G3 or G5

[dirk]

Bernard,

yesterday Minolta announced the new Dimage A1 which some very interesting specs. This will cost around 1200 USD and has 5 MP.

But I would wait with your decision at least til August 18th. More announcements will come from other manufacturers

The next 8 weeks will be very hot - not only because of the weather

 

[msenvironmental]

I have been using my Canon G3 with excellent results. Skin tones are fantastic and landscape shots are awesome.

I have printed portrait shots out at A1 with incredible results (HP500PS using photo glossy paper). I can't see the justification for the extra expense for the G5. Unfortunately it is now almost impossible to get a G3 in the UK. If anyone knows of a source of G3s I have friends wanting to buy them.

I was wondering whether there is anything I can do to get the equivalent of a 50mm focal length lens to attach to the G3. Currently I am taking my old SLR out and using that to try to get the correct zoom with the standard G3 lens.

Thanks

 

[howard]

Michael,

It has been a while since Canon released the G5. Since the life span of a digicam seems to be only 6 mo's to 1 year, You may wait until the G6 is released. You can be sure that the new G6, whenever it is released will even better - more MP, better features, better performance and a lower price. I have no inside information regarding Canon -- I am just an observer of the world of digicams.

Good luck in your decision.

Howard

 

[mike_dial]

> I was wondering why you say they only have a life span of 6 months to a year? I have a Canon Powershot A40 that is a few years old, and is still going strong! It takes Great pictures, good enough for 8X10 prints. By the way, I joined the forum looking for manuals, and could not seem to access them. Is there a secret? (I found the manual on Google).

Thanks,

Mike

 

[howard]

Mike,

First, I am not sure whether you are referring to market lives or useful lives. Cameras that are not being marketed have useful lives long after the manufacturer ceases production. I still use a Canon EF circa mid 1970's, get great results, and that camera was discontinued over 20 years ago. The 6 months to a year market life of digicams is a perception, not based on actual study of how long manufacturers market particular digicams. Maybe 6 months to a year is too short. How long was the G3 out before it was replaced by the G5? How long was the D60 out before it was replaced by the D10? It seems as if those product life cycles were fairly short. Nikon's life cycles seem be longer the D100, 5400, 5700. Digicams generally seem to have short life cycles compared to their film camera counterparts.

I still feel that the G5 will ultimately be replaced by a new better G6 by mid next year. As I recollect, when the G5 came out, commentators were generally pleased with the camera performance, but some disappointed that that the changes from the G3 were not more dynamic. I think that there is room for a camera like a new G6, with the same sensor as used in D10 and D-Rebel. Why not upgrade the G5 with the Canon 6MP sensor with less noise at higher ISO's and maybe with a maximum ISO OF 1600. Maybe the lens can also be upgraded as well; it may need more resolution with 6MP. It seems as if there would a market for such a camera. I am just guessing what might happen. I am no sage; if I was I would have been more successful in the stock market.

I do not know how long the A40 has been out, but my daughter just bought an A70 (I hope I got the number right). I am very interested to see her pictures. I understand it is a very good camera.

I wish you continued good results with your A40.

Howard

 

[griffin]

> What the preceding message means is that they bring out new models frequently, not that the cameras go bad. According to several reviews , the G3 is perfectly good, but the G5 has some slight color fringing problems. I really liked the G2 I had, but opted to get a EOS 1D for speed.

 

[fotografz]

Howard, I think placing the D10 sensor in a G camera would require a much larger lens to cover the increase in sensor size. The G camera would then become almost the size of a Rebel... which already exists in digital format.

Also, after living with and shooting the G5 for some time, I now do not think it was worth the additional money over the G3. I thought so at first, but in retrospect I have altered my opinion on the subject.

 

[howard]

Marc,

We shall see if Canon can overcome the technical difficulties in using the Rebel sensor or something similar in a G6. You may be correct it is not feasable to use the that sensor without increasing the size of the camera. A larger lens will make the camera heavier and larger, both of which would make the camera less appealing. If the price, bulk approaches the size and weight of the Rebel, it would be difficult to compete against the Rebel.

Time will tell what Canon plans for the G series.

Howard

 

[matthewm]

I think it's important to realize that digital cameras are, in terms of marketing and product developement, computers NOT cameras. Traditionally, camera companies announced new models every 2 years at the Photokina trade show, and models remained in production for years. How long has the EOS 1v been Canon's pro film SLR? Now, new models are being released almost quarterly, and those models are being upgraded or discontinued after only months.

The great advantage to this is that Moore's Law comes in to play for cameras (i.e. they become twice as powerful and half as expensive every 18 months). The D30-D60-10D sequence is a perfect ex&le. The D30 was released with a certain feature set at a certain price, then less than a year later the D-60 is released with twice the resolution at a similar price, and then about 8 months later the 10D comes out with enhanced performance at a lower price. This also presents a downside in that your new camera will drop in price almost constantly after you purchase it, and a few months after you've bought it the manufacturer will introduce a new model with more features and/or a lower price.

This has been happening in the computer industry for years. So, buying a digital camera will be like buying a computer. if you wait for the new model to get cheaper/more powerful you'll be waiting forever, without a camera! The only real option is to find the best price on the camera that meets your needs now and resign yourself to the fact that it will be a couple of hundred dollars less in a few months or the manufacturer will release a better/cheaper model by the time you figure out all the features.

I think it will be interesting to see if other trends of the computer industry cross-over to the photograpy world as well. I already know that my two year-old digital camera has almost no [relative] resale value, much like my 10GB hard drive.

 

[fotografz]

Matthew, you are oh so right.

However, as far as an investment, cameras have never been all that great (except for some select items like Leica). I think it will even out when digital cameras truely equal 35mm film in versatility at a reasonable price. Then they can add stuff to it, but it won't really make all that much difference if you are after making photographs.

Rumor has it that Canon will next replace the D10 and boost the performance of the 1D (not 1Ds), to 8 meg @ 8 FPS. If that is true, I will buy the 1D for my second wedding camera... but it will not reduce the "shooting" value of my 1Ds which does the job quite well as it is.