Canon Powershot G7 Review

Just in time for Christmas, the new 10 megapixel Canon Powershot G7 is put under the spotlight in our 150th product review. The subject of much controversy due to its lack of RAW mode and vari-angle LCD screen, we find out if the Canon G7 is a worthy addition or not to the venerable G Series.

Website: Canon Powershot G7 Review

Published: Thursday, December 21, 2006

Reader Comments

1. Superb, huh?
   
   That's a great-enough accolade for me to say "I told you so."

   Sid at 10:56pm on Thursday, December 21, 2006

2. Nice review, that reads like the spec sheet from Canon. The biggest problem I found with this camera (I bought one) is the optical finder. First: it's not parallax corrected, which means that you can't frame reliably a picture. And try shooting a portrait, or anything else up to 30 feet away, at 210mm. You end up with half od the subject out of the frame. Second: the finder is not accurate in term of angle of view. What you see is not what you get.
   So the only reliable way of framing is using the screen. Which defeats the idea of a point-and-shoot, is a lost of time which may compromise any candid shot, and draws more on the battery.
   The image quality is OK, but the 'smoothing' is too obvious. And no way to turn the anti-noise off.
   So, a good camera? I would totally agree if it was $200.00 cheaper.

   Antonio Mascouflatte at 02:06am on Saturday, December 23, 2006

3. Mark, how about a comment to Antonio's
   pretty pointed comments, seems like it is something that those folks that think they need an optical finder should be aware of!

   nick in japan at 07:23am on Saturday, December 23, 2006

4. [[Which defeats the idea of a point-and-shoot, is a lost of time which may compromise any candid shot, and draws more on the battery]]
   
   Such comments are worthy of a camera from 2000, not 2006.

   phule at 12:51am on Thursday, December 28, 2006

5. First Mr Stoker let me say that you are by far the best writer of all the camera reviewers whose work I have come across. Kudos for using language succinctly and precisely. I agree, this is a superb camera. Yes it has its little quirks and, okay, there are some things that make one wonder what the folks at the Canon design office were thinking the day the decisions were made, (how hard could it have been to leave the RAw format). Most of the complaints I've seen are in the nature of someone buying a great luxury sports car and then trashing it in review because it does not have a cigarette lighter. I agree the optical viewfinder isn't all that good as optical viewfinders go. Compared to DSLR viewfinders it's a joke but this isn't a DSLR and compared to all the compacts that have NO viewfinder or those weird digital viewfinders it's actually okay. I like it out in the sunlight anyway and yes you do have to frame about ten degrees to the right to center your subject. It's a 10MP camera though so I would think that cropping later was a given. The fact that you can see the whole image capture in the incredibly bright, high resolution view screen and have rule-of-thirds bars and see a histogram pre-shot, and see all the shooting specs at eye level more than make up for a small viewfinder IMHO. As to all the whining about lack of RAW, I say get over it people. Everyone who wants RAW or TIFF already owns an SLR and if they don't have SLR and want those formats go spend an extra couple of hundred on SLR equipment, oh and don't forget to go drop another hundred or more on software that can actually process RAW with some precision. Oh, also go spend more on some whopping big memory cards. This camera is made of metal which is not something you can say about many other compacts and fewer and fewer SLR's as well. The controls are nicely laid out, feel good to work and the camera is big enough to actually hold comfortably and heavy enough to sit still. Since Canon processing leaves much more sharpness than most others and since their noise tends to be not so much colorful as grainy looking I'd have to say the optics and imaging are as good as any in the P&S;world and better than most. Noise is always a digital problem for the time being anyway though in another ten years it may be much less an issue. The advantage over SLRs,is that I can't get my Nikon200 into my jacket pocket or a side pocket on a backpack or even just carry it comfortably on a neck strap all day. That camera will do many things better than the G7 but no camera is everything to everyone (that's what we explain to our wives anyway as we order yet more stuff). One more thing and I'll end my rant. No SLR I know of lets you make a motion picture that will sharply display on an average TV screen. The camera does everything it does very very well. No, I don't work for Canon.

   R Celley at 02:09am on Monday, January 01, 2007

6. I use six of the G7s in a commercial application (it has a hot shoe) and have another as a 2nd camera to my 20D. Its an outstanding camera. Period. I don't have problems with the viewfinder, lack of RAW mode, or the non-swivel LCD. The images are outstanding, the lens is very good. The focusing is much improved over the G5, G6, and Pro 1. The Canon wide angle lens, while a monster, produces really good images. The power supply (originally from the S80) is a very clever design and also works well. I've had G7s powered continuously for weeks. Its a tough camera and a great buy since they are selling in the 450-520 range online (the online vendors that sell for less than 450 are "out of stock" if you order from them.)

   Charles at 04:53pm on Friday, January 05, 2007

7. After reading all of the reviews, I bought a G7 this past week. I owned a G5 three or so years ago. And my main camera now is a Nikon D80 with about 6 lenses. But I needed something smaller to carry around informally. And I needed something that would give me control over ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. So far, I am very impressed with this little jewel. The only problem I have with it is the lack of RAW. But I can live without it.

   Jeffmeyers at 01:09am on Saturday, January 06, 2007

8. I have a friend with a Nikon Coolpix 4500 (4MP with 4X zoom, no IS). She uses it for photographing wildflowers, for which it is great, er, no, brilliant. It does only have a 1.5 inch lcd, but it does focus brilliantly on the flowers out in the forest, rather than the leaf mulch on the ground in the background. I am trying to find a more modern camera. The G7 seemed like it would have fitted the bill, but when I tried it out in the shop (in macro mode), by holding a finger out in mid-air, it reliably focussed on.... the floor. Not what i wanted to see! That is no better than my current Optio E10 (6MP, 3X zoom, no IS). needless to say, the showroom was very well lit with typical shop lighting. my forests are often less lit, but the Nikon usually copes with most photos acceptably focussed (if not framed, in art due to the toy lcd) Any thoughts?

   David Wilmshurst at 04:56am on Sunday, January 21, 2007

9. Was delighted with the reviews of the G7, just about to decide to purchase then read the last comment about the ability of the G7 to focus on wildflowers in order to capture such pics. Does anyone have an answer for that comment (8)? I seek the camera primarily for close up macro shots of flowers etc

   selene at 07:40pm on Wednesday, April 18, 2007

10. After reading the reviews, I purchased one. Still haven't received it, but have had several Canon Powershot series in the past and am happy to make the leap of faith, just on past experience. The main reason, though, is that I do alot of underwater photography, and this camera has the underwater case. This will be a great replacement for my previous S1 IS... I am greatly anticipating the uprgrade from 3.1mp to 10mp...

    Capn Scott at 04:15pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2007

11. Regarding Comment 8 - I have used G7 a lot to take pictures of flowers using macro mode and it comes out very nice. Iam impressed with the performance of macro mode in G7.

    Zulu at 04:32am on Friday, September 07, 2007