canon powershot G7 review

The Canon Powershot G7 is a ten megapixel digital camera with a 6x optical zoom lens. It is one of the most advanced compact digital cameras you will find and the layout of the camera helps to bring some its more advanced features to the fingertips of the more serious photographer. For example the Powershot G7 has a manual focusing ring on the back of the camera and an ISO settings dial on the top. It also has a hotshoe for adding an external flash unit. These are rare on a compact model.

Features

The 6x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 35 - 210mm in 35mm format. In addition to the optical zoom there are also special zoom features that can boost zoom by a further 2.3x if you decrease the number of megapixels you are shooting at. The Powershot G7 also has 4x digital zoom. Image stabilisation is also available.



There are a variety of focusing options including manual focusing. You can select between single and continuous auto focusing modes. For close up photography the camera can focus from 1cm away from the subject. Focus bracketing is also available.



For composing images there is an optical viewfinder. This has dioptre correction. Dioptre correction allows you to adjust the focusing of the viewfinder to suit your own eyesight. If you prefer there is a 2.5" LCD screen. This is made up of around 207,000 pixels.



The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 4m. This falls to around 2.5m when the zoom lens is in use. The basic flash modes are on, off and automatic. You can also use red eye reduction, second curtain synchronisation and slow sync speed. The power of the flash unit can be adjusted and you also have access to flash exposure lock and flash exposure compensation.



There are also a number of built in scene modes. These are: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Color Accent and Color Swap. When you use a scene mode the camera will use what it considers to be the best settings for the photo.



To add something different to your work there are a number of colour options available. These are Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red and Custom Color.



As you get to know the camera there is a lot to explore. As well as fully manual mode there are shutter priority and aperture priority modes as well. Shutter speeds work in the range from 15 seconds to 1/2500 seconds. The maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.8 (wide) and f/4.8 (tele).



More advanced features you have access to include metering (Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre or linked to Face Detection AF or FlexiZone AF frame)), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), auto exposure bracketing (1/3 - 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), ISO sensitivity (AUTO, High ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) and white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Underwater, Custom). Auto exposure lock is also available.



Other features include a special wide aspect ratio. This is suitable for displaying your photos on a widescreen television. There is also a histogram available, a self timer (delay 2 or 10 seconds) and continuous shooting at top speeds of either 2 frames per second or 0.8 frames per second. For panoramic type shots there is a special stitch assist mode.



Movies of up to 4GB or one hour in duration can be recorded. The maximum resolution available is 1024 x 768 pixels. At this resolution the maximum frames per second speed is 15. A speed of 30 frames per second can be used at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Zoom is available during recording and sound can be captured.



The Powershot G7 can be connected to a compatible printer, television set or computer. All the necessary cables and software are supplied with the camera.



A number of useful accessories are available. These include a case that is waterproof to a depth of 40m (WP-DC11), a 2x tele converter lens to increase the power of the lens (TC-DC58C) and a 0.75 wide converter to increase the wide angle capabilities of the lens (WC-DC58B). To enhance the built in flash unit you may consider Canon Speedlites (220EX, 430EX, 580EX) or High Power Flash HF-DC1.

Accessories

• Speedlite 220EX/ 430EX/ 580EX


• Tele-converter (2.0x) TC-DC58C


• Wide-converter (0.75x) WC-DC58B


• Lens adapter/Hood set LA-DC58H


• Waterproof Case WP-DC11


• Waterproof Case Weight WW-DC1


• Soft Case DCC-600


• High Power Flash HF-DC1


• AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC20


• Rechargeable Li-ION battery pack NB-2LH * nb-21h battery * nb-2lh * Canon nb-2lh


• Car Battery Charger CBC-NB2