The Canon PowerShot G5 is my second digital camera. Like a lot of people I bought a simple 2Mp camera first to see how I would use it. Many fun snap shots and disappointing prints later I knew I needed a 'real' digital camera. I chose Canon because I have found their products to be robust and high quality.
The PowerShot G5 has an excellent bundle. Inside the box, you'll find:
- The 5.0 Mpixel Canon PowerShot G5 camera
- 32MB CompactFlash card
- BP-511 Li-ion rechargeable battery
- AC Adapter / battery charger
- Neck strap
- Lens cap w/strap
- Wireless remote control
- USB cable
- A/V cable
- CD-ROM featuring Canon Digital Camera Solutions, ArcSoft Camera Suite, and drivers
- 209 page camera manual + software manual (both printed)
While a 32MB card is larger than you'll get with some other 5 Megapixel cameras, it's really just a starter card. I highly recommend getting something much larger -- 256MB is my recommendation. I've long been a fan of the 1GB IBM Microdrive, and that is supported by the G5, but keep in mind that it puts extra strain on the battery. There are plenty of "regular" 1GB CompactFlash cards out there, so you may want one of those instead.
The G5 uses the same BP-511 Li-ion battery as its predecessor. The battery has a very respectable 8.1 Watt/hours of power.
Powerful bp-511 lithium ion battery
The downside of proprietary batteries like the BP-511 is the cost and the fact that you can't use standard batteries (as you can with AA-based cameras) if you're in a bind. That's why I personally prefer cameras that use AA batteries.
When it's time to recharge, you just plug the included AC adapter into the G5. This same AC adapter can be used to power the camera in the studio, or when you're transferring photos to your computer. It takes 80 minutes to bring the canon bp-511 back to 90% capacity, and then 2 more hours to fill it to 100%.
The G5 includes a lens cap and strap to protect your 4X zoom lens.
The G5 has a fast (f2.0 – f3.0) zoom lens that goes from (35mm equivalents) 35mm to 140mm. This alone makes it desirable for a) shooting in low light, and b) shooting at low ISO and hand-holding. It also helps with the flash range, with a range specified to 13.1 feet at the far telephoto end. While this isn’t of much interest to me, it may be of value if you don’t use an external flash and shoot regularly with flash.
The lens options for compact digital cameras constitute one of the major choices. Right now, you can have either a faster lens (like the Canon G series) or a wider lens (like the Nikon 5000 series.) Hopefully there will be a wider and faster lens in the not-too-distant future, but for now, the user needs to pick one or the other. For me, the choice was easy – I’ve been shooting most of the time with a 35mm lens and I often shoot in reduced (evening, night) lighting. For others, the choice may be very different.
The G5 hasn’t been available long, and although I bought it within a few days of its availability, this still doesn’t constitute a “long term” test that really determines how comfortable a camera is to work with and how close the results are to what the photographer wants. For my kind of shooting and what I want it to do, it works well,and have bp-511 with a longer life. Despite the shutter lag and the finder, it’s excellent for street shooting because of the ability to compose with the camera at a lower level. Except for the chromatic aberration, the image quality is excellent. It’s easy to control the camera.
No comments:
Post a Comment