Canon PowerShot G2 Canon PowerShot G2 Review, Phil Askey, August 2001

Review based on a production PowerShot G2 Canon unveiled the original PowerShot G1 just beforePhotokina last year (September 2000). It took quite a few people who wereexpecting a Pro70 replacement by surprise. The G1 immediately struck achord with people considering Nikons Coolpix 990 or Olympuss C-3030Z.And here we are just less than 12 months on with the next evolution, the4.0 megapixel PowerShot G2. The G2 is based on the same prosumer compact cameraform factor with an almost central lens, viewfinder window and right-handedflash unit. Immediately obvious this time around is that Canon realizedthe little blip of rubber on the G1 wasnt enough as a sensible grip,now we get a fully moulded (though plastic and a little thin) hand grip.The second most obvious change is the colour. The camera is done out ina kind of three tone - the front is champagne coloured magnesium alloy,the center (top / sides) silver plastic and the rear a kind of metallicpainted silver plastic.The G2 features the same extending 3x, F2.0 - F2.5 CanonZoom Lens (which Im assured is made by Canon) as we saw on the G1 andthe ring surrounding the lens can be removed to take the optional lensthread adapter, required to add optional wide angle, telephoto or macrolenses. Heres a quick breakdown of the primary differences betweenthe PowerShot G1 and G2.

		Canon PowerShot G2	Canon PowerShot G1
CCD effective pixels		4.0 megapixels	3.2 megapixels
Max image size		3.8 megapixels	3.1 megapixels
CCD size**		1/1.8"	1/1.8"
CCD Colour Filter Array		G - R - G - B	C - Y - G - M
Max resolution		2272 x 1704	2048 x 1536
Lower resolutions		1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480	1024 x 768, 640 x 480
Metering		Evaluative, Center-Weighted, Spot	Center-Weighted, Spot
AE Program Shift		Yes, after AE Lock	No
Shutter speeds		15 - 1/1000 sec	8 - 1/1000 sec
Continuous shooting		2.5 fps or 1.5 fps	1.7 fps
Focus Areas		Three, selectable	Automatic
Colour Exposure mode		Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, B&W	Colour, B&W
Manual Focus Zoom		Yes	No
RAW mode 10-bit		Yes	No, 8-bit
16-bit RAW acquire		Yes	No
Histogram		Yes, play review mode	No
Supplied storage		32 MB Compact Flash card	16 MB Compact Flash card
Direct Printing		Yes, Canon printers	No

Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window.To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top.DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2001 PhilAskey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in anyelectronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images)please contact: Phil Askey.

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