Canon PowerShot G7 Digital Camera

A great advanced user P&S

By Richard  Feb 3, 2007 | 13 out of 14 found this Canon PowerShot G7 review helpful

Pros: Great color, build quality, ease of use, image stabilizer, built in ND filter, superb view screen

Cons: average battery life at best

I think this is finally an improvement over prior G series models. It is smaller, lighter, better sensor, faster performance and finally lost that stupid looking touristy flippy screen thing. Instead there is a screen with image so clear you can actu...ally manually focus with precision. You may not get this camera in a tight pocket on your jeans but you'll get it in a cargo pocket, jacket pocket, or carry it around your neck with ease (because it's lighter and smaller).Go look at Flickr's camera finder page and see what people are doing with this camera in terms of image quality! It's about time they dumped RAW image capability as the waste of space it was, maybe it will force so-called "advanced" users to use the camera before they hit the button instead of mindlessly clicking away thinking they can make it good later on. Sorry, if it isn't a good picture out of the camera it isn't a good picture. Instead of RAw you get a built in neutral density filter which is a truly useful feature as it functionally gives you two or three stops down, as does the image stabilizer so actually this camera will take any shot the G6 would take. It just doesn't need to have a larger aperature to do it. Great for users who can use the manual control features but just as good with its auto and scene modes. Anyone can take a very good picture with it and if you want to learn to do better than just good it will take you there. Superb pictures, features galore, turns on very quickly, shutter lag when pre-focussed is minimal. Flash is better than most P&S flashes and hey, it has a hotshoe if you need more. All the controls are at your fingertips and once you learn them it is a very fast performing camera. also very quiet once you turn off all the noise making bits. If you want the best P&S out right now this is it. At least in my opinion. Read more Less