Canon PowerShot G7 Digital Camera

The reason I chose this camera was a hang-up I have had for a long time: THE LENS. Like any TI gizmo, garbage in = garbage out: if you don't have a decent lens, you're off to a bad start - no matter how much you play with it on the computer (and I've got better things to do with my time). Light is received as a square of lens diameter so light-capturing is important, particularly in poor light: for social use, that's a lot of the time. I've also found that the camera you have with you tends to take better photos than the superb piece of kit on top of the wardrobe...

So my need was something with a good lens, well put together and with enough facilities to take good pictures and effects yet small enough to have it with me when I need it. For me, the Canon G7 gets this just right. I can wear it on my belt but it's big enough to set the controls quickly and the large sharp 2.5" screen is fine. Also - from experience - do NOT buy a camera without an optical viewfinder. This camera has as good a screen as I've found but, on a bright sailing weekend, in direct sun, the screen was useless.

My former camera - a Fuji Finepix F700 - £250 at the time - was more compact but took much inferior available light shots and my decision to go for this sort of camera followed experience where I took pics with a friend at an evening outing where we took pretty much identical shots - his camera was cheaper and larger - yet my pics were clearly inferior.

You can read all the techie stuff / features from the spec: no point repeating them here. Couple of points worth mentioning: don't put too much emphasis on mega-pixels: a greater number means smaller pixel dimension on the chip and there is diminishing return over 6. Similarly the claimed light-grabbing potential high-ISO numbers mean little. Quality on all similarly-priced cameras - especially enlarged - suffers noise probs above 800.

I read quite a lot of reviews on this camera and others in its class and found some critical of the G7. Funnily enough the criticisms reinforced my confidence in the purchase. A typical comment: "This camera has all the features and quality that the serious Single-Lens Reflex user wants yet does not deliver the quality that Sony / Pentax xyz does" (cheaper but twice as big and heavy) and "For the point and shoot photographer this is relatively expensive and won't slip in the pocket." - so it "falls between two stools."
- That's just where I want to be.
The chunky controls fall to hand, are intuitive and easy to see. There's lots of them so lots of artistic / special effects - and the movie quality is really good. On the other hand if you want to point and shoot, leave the two primary control settings on auto and you can forget it.
Gripes: not the fastest camera to fire up from cold so you can miss the odd candid shot: not all that big a deal. I didn't like the instruction booklet - or rather all three of them, with a poor index - so you had to hop about to find what you were looking for. My biggest gripe though is paying £300+ for a camera which doesn't come with a case (bear in mind this is not an SLR), having to waste a half-day trekking around Sheffield - unsuccessfully. It's deeper than the usual digital, but nothing like as big as an SLR, so standard cases don't work. This is a stupid economy.
Having got that off my chest I feel better and would mention that - apart from those couple of gripes - I would have rated the camera "excellent"

The best compact camera I have ever used. Fantastic price ease of use and endless features. Because I have a shake I bought this camera for the anti shake correction feature and it is brillient.

Having owned and used several Canon digital SLR cameras I find the G7 easy to use as they follow a similar theme on their cameras. I am using the camera for remote and elevated shooting (silverleafdesigns.co.uk)I wanted a compact camera with great resolution with a decent optical and powered zoom - the G7 fits the bill, and produces pictures of an SLR quality and allows you full manual exposure control
Brought on Ebay for a bargain price, £130 less than the UK RRP - very satisfied with the speed of delivery. In the sealed box it was made for the USA market but the vendor had thoughtfully included a UK adaptor.
Has a large preview screen and the powered zoom which is great - however it does wear down the battery quickly, recommend an additional battery - I'm fortunate because it's the same battery and charger set up as one of my canon SLR's. Also, it's quite heavy for a compact - but quality does come at a cost.

Good Points:-
Good image and build quality.
True optical viewfinder.
Manual operation excellent.
Good lcd screen.
Good overall handling.
Good lens and zoom range.

Bad Points:-
No battery level indication.
No RAW file output.

I also use a digital SLR but, due to the size, do not always carry it around with me. The G7 is small enough to take most places. The lack of battery level indication means that a spare battery is a must. The lack of RAW file output is a nuisance for the times when a 'professional' image is required and fine tuning of white balance, exposure etc would be useful.
However, the G7 is, I feel, the best reasonably affordable alternative to an SLR presently available.

I attempted to purchase this camera from a power seller called trendypod in Hong Kong........Big Big mistake. I sent the money via a wire transfer and they denied having received it....After having contacted ebay via there dispute site. trendypod suddenly "found" my money...weeks went by , still no camera, and no money returned. This went on for FOUR MONTHS before I at last had my money returned. I feel sure that I would have had no money back for this item were it not for the help of ebay. Ebay were wonderful and extremely helpfull during the entire dispute
I have now learned a valuable lesson.....I shall never ever buy anything from a seller who does not reside in this country. I felt totally helpless trying to contact a bad seller who does not reply to emails. At least if you have problems in the uk you can go and beat on someones front door !!
So remember........do not deal with TRENDYPOD (hong kong)
I then ordered the same type of camera from a uk seller and it arrived the next day.........that's how it should be

Fantastic camera, incredible picture quality and easy to use.
Wished it had come with basic instructions instead of advanced!
Great value for money.

Hi,
My previous camera (not a Canon Camera) had the “black screen of death” (no picture), a fault code, and just would not work any more. So I bit the bullet and decided to buy a new one. I looked around all the manufacturers to see if there was another camera that would be suitable and fulfill my needs. After much searching, I found the camera that I think fits my needs perfectly.
I was looking for a Camera that would give me:-
More optical zoom than most.
More pixels than most.
Would take the new SDHC cards. (much greater storage and speed)
That would take good full screen coloured movie clips with sound.
That would feel like a Camera should feel. (not feather light, but strong and durable)
That also looks like how a Camera should look.
That has an optical view finder as well as a display screen with playback.
That was point and shoot, but could be totally manual if required. (for when / if I learn
how to take pictures properly in the future)
That was relatively reasonably priced.
I found these qualities in the Canon G7 Power Shot, which has a 6 times optical Zoom. (not 3 times), a 10 mega pixels resolution (not 5,6,7 or 8), and all the other qualities that I mentioned above. I bought a new G7 via Ebay at a very good price, and I am very pleased with my purchase. I have now had the camera 7 weeks, I have had no problems with the camera to date, and have taken many Movie clips and lots of Photo’s. I do use the camera for leisure as well as for my work. (for recording the details of old machine tools that are to be electrically re-designed and retrofitted) also for taking Photo's and Movie clips of my gigs (I sing, play guitar and ‘G’ Banjo being one of the two of ‘TheBanjoBoys’) so the camera has to be reliable. The only niggle I had was that I could not get the Soft where to work properly on my computer, so I got around this problem by buying a card reader off Ebay for a few quid that enabled me to read the Photo’s and movies directly from the SDHC card directly into my computer.
My conclusion is I am very satisfied with my purchase.
Regards Stef.

I have used my Canon PowerShot G7 for about a month. I bought the G7 because I wanted a small digital camera as supplement to my Hasselblad. I have experienced a high quality camera including the 6 x optical zoom (for wildlife photography), image stabilizer, and the possibilty to mount a tele converter. The camara is easy to use and the results are excellent.
I only have one minor complaints: the box contained a very poor quality basic user guide (a photocopy). I found an advanced user guide on the internet for which I had to pay about 10 pounds. The advanced guide is also a photocopy. Canon should consider to include a proper printed user guide.

OkiDoki...

I have owned S2 IS / IS 750
and now G7...
its lovely, great and one of the canon's bets ones.

Macros shots are wikid... zoom is good enough and the battrey life is fine...
i dont know why every one cripin about the battery/memory slot! its fine and I never had a problems last 6 months!!!

the only problem I had was I set the camera on timer! and it gose by and take the pictures! but the picture is not there!!! so it happend to me twice!
but i can't find anythin else gose wrong!!!

ISO button is lovley ! IS works fine and video is prefect...
its a bit heavy but come on you have like 100000 feat/options on it and its balck,,, I am hapy for every single peny I paid for...

The product was in very good condition
Nothing to say for the quality,it was perfect
Christian Rome

I WANTED A CANON G7 CAMERA.I SAW A CAREFULLY TAKEN PHOTOGRAPH IN THE CAMERA SECTION OF E-BAY.THE PRICE WAS NOT CHEAP,AS ALL THE RELATIVE SOFT WARE WAS MISSING,IT WAS JUST THE CAMERA,NO BATTERY ,OR CHARGER NO LEADS, MEMORY CARD SHOULDER STRAP OR CAMERA CASE.ALSO NO INSTRUCTION MANUAL.THE SELLER WAS ,I PRESUME,NOT AVAILABLE TO SPEAK TO,BECAUSE OF HIS WORK,THE CONDITION WAS DESCRIBED AS GOOD,WHICH,FOR ITS AGE, MEANS A RUBBED OFF PAINT AREA OR A MINOR SCRATCH.I WAS NOT REALLY HAPPY WITH MY DECISION TO BID ,UNTIL I COULD HOLD THE CAMERA IN MY HAND--THERE WAS NO GUARANTEE GIVEN,I HONOURED MY COMITTMENT AND PAID FOR THE CAMERA.IT ARRIVED BEAUTIFULLY PACKED,AND FIRST GLANCE IN THE BOX ,I WAS PLEASED.HOWEVER THE MOMENT I LIFTED THE CAMERA OUT OF ITS BOX, IT WAS IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS THAT THE CAMERA HAD BEEN DROPPED.SUCH IS THE COMPLICATED NATURE OF THE ELECTRONICS IN THESE DIGITAL COMPACTS THAT,ONCE DROPPED, THEY CAN NEVER BE RELIED TO FUNCTION RELIABLY EVER AGAIN.THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION WAS THAT WE WERE REPLACING A CAMERA THAT HAD FAILED THROUGH BEING DROPPED BY PURCHASING THIS ONE!I,PERSONALLY,NOW THAT I HAVE ENCOUNTERED GREAT DIFFICULTIES WITH PURCHASING A SECOND HAND CAMERA.WOULD,IN FUTURE,ONLY BUY NEW.TO ME,IT IS NOT WORTH THE HASSLE IF THE GOODS TURN OUT TO BE FAULTY AND THE SELLER,WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS.THANK GOODNESS THERE IS A SAFETY NET WITH E-BAY,WHEN PURCHASING THROUGH PAYPAL,OTHERWISE,FAIR PLAY COULD NEVER BE SEEN TO BE WORKING.I SHALL ALWAYS HAVE FEW QUALMS WHEN PURCHASING ITEMS ON E-BAY.GEOGMIKE.

tis shite just like i am in t bed hahaha i have a small willywonka hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

This camera is excellent, it is just below a DTTL camera. A 10 mega pixel camera and a 6X zoom lens. Has Auto/scene/P/Tv/and Av modes plus full manual. The only thing it hasn't got is RAW, but for the enthusiastic amateur it is perfect

I recently bought a Canon Powershot G7 digital camera on Ebay and think that I have got a real bargain. The G7 was, until it was recently superceeded by the G9, Canons most advanced incarnation of its G series of cameras. This series bridged the gap between compact and DSLR cameras, allowing creativity and increased manual control but also point and shoot convenience. The G7 has 10 mega pixels of resolution and a wealth of easy to acces features, plus manual shutter speed/aperture controls that make this a highly developed and sophisticated compact which delivers great picture quality. The G7 also has a optical viewfinder,a high resolution 2.5 inch digital viewfinder, 6X optical zoom, a hot shoe for an additional flash, good build quality and great classic camera styling. It is slightly larger that an average compact but still easily portable in a bag or coat pocket. The one that I bought was a "refurbished as new" model and cost £150 which included a 2Mb memory card which is a massive saving on the high street retail price( approx. £250) and also well below many inferior compact cameras currently avaiable. Although the words "refurbished as new" may be offputting to some people I feel that such items, although may have initially suffered defects, have been restored to the manufacturers origional specifications and are issued with a warrantee so the consumer ultimatly wins by being able to buy perfectly operational products at lower prices.
Before I bought this camera I had a Canon Powershot A640 which is a similar but lower spec model costing me £180 new (no extras), now I have got its more able version for £30 less and am extremely pleased.I definatly recommend this camera to anyone who is enthusiastic about photography, I absolutely love it, and particularly using Ebay as a method of buuying. I was able to get all the camera I need at a great price.

Had a problem finding all the settings -I have the 5D slr and it's more user friendly. Anyway, the G7 is the perfect partner to the 5D. Can carry in pocket. Print quality at 7x5 was equal to the 5D. Only drawback is that any major cropping reduces quality seriously. However,I'm not compare equals. The G7 is the best compact camera on the market. For beginers might find the manual a bit off-putting with crammed lettering and complicated info.

I bought this for my partners sister as she needed a new camera, this canon g7 fitted the brief perfectly. This is a pro spec compact that is equally at home with a novice, the build quality is great, the review screen is stunning and the controls are easy to use and understand, dont be put off by the fixed rear screen as the moveable ones are prone to breaking off. The 10million pixels are more than enough for 8x10 and A4 prints (its not all about pixel quantity its what the camera does with them that counts and canon G series are excellent image processors) Faultless perfomance on full auto (point and shoot) and all the features you need to improve your pictures as you get more experienced. The image stabilisation is optical (the best )not digital, If you want a compact that will not let you down and built to last you need not look any further.
Hope this helps in your decision.
Happy Snapping.
Gordon

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The Canon G7 is a very good camera, I have one from new and bought this one from ebay for my wife. She wanted a camera, and I thought if we had the same, we would cut down on disc loadings in the computers and shared experience with one camera type etc etc.
The camera bought from ebay has been well battered and abused in it's short life. It appears to be still working as it should, but I do regret buying this one.
A lesson for future buyers ... If you see a camera for sale, and the picture is fuzzy rather than crisp and clear, it's probable that the item is not one that the seller wants you to scrutinize too closely.
That said, if you want a good camera the G7 is generally a good buy, it's quite robust, it has the layout of a normal SLR camera and as long as you avoid using the digital zoom it will take good photos.
The panoramic stitch setting is useful, but stick to 3, possibly 4 images at most, and be aware that the exposure setting can be confused by strong sunlight.
Buy this if you want a cheap (secondhand) reasonable quality camera.
Doesn't come near to the likes of a Leica for image quality, but is easier to use.

The Canon Powershot G7 was realeased in 2006, to mixed reviews due mainly to the lack of raw image processing, nevertheless the camera became a top seller.

The G7 is a superb camera, it is capable of taking exellent pictures (especially in good light) which at 10 mp. is more than enough for A3 prints, (more megapixels is probably more of a sales gimmic - especially for smaller sensor (aps-c etc) cameras), in comparison to a 400D the low light/high iso performance is poor- and the onboard flash encourages "redeye" over 400 iso the G7 images are quite "grainy" (image noise), with the 400D iso 800 are fine and at iso 1600 useable but a little "grainy". The G7 is slow (shutter lag) in comparison to the 400D with some shots missed with the G7 which i would have got with the 400D + when using an outboard flash (580ex) redeye is significantly reduced(because of the distance between the lens & the flash + the 400D has "redeye reduction" settings which i have not found on the G7).

The 35mm (35mm equivelant)(same as the G9), widest focal length setting is sometimes just not wide enough, (especially indoors), you can fit a fiddly and bulky (might as well have a d-slr, ditto with external flash units) wide angle converter or you could pay (quite a bit) more and get a G10 (with its 28mm max. wide angle)

So it is a matter of perspective, if you had upgraded from an old, cheap or basic compact digital camera you would probably think the G7 is superb (with its exellent good-light image quality and advanced features/controls), however if you are a D-SLR user buying the G7 as a back up or walk-round camera you would realise the compromises taken to squeeze all this into such a small package.
Verdict-
Compromised, but useful compact digital camera, good value at about £200, a significant saving on the latest G10

Overview-
Compact top-of-the-line Digital camera.
Approx- 10 megapixel
Hi rez 1024X768 @ 15fps movies (better than G10)
2.5" detailed screen
35-210mm f2.8-4.8 optical image stabilised lens
Uses NB2LH battery (same as G9/ 350D/ 400D)

The G9 is basically a G7 with 12 megapixels and raw

The G10 is bigger, more expensive to buy now, has 15 megapixels/ 3" screen & a wide angle lens (28-140mm) uses a newer, more powerful battery (same as the 450D/ 500D) and cannot take hi res movies (max- 640x480 @30fps)

The 400D was released around the same time as the G7 has a similar on-paper spec, but outperforms the g7 in almost every area exept size and the G7s ability to take movies, also, to get the best results from the 400D, best to ditch the non is, 18-55 and replace it with a 18-55 is, which is vastly superior, a 50mm fast prime for portraits/ flashless low light situations, A Canon 70-300 is or similar if you can afford it, or an older manual focus telephoto if you are on a budget, Power is important in flashguns, with the flashgun supplying the correct amount of light UPTO its maximum output, so i would go for a 580ex/11, or a powerfull sigma on a budget.

You would need a 5D mk11 to get significantly better results than with a 400D with 18-55 is 70-300 is / 580ex (+ you would need a grip)
Of couse, thes lot is quite expensive, and you could'nt fit it in your pocket- this is where the G7 comes in! *

I've recently upgraded my digital compact to a more suitable Canon G7.
6x optical zoom was mainly what i was looking for, the canon G7 offered that and much much more.

Handling:
This camera feels like it was built well, its heavy, made mostly out of metal (likely magnesium since that seems to be Canons choice For DLSR shells too).
The grip leaves a bit to be desired, theres not much of it making one handed usage awkward, but with both hands you'll be making great photos in no time.
The G7 is also a fair bit Chunkier than your average compact so bear this in mind when buying.

Features:
One of the most impressive features of the G7 is the Macro, it can focus right down to less than a centimeter, meaning life size macro shots are possible, the only problem i found with this is lighting, since at 1cm the lens makes a shadow! But im sure some of you will figure out your own ways around this.
The face detection function is rather handy for snapshots and can certainly keep up with more recent cameras using it.
As with other more recent Canon compacts the G7 has colour accent, allowing you to pick out a certain colour and expose it leaving anything thats not that colour black and white.
The flash hotshoe on top of the camera is great if you already own a Canon Speedlite 430ex or 580ex, since they're fully compatible, it does look a little strange since the flash is bigger than the camera, but it produces great results.
The IS (Image Stabilization) is very handy for slightly lower light situations, allowing you to shoot 3 stops slower and also the fairly wide F2.8 maximum aperture can increase your options in poorly lit environments.

Cons:
Battery life leaves much to be desired here, although it does use Li-Ion rechargables the two standard sizes are 570mAh and 720mAh, much smaller than that of its predecessor the G6.
ISO 1600 and 3200 are, as usual mostly worthless, too much image detail lost, though it does seem to perform better than most compacts could manage.


Overall i'd highly recommend this compact camera if you're looking for something to do the work of a DSLR that you can carry anywhere and even (just about) fit in your pocket!
Image quality is great and the 6x zoom makes it ideal for most situations.

Regards
Bondy

This really is a very good, solid little camera overlooked and underrated in the shadow of its replacements the G9 & G10. 10GB chip is more than adequate. 12 or 14 simply brings more noise with resolution gains being marginal. So the real difference is in a lack of Raw imaging. Before you spend half as much again on a G9, or three times as much for the G10, ask yourself will I really use raw? If you already use raw, you can judge for yourself if you will use it for your snaps, but if you don't, think how much longer raw images take to save with such a cut down buffer, how much more disk space they require and will it really enhance your snaps? I would say that if you are serious enough to use raw, buy an SLR, if not jpegs can use most of the functions of Photoshop Elements or Aperture, let alone the simple "built in" programs like iphoto or what ever the Windows equivalent. If you get over all of that, then the only difference is an extra 1/2 inch on the already clear and bright screen. If you buy a G7 you won't be disappointed!

A great piece of kit for the price. One the best non-SLR camera's around, the whole series is great. Some say this is better than the G9. Im usually a Nikon user. But i have been convinced at this cameras greatness.

Not the smallest of non DSLRs but heck its a great camera - very similar to a Leica CL generaly with controls similar to rangefinder cameras of the past. Great results. With some firmware downloads to SD card you can even capture with RAW if thats you bag. have a Google for this.

Highly recomended - if you dont want the smallest & slimmest available but it does deliver.