Best overall 4MP Digital Camera, better than most 5MP

First off, G3 is the very first decent digital camera I have owned, not including 640x480 Kodak DCS I bought 6 years ago. I however have taken thousands of pictures with digital cameras from my company, my friends and relatives, including Leica Digilux 4.3, Sony P7, Sony F505, Sony F707, Olympus 2020Z, Nikon 950, Canon G2, and even Nikon D1.

I have been a bit skeptic about digital camera for years, and found it hard to switch from SLR until my wife "told" me to get one to take pictures of our newborn.

We set the budget at $900, which leads to 4MP and 5MP cameras.

After reading many reviews and looking at sample pictures taken by various cameras in this range, from Canon PowerShot G3, Nikon CoolPix 5700, Olympus 5050Z, and finally Sony F717, I have chosen G3 for the following reasons:

1. FAT32 CompactFlash Type II: This camera is among the first to support FAT32 file system on CompactFlash Type II, promising 2GB storage in a few years. Besides, 512 MB CF is becoming very affordable--under $150. The fact that Canon's camera holds significant market share will also ensure that new CF will likely support them.

Pretec has announced 1.5GB and 3.0GB CF, and G3 is one of the models it supports

2. Skin tone: G3 produces the best skin tone colors in natural light. G2 is already the best I have seen on prints, and G3 seems (only slightly) better, perhaps due to the lens.

3. Fast processing time: All of digital cameras I have ever used (except lowly 2MP) are very slow in recording pictures as well as viewing. Some 3MP and 5MP only allow 2-4 pictures taken continuously at 0.5 to 1 frame-per-second. G3 takes 14 continuous shots of superfine 4MP in about 5 minutes, and I can start taking new pictures after a few seconds (while the rest of images are written in background). Besides, viewing pictures taken are very fast. I think it is faster than D1 I tried a few years ago.

In playback mode, you can blow up the picture 10 times to inspect the details. Playback and zoom are faster than most non-D-SLR cameras in the market today.

4. 2nd-Curtain Flash Sync: It fires the flash *before* the shutter curtain is close. This feature is commonly available in SLR but it was the first I saw on prosumer cameras. Although I will probably take less than 5 pictures in any given year, but it's nice to have one.

5. Fast Lens for 4X Zoom: Although not as fast as Sony's pride F717, G3 offers aperture of 2.0-3.0 for 35-140 mm lens. This will greatly help in low light condition; it also produces stunning shallow depth-of-field pictures.

6. Long Life Battery: G3 is said to top all other prosumer cameras even Sony F707 and F717. I manage to take, on average, 150 pictures at maximum resolution, view/delete them all on camera, download to PC, shoot some movies and play them back all with single charge! For standard use, you it is possible to shoot over 400 pictures continuously.

7. Bundled Software: The kit comes with many applications including PhotoShop 5.0 Special Edition (good enough for basic photo editing), ZoomBrowser to download/manage pictures, PC camera control (good for studio shooting), QuickTime, and Photo Stitch.

There are other features that come as bonuses, but not as critical as the above, including:

3-minute movie mode: It captures motion pictures at 320x240, 15 frame per seconds in MPEG format. The quality is very good, but you can't zoom in or zoom out while shooting, which seems to be quite standard among digital camera.

Panorama-assist mode: or called stitch assist mode. This feature allows you to take panorama picture with ease. It shows the previous frame which you can align the next frame to it--particularly helpful. You can also retake the frame that you don't like. Bundled software Photo Stitch is also very good, easy to use yet powerful. It also produces QuickTime VR.

Very good flash exposure: Its built-in flash is good enough for close range shooting, but external flash is highly recommended for longer range. G3 now supports wider range of flash comparing to G2. In night mode, it uses flash with slow shutter speed produces sharp foreground subject with nice background.

Two custom modes: You can program just about everything into the two custom modes, from ISO and White Balance to Zoom position. For an example, I set one custom mode for high quality shooting with superfine compression, ISO 50, focal length at 50mm, Auto white balance, and compensated flash exposure (-1.3EV) and use this mode most of the time.

Remote control: Came with the kit is an infrared remote control for shooting and playing back, particularly useful with tripod.

swivel LCD: The LCD can be move in many position, allowing me to shoot from difficult angles. In one case, I put the camera on the floor and was able to see and compose the picture. I can also fold the LCD back in to protect it while traveling. Kudos to Canon.

Histogram view: Histogram can be displayed in playback mode, with flashing pixels on the overexposed areas. Would be nice if the histogram is display while shooting.

Neutral density filter Every digital camera should have ND Filter. It filters the light out by 3 stop, allowing large aperture for outdoor shooting. This feature is particularly handy for fast lens.

hot shoe support: SpeedLight 420EX is recommended for its low price and high functionality.

wide angle and tele adapters: Canon offers 0.7x wide angle and 1.7x tele with bayonet fitting adapter. Not as good as SLR but certainly more economical.

shooting priority: This is something well thought. In playback mode, you can quickly return to shooting mode by simply pressing the shutter release button half way.

There are, however, something that I really don't like in G3, but thankfully they are manageable:

1. Slow autofocus, especially in low light condition or close-range subjects: Some said G3 is faster than other but SLR's are much faster than this.

When in continuous AF mode, the camera will constantly hunting for the focus even when the shutter release button is not pressed. This will improve focusing speed a little bit. If the focusing subject is closer than 50cm, the macro Autofocus must be activated.

2. Poor viewfinder. At tele, the lens barrel itself blocks the view in viewfinder.

3. The grip is not as comfortable as Nikon 5700 and Sony F707.

4. Zoom is limited. I prefer about 210mm (SLR equiv.)

5. Body design does not click. It's either too small (comparing to SLR and Nikon 5700 or Sony F717) or too big (comparing to other point-n-shoot). One good point is that the camera can be operated using only right hand, although not advisable.

6. 4MP. I would be willing to pay $100 extra if Canon G3 was 5MP.

For 8x12 print, the difference between 4MP and 5MP is not noticeable.

7. High noise at ISO 200 and 400, with noticeable noise at 100.

Although Canon labels its G3 with ISO 50, the actual sensitivity level is close to ISO 80 (which is about the same as ISO 100 from other manufacturers). Combining with fast lens (from 2.0), you can shoot at ISO 50 most of the time. For higher ISO, many noise reduction software will remove noises with ease.

The major drawback, at least at the time I wrote this review, is how G3 handles RAW images. Canon SDK 2.0.0 shipped with the camera does not seem to function well in manipulating raw image, I have to convert it to TIFF 16-bit and use PhotoShop to handle manipulation. Hopefully Canon will upgrade their SDK soon.

Also, the playback mode can't retrieve RAW image up for quality inspection, only the attached lowres JPEG is shown, which defeat the purpose of using RAW in the first place.

In conclusion, Canon G3 fares better than my expectation in all area except the autofocus, which I feel very slow despite all good reviews. I think Canon made a good decision in staying at 4MP as opposed to 5. With lens factor of 1.5 (i.e. the CCD is 1.5 times smaller than 35mm film), 4MP CCD gets more light per pixel, thus the noise level is considerably lower.

NOTE: I dropped the Shutter Lag score from 5 to 4 due to it's 1/10 second shutter lag time. This is not noticeable for casual shots, but for rapid firing, it's very annoying

Recommended Accessories
Canon cameras are known for rich accessories, and G3 is no exception. When launched, it already supports more accessories than most prosumer digital cameras, from lens adapter to high-power external flash. For everyday use, these accessories are indispensible:

External Flash: with moderate firepower and its light weight, SpeedLight 420EX is a good companion to G3. Although I find it's a little bit "toy-like" flash comparing to top model 550EX, 420EX is powerful enough in most situation (with guide number 42) yet not too heavy to carry around. e-TTL light measuring is really, really impressive, especially when for flash bouncing off the wall, ceiling, or even a piece of white paper. The exposure is correct most of the time. Strongly recommended if you take a lot of kid's and indoor picture.

Bayonet Adapter+UV/Skylight filter: for precious lens protection if nothing else. I installed a bayonet fitting adapter with a UV lens (58mm) and was surprisingly pleased. It protects the lens from dusts, winds, fingerprints, and lens extension when the camera is turned on. Even without tele/wide adapter and other useful filters such as infrared, it's already a worthwhile investment.