Anybody using one of these digital models, any problems, observations? Was on the verge of buying the Olympus 5050 but am having a last minute assessment.

All the cameras out now have good quality. A thing to consider is what kind of batteries they use and what kind of media. Because you will probably then want to stick with the same if you get another camera. Also if you are going to want to use telephoto or wideangle does it have lens threads. Check out www.dpreview.com for tests and reviews on all digital cameras.

I just bought a G2. Should be here Monday. I'll let you know how I like it...:)

Thanks all, i've just sold on an Olympus 3040 to a friend and was ready to buy its later successor the 5050. I'm familiar with DP review and Steves Digicams but thought I'd trawl for views on the Canon equivalents. I know theres a lot of discussion of cameras in the mentioned sites forums but a lot of these posts are from camera buffs who are more interested in the machinery than its product.

Gland I'd be obliged for any observations when your G2 appears. I'm still leaning towards the 5050 because of its multi memory card capability, I'm knee deep in smartmedia and of course this would be useless if I went the Canon route.

Hi Chris
I have been using a G2 fr over a year..I was used to using a Canon A1 SLR and wanted a digital camera with similar capabilties. (I am strictly an amature by the way and digital photograpy is just a hobby).. I have found the G2 to be very intuative and forgivng.. I usually shoot at the highest jpeg quality and get great results..The camera also hasRAW capabilities.

If you have specific questions, I will try to answer. If I can.
I am using a 192 meg card and can get approx 88 photos at the high jpeg setting..The only problem I had with the camera was with the auto focus..It was too sensitive and kept refocusing..I set it to single focus and have no problems now..

Good Luck in your search

Jerry

Jerry,

Thanks for your comments, its the raw/tiff file saving facilities that interested me having always saved files in tiff form with the previous Olympus. I recently bought a Canon Ixus V3 (240 in the US?) as a snap camera but it only saves files in various jpeg qualities.

When you shoot in .raw format can you then drop the raw files straight into Photoshop or isnt it quite that simple. I noted on both DP Review and Steves Digicams that both the Canon and Olympus had supplied software for use with .raw files, is some further processing required before you can handle the files in Photoshop Jerry ?

Chris
I rarely have shot RAW files due to there size. However, when I did shoot some, I had to load them into the provided software and save them in tiff format before loading them into photoshop..It was not a big deal to do this..However if you are handling great numbers of pics., I can see where this would take more time to do..From what I am reading, this question applies to all RAW formats produced by major camera companies..This exact question was asked this morning at dpreview. Here is the thread. There are not a lot of replies yet, but you may want to follow the thread.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=4261024

Hope this helps
Jerry

Fire back more questions if you have any..

Chuck
Can you bring RAW files right into Photoshop or must you convert them to tiff first in other software.

Jerry

Interesting stuff and I'll follow that thread concerning the .raw files. I always had assumed that .raw were larger than tiff but this obviously isnt the case. I have the Zoombrowser software it came with the Ixus, I dont usually install supplied software just load via a card reader but I'll have a look at the Zoombrowser suite.

My camera produces just .raw files. I use a card reader to read the images and then use the program that came with the camera to read these images. If I down load the images from the camera it takes twice as long as it has to read them twice. I have no experience of the program ZoomBrowser but the software that came with my new camera is much better than the one with my old digital camera.

The Raw format files that my camera produces can not be loaded straight into photoshop

Hope this helps

Clare

My copy of Photoshop 6.01 will open .raw files. At least it's one of the formats listed. Guess I'll see how it works when I get my camera.

PS7 will also open .raw files but it does not see the images caputed by my camera??????? I have no idea why

Your using a Canon Clare?

Nope - I am using the Sigma SD9, I don't know about the Cannon range but you might beable to contact them directly and ask them what whether the images can be accessed directly from Photoshop or whether they need to go through a different program to?

As regards other specs of a camera I would find out if it is possible to go fully manual as this is very important at times.

Clare

This thread has generated most of the information I was looking for, specs are easily found on manufacturers websites but its the users who provide the hard info on various cameras. However I dont think there are many dud cameras about these days.

I agree that it is always good to get info off of someone who has experience of a camera - that's the sort of info the manufacurer would not let you know

Have you decided on your camera of choice?

Clare

I have been tempted by digital SLR's Clare but I dont really need the facilities and I know if I bought one I'd be back on the interchangeable lens treadmill!! Probably a Canon G3 or an Olympus 5050. I've shot a lot of stuff on an Olympus 3040 in the past couple of years and it gave reliable service and as mentioned earlier I have a few bits and pieces from the 3040 that could be utilised by the 5050.

Chris
I just did some testing with the Canon Raw format.. I took a pic. and instead of using zoombrowser, I imported the raw picture straight into Photoshop..The supporting software aoutmatically gives you the option of where to import the files..After in Photoshop, you can do with it what you want..Adjustments etc. and save it in an approved Photshop format..

Canon RAW files have a ".crw" extension..This is not a supported file type in Photoshop ..The ".RAW" extension supported by Photoshop I don't know what equipment produces it.. Therefore, you can not open a ".crw" extension file directly into Photoshop using the standard open command..However, they can be imported directly into Photoshop from the camere using the camera software..

Jerry

Please excuse the spelling and grammar..In a hurry heading out to a SuperBowl Party..

Thanks Jerry I've heard of Photoshop plug-ins that will sort out the transfer, I just want to cut the distance between camera and Photoshop.


I assume Superbowl is some sort of curry evening!

Chris,

I have only just gone from the Casio EX3000ir to the Sigma SD9, there are vast differences between the two camera. One of the first recognisable differences for me was the depth of field. The Casios was fantastic for a depth of field where everything is in focus, but the Sigma is more dependant on the f stop. The Sigma is more like using a normal film camera, and personally I am really enjoying having this control over my images again - but not to put down the great depth of field that the Casio gave, it was good to always know that the backup was there and editing could be done later in Photoshop.

The only thing I have to add is that look at the other manufacters like Casio, Fuji, etc. Sometimes these have added features that will not cost you more, when going for these camera rather than the main makes of camera like Nikon and Canon. I always used OM cameras through my training, and one of the main reasons was the reasonable price and the quality the camera gave in the results.

Clare

Ok I used mainly Canon SLR gear in the 70-80's but then gravitated to large format such as Sinar and Linhof stuff. Years of hauling that type of gear up to 10 by 8 format have given me a great love of small cameras!!!

This is some information I got off the Canon website.

PowerShot 350 / 600 / A5 / A5 Zoom / A50 / G1 / G2 / Pro70 / Pro90 IS / S30 / S40 / EOS D30



PROBLEM:

WHICH SOFTWARE WILL READ CCD RAW IMAGES?

SOLUTION:

The CRW format is a Canon proprietary format which can only be accessed via the TWAIN driver.

No applications can read CCD RAW images.

Once the RAW image has been acquired through the driver Into a TWAIN application (i.e. PhotoImpact) the application will convert the image a JPEG file. It can then be saved in the format of the user's choice.

I wonder if the Zoombrowser software for V3(230) and G3 are one and the same?


Additional: Well I had a look at the V3 Zoombrowser suite and it has the .raw conversion facility so they must toss in the same suite for both.

I assume if you hook up the Canon while using XP it will show up as an extra drive the Olympus did on the rare occasions I downloaded directly.

First impressions of the Canon G2:

Bear in mind my old camera is a 3.2MP Kodak DC-3800. The Kodak has some rather serious low light-noise problems.

The G2 is quiet and starts up very quickly. The pictures I've taken so far are all high res jpg that are around 2 megs. Writing to the CF card is very fast. This unit even feels like a camera.:)

I did install the twain driver as the manual suggested. When I switch the camera to "read" and the USB cable is hooked to the computer a little window will pop up and ask what application I want to open. I select Photoshop-the program opens and I've got a little control panel full of thumbnails of all the pictures I've taken.

If Photoshop was already open, I could just import the images.

I have not taken any .raw images yet.

No problems so far that can't be solved by reading the manual.:)

Thanks for that outline of your first experience with the G2, theres a large difference in price between the G2 and3 over here roughly $170 so I'm still giving it serious thought!

First .raw image:

I took a picture of my foot..:D It imported into Photoshop just like the .jpg did. It did go though a little conversion mode but this is about as easy as it can get.

I can only assume I must have a newer revision of the software that comes with the camera.

Well I was going to bite on a G2 but a generous offer on some old Pentax gear by a local dealer made me go for the G3 instead. The styling is a bit quirky but not bothered if the results are OK. Can't offer much else at the moment as the camera battery is charging . Nice to see a decent sized manual supplied that doesn't need a microscope to read it.

Well Chris the G3 is supposed to be better. All the reviewers think so anyway...:)

My G2 manual is very readable too.

Ok I ran from the shop before the dealer changed his mind the Pentax gear was worn out and looked it. G3 came with a lot of gear, the supplied AC adaptor being a nice touch and a continental plug adaptor, power sockets differ between the UK and Europe.

I was going to buy an extra battery but the dealer said the supplied one lasts a long time.

Chris
Glad you landed the G3..I'm sure that you will like it..Let us G2 folks know what we are missing.. Have fun...

Jerry

Took some .raw test shots today and attempted to load them into Zoombrowser via my card reader but alas no joy the program couldn't see them. Got them into ZB by dragging them onto the desktop via explorer and loading them from there.

I might be doing something obviously wrong but if possible I prefer to load via a card reader as it saves loading extra drivers etc. All this has taken place in 2K perhaps XP will be more amenable.

I know this is a Canon thread, but I've just bought a 2nd hand Sony DSC-F707 and the attached pic was taken with most things on auto except I set the speed to 100ASA. TTL flash metering.

The Sony F707 camera is good too Al. I've seen some very impressive night.(low light), shots done with the Sony. I had a tough decision deciding between the Sony or the Canon G2.

Got the download ( via Cardreader ) procedure working fine via the Canon File viewer utility. I havent had to load any extra drivers etc so that is a plus feature. The.raw images load straight into Photoshop.
As an aside my cardreader (USB 1) has been plugged into a USB 2 port and much to my surprise the download speed has increased considerably. Thought the peripheral device had to be USB 2 also to gain any improvement in data transfer?

Thanks I spotted that on DP review a few days ago, its not a problem I've had to contend with so far. Weather has been so poor over here that I've hardly been outdoors!

The patch for the file viewer doesnt seem to have appeared yet. I've been having a play with Zoombrowser and it does a good job for somebody who hasnt got access to Photoshop.

The Zoombrowser patch has now appeared.....


http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/zoom.html

Chris
Well you've had the G3 for a couple of weeks..How about a report..Anything really good or bad..?? Just curious..Any tips for struggling G2 amateurs..

Jerry

I've attached a shot I took using the camera out of the box and it coped pretty well. The controls are much simpler than my previous Olympus a lot of the more commonly used stuff being operated by buttons which save you hunting through the menus which has been a real pain with digital cameras in the past.

Battery life is excellent which is also the case with the G2 I understand. Theres a lot of info on the Canon forum in DP Review mostly good although there have been some focusing complaints. The software suite is pretty good although I use a card reader for downloads. I tried the Bibble prog for downloading .raw files but I couldnt get it to work at all so I just use the supplied Canon utility.

Same with the G2 Chris. I charged the battery when I first got it and have taken dozens of pictures with no battery problems.

Here is one I took yesterday of a blooming cactus totally untouched.....Well except for the frame..:)

Chris
Glad you are having success with the G3..Your out of box pic is really good..I bet you'll have some masterpieces to show before long..

Gland.
Very impressive pic with your G2..I really like mine..Do you use yours on automatic most of the time, like me, or are you a real photographer..what setting did you use for the cactus pic..

Jerry :D

Jerry I used the P or program setting. I set it to macro-autofocus,ISO-100, and the rest to the default settings. The camera set itself to F-2.2 at 1/50th second shutter speed.

Like Chris I'm still messing around with settings...:)

Oh and I'm not a real photographer....not yet anyway..:D

Do either of you use a Microdrive with the camera? I've considered one but lean more towards two 512 mb cards.

I'm using just a 128MB compact flash card in mine. Micro drives seemed a little pricey to me.

Chris
I am using a 192 meg card..It allows for 88 of the highest quality jpegs..I am really tempted by the new 1 gig compact flash cards..
No moving parts like the micro drive..About $250 here in the states. Then you could shoot forever without reloading..

Not that I do that very often.

Jerry

A 1 gig microdrive is getting on for $300 here and 1 gig CF is roughly the same with no moving parts which seems more practical.

I agree..I have read where the micro drives can get fussy in cold temperatures and if you are shooting at high altitudes where pressure thins out...The bigger CF cards seem like the way to go.

Jerry

Here I was agonizing over paying $35 for my 128Meg card..:D

I think I'd prefer several smaller cards rather than rely on one larger one. I've heard of people suffering bent pins when inserting CF cards into cameras but I think they must have been a bit ham fisted.

A classic case of Murphy's law! Was the card a write off or did you manage to resurrect it?