Rating: 
Summary: Canon G2 -The BEST digital camera for under $1000US! Period!
Review: The Canon PowerShot G2 is a digital camera consumer's dream come true, and a nightmare for other digital camera manufacturers.Make a list of features you'd expect and not expect to find from a "prosumer" digital camera, and chances are you'll find them on the G2. This is a little camera that was designed to act a lot bigger than many other digital cameras in its class. You only have to pick up a G2 to realize that there's a lot more to it than meets the eye; this camera's significantly heavier and feels sturdier than any other camera in its class! The extra weight means better camera stabilization. The G2's sturdiness inspires confidence and makes the camera feel like a photographic tool, not an electronic gizmo. From the tilt-and-swivel LCD, the magnification loupe for manual focusing, dedicated and fully functional flash hot-shoe, evaluative metering, IR autofocous assist mechanism, ISO 50, RAW image format, etc., etc., this camera has it all!. Many photographers will argue that the real measures of any camera lie in the controls and results. The G2 doesn't disappoint in either of these respects. Although you'll have to familiarize yourself with the camera's controls initially, you'll soon find them very intuitive and actually use them more often than not. The quality of images captured with the G2 is nothing short of superb! You'll get clean, detailed, very high-resolution photographs with the G2, especially if you use the camera's RAW mode at ISO 50. The Canon PowerShot G2 is still a point-and-shoot digital camera. Anyone who's ever used an SLR will miss the optical viewfinder, true manual focus, and lens selection not available in the G2. However, this can be said for any other digital camera in the G2's class. In every other respect, the G2 rises above its inherent limitations and really challenges its competition to try and keep up! Beyond the camera itself, Canon has really done the consumer proud by offering most every accessory that you would want included at no extra charge, i.e. an remote control unit, high-capacity rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, and remote capture software. If you're in the market for a capable digital camera at a reasonable price, thank Canon for making the choice really very simple. Positives:
- extensive feature set
- excellent build and design
- superb results, especially in RAW mode at ISO 50
- Excellent lens produces very little distortion and chromatic aberrations
- extremely reasonable price
- All the accessories that should come standard do come standard. Negatives:
- Certain exposure adjustments, i.e. flash compensation, aren't available in full manual mode.
- The fact that the G2 isn't an SLR.
- Not much else.
Rating:
Summary: Canon G2 Camera Kit
Review: Camera Body, Compact Power Adapter CA-560, Lithium-Ion Battery Pack BP-511, Neck Strap NS-DC100, Wireless Controller WL-DC100, USB Interface Cable IFC-200PCU, AV Cable AVC-DC100, Lens Cap, 32MB CompactFlash Card with case, Adobe PhotoShop 5.0 LE, Apple QuickTime 5.0, ZoomBrowser EX 2.8 (for PC) and ImageBrowser 1.8 (for Mac), PhotoRecord 1.2.4 (Windows only), PhotoStitch 3.1, RAW Image Converter 1.1, RemoteCapture 2.0 (enables Canon G2 camera to be controlled by a computer), User's Guide, Software Starter Guide, System Map, Canon U.S.A., Inc. Limited Warranty.
The design of the Canon PowerShot G2 is based on the popular PowerShot G1, with an elegant champagne metallic coverplate and an enlarged handgrip for better ergonomics. The Canon G2 has many features in common with its predecessor, including a superbly sharp high-speed 7-21mm f/2.0-2.5 zoom lens (equivalent to 34-102mm in the 35mm format), a Vari-Angle LCD viewfinder, a conventional camera body design, a high-speed plug-and-play USB interface, compatibility with Canon EX-series Speedlite flash units, and compatibility with Type I and II CompactFlash memory cards, including IBM's series of Microdrives. Equipped with a 1/1.8-inch, 4.0 megapixel CCD sensor, the Canon PowerShot G2 allows users to produce full-color, high-resolution images up to 2272 x 1704 pixels. The camera also offers three additional resolution settings of 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480. The added resolution helps users to produce sharper enlargements with finer detail than is possible with 3.3 megapixel cameras. For maximum flexibility, the Canon PowerShot G2 provides users with a selection of 13 image quality settings including 3 JPEG compression modes (Superfine, Fine and Normal) at any resolution. It also features Canon's exclusive RAW mode for maximum control over image attributes such as white balance, contrast, sharpness, saturation and bit depth without image-degrading artifacts. By combining the G2's RAW file capabilities with its optional ISO 50 sensitivity setting, users can achieve higher image quality than any competitive model on the market today. The Canon PowerShot G2 uses RGB primary color filters on the CCD chip for maximum color reproduction accuracy. This feature, together with proprietary noise reduction and digital signal processing, works behind the scenes to deliver top-notch image quality that's unique to Canon.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this Full-Featured Camera!
Review: We "adopted" our Canon Powershot G2 about two months ago-- our verdict so far? Great camera for the serious digital photographer! This is our second digital camera...We made the initial switch from our SLR to digital and have never retreated. The Canon G2 is a full-featured digital camera for those of us that love the control you have with a good SLR. This model has all the manual adjustments for aperature, shutter speed etc., that you might be used to on your film camera. At the same time, the G2 has many fully automatic settings for simple point and shoot, such as full program mode, macro (close-up), portrait, panarama etc. In fact, if you are already a Canon SLR owner like us, you'll find many of the same controls you've already grown accustomed to. Features convincing us to purchase this camera over others include a flash hotshoe, rechargeable (in the camera) Lithium Ion battery, a decent sized 32MB Compact Flash Memory card, an excellent quality zoom lens and a really bright, adjustable LCD display. We also like the ability to switch between various levels of color intensity similar to polarizing and other filters, as well as B&W and sepia. There are also settings to adjust for different outdoor and indoor conditions such as flourescent and incandescent light. There are many more! A big surprise was the digital video recorder with sound. I thought this would be little better than a toy, but the quality of images and audio were amazing. Having said that, I wouldn't get this in place of a digital video camera, but if you occasionally like to shoot a few frames of video with sound to throw on a webpage it really comes in handy. So far we really haven't found a lot of downsides on this camera. You should pick up a larger compact flash memory card, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal with prices coming down....We shoot at 1600x1200 allowing us 219 exposures to work with. We also bought an additional Lithium Ion battery. The Canon uses a proprietary battery charged in the camera. The battery life is excellent allowing you to constantly use the LCD viewfinder and all features for more than a full day of shooting. However, if you do happen to drain the battery, you'll be out of luck until you can stop somewhere to plug the camera in for a couple of hours. Two batteries solve that problem....Availability of an external charger would be nice. Currently Cannon offers an optional charger to use in your car only. The truth is there are so many features on the G2 that I can't write about them all here. If you are in the market for a high quality, full-featured digital camera as a long term investment, on par with your Nikon, Olympus, or Canon SLR film camera, this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent camera for serious amateurs
Review: I've loved photography for years but only 3 months ago actually bought a digital camera - Canon A20. Thats a good camera but limited manual adjustments - hence my move to the G2. I've only had the G2 a week but since then I've created some excellent low light and sun rise shots - all free of noise and grain. This camera, combined with my Epson Stylus Photo 890, have allowed me to produce excellent photos, the quality of which could easily be mistaken for photos taken with my Nikon SLR on top quality film and printed professionally. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so tend to use the RAW image mode, ISO 50 settings and use premium photo glossy paper/semi glossy paper at 1440 or 2800 dpi - 8 * 10 prints look wonderful. Its only when you get a magnifying glass out and look very hard that you notice that a conventional camera does beat a digital one. The supplied software is very easy to use and makes organising your photos easy and convenient - better than any other image organiser I have tried.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST 4 MP Digital Camera - I love my G2
Review: I've had my Canon Powershot G2 4MP Digital Camera for about 3 months now and I am completely in love. This is my 3rd Digital Camera and I think I will be using this camera for years to come. This camera package includes the beautiful 4.0 Mega-pixel Canon PowerShot G2 camera, 32MB CompactFlash card, lithium-ion rechargeable battery, AC Adapter, wireless remote control, neck strap, lens cap w/strap, USB cable, A/V cable along with software and manual. 4 Megapixel settings on the camera allows you to take pictures that look just as a good as a traditional 35 mm high quality camera. The camera can be set to 4 different resolutions with a maximum resolution of 2272 x 1704 and the minimum resolution of 640 x 480. You can store the images captured in JPEG or RAW format, which is better than the traditional TIFF format. Canon does include software that will allow you to convert the RAW format. The camera accepts both Type I and Type II CompactFlash memory cards. A 32MB card is included which will allow for about 10-15 pictures in the highest resolution setting. I instantly sprang for a SanDisk 256 MB CompactFlash Card and the Sandisk Imagemate CompactFlash Card Reader (SDDR-31) to download the pictures from the card directly vs. using the camera's USB connector. The camera is also microdrive compatible, but I haven't had an opportunity to try that yet. The prices for 1 GB microdrives are around $300.00 which makes it a really attractive accessory for this camera. The 3x optical zoom lens gives you a 35mm equivalent focal length of 34 to 102mm. Another thing I love about this camera is the tilt-and-swivel LCD that's included. The LCD twits around completely that will allow you to take some of the over-the-head, backwards, impossible shots. One of the best features about this camera is its battery consumption or the lack thereof. I took over 200 pictures indoors with flash in one sitting and I still had plenty of juice left into the battery. I could have shot for another 2 hours, but I ran out of CF cards. The G2 also has a full TTL hot-shoe built onto the top of the camera to add another flash. The bottom of the camera includes a tripod mount. The true camera geeks will be happy with all the possible exposure modes available on the camera. Starting with the automatic exposure mode to complete granular control that the SLR provides, this camera will make everyone happy. The scene exposure modes allow for presets to take portraits, pan-focus, landscape, and night-scene. If you get this camera, you have to try to use the included Photo Stitch software to take those truly breathtaking panoramic pictures. In conclusion, this is a great camera that will give you years of great service and take fabulous pictures. The only complaint I would have about this camera was the connectivity on my XP computer. The camera includes a USB cable and software that is supposed to allow you to download the pictures from the camera directly, but I was getting some weird connectivity errors. Since I already had the Sandisk CF card reader, I never tried to get this connectivity working. But a lot of other people have this working and so this shouldn't be an issue for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: What we all NEED! Better than it's descendant the G3
Review: I have had this camera for more than a year and I am just now getting to write a review. Which means I have had much time and practice to test this camera.
This camera is very much in the middle and by that I don't mean just ok. It is not to hot and it is not too cold, it is "just right!" It has features and manual controls for those who like to manipulate their shots, but in the same respect if you are used to just snapping a picture with one button and letting the camera do the work, then this camera is for you too! The image quality is great! You can buy accessories and extra lenses for it just like those hot shots with expensive film cameras! I have 3 lenses and two filtering lenses(polarizing and UV filter.) One of my extra lenses is a macro lens which really is wonderful. Which brings me to the point that the camera's macro capabilities are wonderful as is! If you don't know what macro means, I can take a picture of those unsightly pores it gets so close. I have taken some wonderful nature photographs with the macro. I love up-close, detailed pics. This camera has a little bit of everything but not too much it is overwhelming. If you want to use it, it is there and if you don't keep it on automatic! The best part is that there have been two cameras in the "G" line that have been introduced since the G2 but they aren't as good as this one(in my opinion.) So the price has dropped dramatically you can get one for less than 300 if you know where to look. I just cannot stress enough how much this camera has been in service to me. I never even used a regular film camera before I got this camera because I never had the money to get a really good one. Sure I took the occasional pic with my aunt's point and shoot film camera at Christmas, but that wasn't much fun. When I got this camera I just experimented and took soooooooo many pictures. I am really enjoying photography. I guess the reason I never got interested in photography before was the expense of film and then developing, as well as not being sure the pictures were even any good until you got them back from the drug store. With this camera you just look at the shots and if they stink you delete them and take another shot. No wasted film! IF you don't have a printer at home then you can easily take them to Walgreens or upload them to Walmart's site and get prints from your digi pics. So simple. I have experimented with many consumer valued digital cameras when I took my photography class last year( which was the reason I bought this camera) and let me tell you, it was the best in the class. We had Kodak and Olympus and so many other brands and they all stunk compared to mine. Olympus C something was pretty comparable but still not as good as my G2. I would recommend this camera to the new aspiring photographer as well as to the family photographer who wants to capture all the good things. I am sure once we become professional photographers we will have a SLR digital camera but for anyone less than a professional who is actually getting paid for their pictures, this is the best quality at the best price. When printed on photo quality paper my digital pictures are as good as if not better than other film photographer's pictures. I have been told my shots are good enough to be in National Geographic! Have fun with this joyful contraption.
Rating:
Summary: excellent photo qualtiy with this Canon GS2
Review: I have had my canon for almost a year now, and I just want all to know who are looking for a camera, that there are a lot of cameras out there that you will not be satisfied with if you are looking for excellent photo quality.. this camera creates beautiful pictures, and they are easy to load on the computer with included software, and when I order prints, they look like they were done professionaly. this camera is not for someone who wants a camera you can slide in your pocket, it is an amatuers camera and is made for good quality picture taking, it can be attached to a tripod, and is intened for light duty amatuer photos, however, if you dont mind the weight of it, it is great for all your picture taking needs, and it really isnt that heavy, just not as slender as the little pocket cameras, same with the G3 by canon, anyway defientely an A+ on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Generally nice but needs patience
Review: In general this is a very nice camera with lots of goodies and quite foolproof for even a beginner. Lots of functions, good optics and high resolution, all give it high marks.
On the downside, the camera has a serious speed problem. If you're used to the typical 35mm SLR, this is not the camera for you. The time it requires to focus (a couple of seconds!?) as well as the time it takes it to 'save' (probably about 5-10 seconds with the color monitor open) an image and ready itself for the next one all but guarantee lack spontaneity in picture taking. A moving toddler, a pet, virtually any unstaged snapshot are usually ruined due to the camera's slow reaction time.
The software that accompanies the camera has goods and bads as well. While it offers all the capabilities one would want, it is cumbersome and immature as a product - or rather a medley of products thrown together and forced to talk to each other. Yes, you can adjust nearly any parameter you might want, touch up pictures, make photo albums, etc. But try just clicking on the print button to print one single picture out - it is infuriating. Page after page of dialogs, repetitively asking for the same information, often in uncomprehensible ways. At the end, that single 4x6 picture you wanted printed on a 4x6 paper ends up in the wrong orientation, parts of a head cut off and parts of the paper left white. Ouch!
Rating:
Summary: It was a good one
Review: This was my 2nd digital camera.
My first being a 1 megapixel kodak.
The first thing I noticed is the outstanding low light ability this larger aperature faster lens had over my first camera.
It handles white balance very well in all but the most difficult situations.
The only drawback I noticed is the macro feature can be frustrating in an indoor situation,
It tended to overexpose with the flash and the optional macro ring light is too expensive to consider casually.
Overall it has been a fine camera and it has encouraged me to consider moving into a digital SLR (from Canon ofcourse)
Rating: 
Summary: Canon Service is Horrible
Review: The G2 would be a good camera, if only it didn't break so often! The CF reader went bad in July and was quickly repaired. The lens jammed in August. They returned it to me four times, each time replacing the same part that didn't fix the problem the first time. It's almost November and I still don't have a working camera! I'll never buy a Canon product again- I've paid so much in shipping and repairs, not to mention wasting my time talking to customer service. All this and I still have to buy film!
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