technology works together to make tricky shots look simple. The PowerShot G3 lens is in a league of its own. It is a super-quick, high-resolution 4x optical zoom lens (f2.0 - 3.0) with a focal length of 7.2 to 28.8mm (35 - 140mm equivalent in 35mm format). This gives you a larger zoom range and a faster aperture, especially useful in low light conditions. This camera also features Canon's new, high-performance DIGIC (DIGital Imaging Core) processor for superb color reproduction, fast operation and long battery life. Combine this with the iSAPS (intelligent Scene Analysis based on PhotoSpace) technology, which allows faster auto-focusing, accurate auto-exposure and precise auto white balancing you can be sure you'll achieve faithful image reproduction.The PowerShot G3 contains a full set of scene-based and creative shooting modes, as well as a custom mode where you can set and store parameters to suit your photographic style. What's more, the PowerShot G3 has separate shutter and aperture functions, offering you extensive manual control in a digital camera. Open shutter, closed aperture, less light for longer - whichever you choose, your options are wide open. You'll also find FlexiZone AF/AE and Focus bracketing, to ensure you can achieve perfect focus and exposure. Ergonomic and comfortable in the hand, the camera has a maneuverable LCD screen, while a jog dial combined with the Function button makes it simple to navigate through the creative options.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best so far!, December 14, 2002

By	Steve Johnson (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Canon PowerShot G3 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

The Canon G3 improves in almost all ways on the G1 and G2 before it, and in fact beats the Nikon Coolpix 5000 in performance (picture quality and battery life) -- which is amazing because the 5000 is a 5 megapixel camera and the Canon is a 4 megapixel camera. Canon's optics are better and I believe their processing algorithms are also better. Simply, the Canon G3 is the best digital camera out there today at this price point.

The Canon allows you to change lenses, and it accepts the IBM Microdrive (Type II Compact Flash), so you can have up to 1 Gigabyte of storage. For me on the Fine resolution setting (not maximum but very close) this adds up to over 1000 images with the 1 Gig card. The battery life of this camera is twice that of the Nikon 5000 and is better than anything else I've seen.

The only minor nits I have with the camera are it is fairly boxy looking, it needs a wrist strap instead of a neck strap, and it is a bit slow between shots. Even with these shortcomings, I still think it is the best digital camera available under $1200.

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful product, January 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Canon PowerShot G3 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Bought this product about a month ago and have used it in a variety of situations.

In general it is easy to use and well laid out. For ``cool factor'' buffs it looks and feels like a small plastic brick brick and doesn't have any wow factor. It makes up for this by being extremely easy to use with well laid out controls that can be learned quickly.
The G3 has most if not all of the features that you would want from a semi-pro/pro SLR with a good range of manual options for those who know something about photography. In the hands of someone who doesn't, it will yield good results on idiot program/auto mode. My wife, who has never used a camera before, picked it up and soon got the hang of the fact that if you don't like what you have created you just delete and try again. The photos she took are better than the results I got from my Nikon SLR and range of lenses! This is a big plus for those who a shifting to digital and the G3's large mobile screen helps with this.

Negative points:
The included memory card is too small. Go out and get a 256meg card, it's worth the expense.
It is made of plastic. For those who are used to brass cameras that can be dropped, picking up a camera like the G3 is an unnerving experience. This is by no means unique to this model, I'm sure. The zoom lens unit feels fragile and it is worth buying a good camera bag if you are going put to carry it round a lot.
This is not a handbag camera. While light, it will not easily go in small handbags or pockets.
The function lever - the one which switches between capture and view mode feels fragile.
Flash - as with all built-in flashes in small cameras, you get overilluminated main subjects with depth being lost. The G3 has a shoe which will take other powerful (and expensive) Canon flashes that will allow bounce and reflected flash photography.
The strap is horrible and gets in the way of parts of the camera you need access to. If you can afford this camera, you can afford to get a better strap elsewhere - a very minor quibble.

Good points:
The functionality on this camera is mind-blowing. Canon have packed a lot in here and the options and controls are easy to use and logically laid out. Learning how to use it will not take very long.
The image quality is excellent. Messing around with images in Photoshop (a supplied software package) and printing them on a good printer, yielded excellent results. Unless you are making posters, a G3 is more than good enough.

Range of functions - as indicated above - it has something for everyone: point and shoot power plus advanced functions for those who are serious about photography.

Please note that this is the first digital camera I have owned or used. A lot of my opinions are more relevant for those who are switching from film. I did extensive research before chosing the G3 but there's nothing like picking one up and playing with it first...

73 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Within its limitations, produces stunning images, May 22, 2003

By	Frank Paris (Beaverton, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Canon PowerShot G3 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I am a long-time user of highly responsive film SLRs and professional quality external flash equipment, just so you know my bias. I have been watching the development of digicams for years, waiting to make my first move. What I really want is a $1,500 digital SLR with a full frame sensor that will take my Nikon lenses. I figure that is at least three years off, and I am getting impatient. Hence I decided to spring for a "point-and-shoot" digicam that that would have features that would let me get around their inherent limitations. I chose the G3 because of its reputation for very high quality, clean images.

The two limitations I knew I would have to deal with are the very long lag time before it focus-locks (even in bright light), and the unsatisfactory light quality of the built-in flash. As of this writing, technology has not solved the focus-lock lag time problem for point-and-shoot digicams and anyone who is satisfied with it simply has never used a modern film SLR. At least once you've got focus lock, the shutter release lag time for the G3 is about 1/10 of a second, which from what I've read, is better than just about anything else available. What makes the focus-lock lag time something I can live with is the extreme depth of field obtainable with these point and shoot digicams at f8. Once I get focus lock, I can then wait until my restless subject (a pet or a child) strikes an amusing pose and then fire the shutter with some reasonable probability of getting my subject still in focus.

Now what about the flash problem? Relative to what I can easily achieve with external flash on my Nikon SLR, the internal flash on the G3 produces harsh, flat images with ugly hot spots. Fortunately, the G3 has a hot shoe that can take an external flash, and fortunately for me, I already owned a one of the highest quality external flashes that money can buy: the Metz 60 CT-4. I can't use my Nikon external flash on a Canon camera, but I CAN use my Metz, with the proper Metz module and extension cord connected between the G3 and the 60 CT-4. For those who have this Metz flash (or the 45CL-3) and would like to get the absolute ultimate quality out of this G3, the Metz module you need is the SCA 3102 and the connector cord is the SCA 3000C.

In order for this to work, you have to set the camera to manual mode and set the shutter speed and f-stop yourself. Contrary to what I've read elsewhere, the G3 DOES sync at 1/250 of a second with third-party flashes, just as it does with the dedicated flashes from Canon. You also have to set the G3 to second shutter sync, which is what you'd want to do most of the time anyhow. Then just forget about all the controls you have on the Metz flash head itself and the SCA 3102 control panel, because they are all IGNORED. The G3 completely takes over controlling the duration of the Metz flash, and most of the time, the exposure is spot on and when it isn't, it's because you've exceeded the range of the Metz flash itself. This might happen if you get too close to the subject and you are not bounce-flashing, or if you ARE bounce flashing and the walls are simply too far away. Unfortunately, the neutral density filters for the Metz flash are no longer available, so the first problem can't easily be solved. The second problem is solved by more direct lighting from the Metz (with the attendant shadows unfortunately). But once you've got your exposure within an acceptable range, the G3 is shown to produce utterly stunning images that I can hardly get with my Nikon F100 film camera. The 60 CT-4 flash head can actually be reversed 180 degrees and then tilted, enabling you to bounce the flash off the walls behind you. The results are shadow-free images that look as if they've been exposed with the gentlest natural light you could imagine.

Now there is one more complaint I have about the G3 and that is the software that comes with it for processing raw images (I only shoot in raw image mode and the first thing I did was replace the 32 MByte CF with a 512 MByte CF, which gives me 130 raw images, as opposed to 7!). The Canon software for raw images does not present you with a raw image AT ALL, but the raw image after it has been processed by all the image-affecting settings in the camera. I believe this is enabled by a second file that comes out of the camera that stores all this information. Maybe if you delete those files before you looked at them with the software, you'd see the true, raw image that the camera actually produces. I didn't wait to experiment. Instead, I bought the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in. What this plug-in reveals is the truly stunning quality of the raw G3 hardware. Without any tweaking at all, if the exposure is accurate, the colors are as realistic as I've ever seen produced by film, and this is a raw image! The Adobe Camera Raw plug-in shows once again that hardware is miles ahead of software. What the G3 raw image software gives you is a fantasy world designed to please the uncritical. What the Photoshop plug-in gives you is REALITY, and then if you want fantasy, you can use Photoshop to create it. But at least you're starting with the most photorealistic images I've ever seen from a camera. I am stunned and amazed at the quality of the raw images I am getting from this G3 (in conjunction with my professional flash system), and can easily put up with the camera's limitations, because I've never seen anything better within its resolution limits.