The Canon PowerShot G2	SIGPC Vol. 7, No. 4 Mar. 23, 2003

by Ken Wong

People occasionally ask me about photography and, in particular, about camera equipment specifications. They focus on the technology almost as if that would automatically create great pictures all by itself. To some extent, the computing power and automation available in today's cameras can make the process of taking photos seem quite simple. However, images beyond the ordinary snapshot rely largely on the technical and artistic abilities of the photographer, working in synergy with the equipment; there's more to using a digital camera than megapixels. Consequently, this article is not so much a review of the Canon PowerShot G2, but more about my experiences exploring the creative and practical impacts of consumer-level digital camera technology.

Last spring, after checking a number of reviews , I ran to catch the digital camera bandwagon, and bought a Canon PowerShot G2 . I tend to be somewhat conservative when it comes to using technology, needing time to understand and obtain predictable and dependable results. The G2 looks like your typical point-and-shoot camera, but there are enough controls to play with that I am still exploring the possibilities. As a bit of background, most of my photography is in scenic landscapes and casual candids of people, and I also use an "old" but serviceable Canon EOS Elan, a single-lens-reflex camera with three lenses and an external flash.

"Free" Film

A digital camera, after the initial outlay for that, enough memory cards, and disk storage, costs practically zero to take each new frame. What photographer wouldn't want free film? Many angles, compositions, and lighting possibilities can be tried with quick feedback on the camera's LCD monitor. Poor results can be ruthlessly deleted right away. The G2 is less bulky than the Elan, easier to carry, and less intimidating to other people. This altogether can encourage more opportunities to take pictures. And I often now use my G2 simply to record whiteboards and certain presentations.

I probably don't take that many more frames on a particular subject than I used to with film. Lightning is one notable exception. The ability to try hundreds of shots to find the few keepers really pays off. Lightning shots, especially at night, can be impressive, and the feedback allows me to adjust the exposure for the desired effect. The frustrating part on the G2, however, is that long exposures of over two seconds require processing to reduce noise in the image. During this process, you have to wait for at least as long as the original exposure and can't take another shot.

Lightning	Edmonton, Canada, July 2002
	2272x1704 1.7 MB 15.0 s, f/7.1 ISO 50	Summer lightning storms over Edmonton can get pretty spectacular. Some noise is still noticeable in this long, night-time, full-resolution exposure. I had to wait about 15 s for the noise reduction process.

The Lens

Taking lots of pictures won't help if the camera puts up a major road block. The G2 has a non-interchangeable zoom lens with a 35 mm film equivalent focal length of 34 to 102 mm. In a sense, a single lens does encourage me to move around more, which besides exercise is not altogether a bad thing. In particular, since the digital resolution or "pixel budget" is limited, it makes a lot of sense to get near to the subject, focus on what aspect to emphasize, and crop tightly to fill the frame with interesting pixels.

The G2 lens, however, isn't wide enough for what I'd like, especially in taking images in confined spaces where I can't step back far enough. A truly wide lens, with the aperture set small enough, can allow enough depth of field to capture landscapes with interesting foregrounds (within a couple feet) and dramatic distant backgrounds—in sharp focus at both ends.

Also, the lens optically zooms in steps, so it's hard to get just the right the zoom level and composition. The zoom does take some time to rake through its entire range. For sports photography, where anticipation and quick reflexes are key, it can be difficult to quickly control the zoom, focus, and framing together. The zoom and focus functions overload the same finger instead of being on separate hands.

Playing with Light

One remarkable thing about the G2 lens that I hadn't appreciated until I got the camera is how "fast" it is. That is, the f/2.0 to f/2.5 lens is very good for capturing light when levels start to get low, giving a bit of extra flexibility.

The G2 has sensitivity settings of ISO 50, 100, 200, and 400. Images at ISO 50 are very clean, with elements like clear blue skies being very even in color. Mottling is noticeable at ISO 100, so I tend to prefer staying with ISO 50 as much as possible. Noise becomes very noticeable at ISO 200 and 400, enough to be objectionable to me and perhaps worse than the grain in fast-speed ISO 400 slide film.

Badminton	Edmonton, Canada, April 2002
	1600x1200 983 KB 1/200 s, f/2.2 ISO 100	Here, a badminton player is caught reaching up for a smash. Even with a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, the lens captures just enough light in the gym.

Beyond a fast lens, the G2 takes relatively clean images. Even slightly underexposed images are still usable. Underexposed images on print film tend to get very muddy and grainy. In fact, the digital response seems closer to that of slide film, where underexposing can turn a daytime scene into virtual nighttime. The opposite night to day effect by overexposing on the G2 is harder and perhaps impossible to achieve since exposures can't be longer than 15 seconds.

The G2 itself does not support multiple exposure images. I sometimes use this feature on the Elan to create special effects, with impressionist, half-blurred, glowing, or transparent elements. For the G2, these (and many more) effects would have to be composed in an image editing tool such as Photoshop.

Like slide film, color balance is an important issue. Otherwise, scenes lit by fluorescent tubes would look too green and rooms lit by tungsten bulbs would look too orange. The latter is sometimes okay, but the former is certainly not flattering for people. I still need to better understand the camera's automatic and custom white balance adjustments. The automatic adjustments seem not as aggressive in correcting color casts in darker rooms with tungsten lighting. The custom adjustments are somewhat awkward to access on the G2.

Scott	Edmonton, Canada, September 2002
	1600x1200 740 KB 1/50 s, f/2.2 ISO 50	Here's Scott at work, with a huge coffee—looks like another long day. This scene is lit only by fluorescent lights, and the G2 does a reasonable job here of ensuring that white comes out "white".

Instant Gratification

The LCD monitor on the G2 is bright, looks almost like a slide on a light box, and is viewable even in the daytime sun. Similar to a video camera, the monitor can be swiveled out and tilted. This design protects the monitor when not in use, but also allows the ability to compose shots without the need to squarely face the back of the camera. I can compose a shot even if the G2 is held outstretched above my head. Also, this design is especially useful when using ad hoc "tripods" like railings, table tops, lamp posts, and car roofs. I can even turn the monitor around for composing a self portrait. From the front, I can zoom the lens and trigger the camera from a distance with a bundled wireless remote control. Finally, the monitor can be set flush with the back of the camera, like most other digital cameras. The optical viewfinder and topside information display can be used in a pinch when conserving power, but I usually use the LCD monitor and the information displayed there.

The LCD monitor is most useful for checking the recorded exposure, after taking the shot. There is even the ability to see the exposure parameters of the shot along with a histogram. With the Elan, I would have to bracket with multiple exposure settings to hopefully capture the desired effect. On the G2, composition can be studied either before or after the shot. The monitor shows full coverage of the frame.

Aspects such as focus or sharpness are difficult to assess carefully. After the shot, many taken images seem sharp on the small monitor, but would not pass muster when examined more critically on a larger display. Magnifying the image helps somewhat. This feedback is better than nothing, and serves as instant gratification, but there can be the tendency to only make "good enough" images if they seem to look fine on the LCD monitor. I probably tend to be more exacting and less lazy on the Elan to ensure a technically proper shot with "costly" film.

Eiffel Tower	Paris, France, June 2002
	1600x1200 795 KB 1/320 s, f/7.1 ISO 50	A wide "tourist" shot of the tower and Paris, on a bright summer day. The G2 resolves the structural detail in the tower, even in this 2 megapixel, handheld image.

In Focus

The delay between pressing the shutter button on the G2 and it taking the image is fairly fast. Most of the time required seems to be involved in the autofocus. For action shots, it makes sense to prefocus the shot by pressing the shutter button half-way, then pressing all-the-way at the best moment.

The Jump	Drumheller, Canada, May 2002
	1600x1200 1.3 MB 1/250 s, f/8.0 ISO 50	A crazy colleague jumps and seems to float in mid-air. This shot was prefocused to avoid the G2 "hunting" for focus during the shot. A small aperture and wide angle was also used to put the entire scene in sharp focus.

The autofocus on the G2, however, seems to require horizontal lines or good contrast in the scene to get a strong focus lock. The G2 has three manually selectable autofocus points. Perhaps as a habit, I use only the one central point, aim it at an object in the same plane of focus, and reframe the shot as needed, perhaps with the subject off-center. This is fine for non-flash photography, and is faster than framing and then selecting which of the three autofocus points to use. Often the object to be in focus does not sit precisely at an autofocus point and some reframing is often needed anyway. Interestingly, for finer tweaking, the G2 does support manual focus, which shows a magnified view of any of the three points, along with a distance scale. The manual focus button, however, is awkwardly tucked on the side of the G2.

Shhh!

You can press the "set" button within a couple seconds after taking a shot on the G2 to preview the image. Usually, I forget or don't press the button fast enough, so I need to switch the camera from record to play mode. On the G2, this is done with a somewhat stiff physical switch. The clicking sound from this switch can be intrusive in a quiet setting. Also, the whining sound of the lens zoom motor is very noticeable, especially during the agonizing several seconds when turning on or off the camera. I suppose this is a reasonable tradeoff compared to my Elan's mirror slap and film wind on each frame, but it would be nice to have a quieter camera. Strangely enough, one can set the G2 to emit a shutter sound. Fortunately, this sound and the beeps in using the user interface can be turned off.

In a Flash

The built-in flash of the G2 is serviceable, but like all such flashes on cameras, it is prone to the red-eye effect in dark scenes. I can minimize this effect somewhat by shining the bright red-eye reduction light into the subject's eyes, but also by getting close enough to the subject to increase the apparent angular separation between the lens and flash. The power of the built-in flash can be dialed back somewhat to avoid overexposing the main subject in a dark room, although getting to that feature takes a number of button presses. The LCD monitor on the G2 helps a lot in checking flash shots.

Faye	Drumheller, Canada, May 2002
	1600x1200 590 KB 1/125 s, f/2.5 ISO 50	Faye strikes a pose in a dark, dinosaur museum. A tinge of "red-eye" can be seen in this portrait, which is directly and mostly lit by the built-in flash.

For better quality flash shots, the G2 supports a shoe-mounted external flash. By bouncing or diffusing an external flash, the images would be lit more evenly, with softer shadows, and with a better balance of flash illumination and ambient lighting. The built-in flash works well in sunny day-time shots to partly fill in faces in shadow, reduce harsh contrasts, and create catchlights in the subject's eyes.

The Elements

The fit and finish of the G2 is solid, with a metallic front face and plastic top and back. After several months of use on travels and hikes, mine is a bit scratched on the exterior, but seems as tight as ever, with no squeaking plastic. The rubber port cover is still intact. The LCD monitor hinge still seems strong, although there is some burnishing of the plastic. I can also attest that the camera will survive the physical rigors of checked flight baggage.

The G2 has a relatively large form factor compared to other small digital cameras. Its weight is 510 g (1.1 lb). Small size and weight aren't so much of a concern for me. In fact, for shooting in winter when it's -20 C (-4 F) outside, it's nice to have a somewhat larger camera and well-separated controls to work with. However, the metal face of the G2 can get awfully cold, and the camera isn't quite as graspable with gloves as my Elan.

The G2 has a screw thread to mount an optional adapter tube for an add-on converter lens or a filter. A clear UV or skylight filter could help protect the built-in lens. It would be more convenient if filters could screw directly onto the front of the built-in lens. Often, I want to keep the camera on and ready, with lens cover off, and a filter would be reasonable protection against accidents, finger smudges, or the elements like rain, snow, sand, and spray. It is far less expensive to replace a filter than to replace the built-in lens. Besides protection, special filters like a polarizing filter can compensate for glare and haze much better than by adjusting the color saturation or vividness setting of images.

River Valley	Edmonton, Canada, October 2002
	1600x1200 876 KB 1/160 s, f/6.3 ISO 50	This autumn view west from my apartment includes the North Saskatchewan River valley. A polarizing filter would have helped tone down the glare or sheen of the water and made the autumn colors slightly richer.

Power

The battery life on the G2 is quite good. I can easily spend a couple hours shooting a couple hundred non-flash images with a fair amount of in-camera editing. Still, the rechargeable Li-Ion battery can run out with very little warning, often at the most inopportune time. By the time I see the low battery warning, there is typically only enough power for a few more shots. At this point, forget trying to use the power hungry LCD monitor or the built-in flash. The G2 does seem to drain the battery even when the camera is turned off. To avoid discharging the battery too much, I take the battery out, especially when storing the camera for more than a couple of days.

Resolution

The four-megapixel G2 supports still images of 640x480, 1024x768, 1600x1200, and 2272x1704. JPEG image compression levels are Normal, Fine, and SuperFine, leading to 12 JPEG recording modes. For the best available quality, there is also a RAW recording mode which does not introduce any losses during compression. I usually use 1600x1200 with superfine JPEG compression for casual candid people shots, where the ultimate in pore-revealing sharpness isn't needed. Essentially, here, I'm using the G2 as a fine two megapixel camera.

The G2 records on compact flash media, so you can fit 30 1600x1200 SuperFine or 14 2272x1704 SuperFine images on the bundled 32 MB card.

Getting Close

I can set the G2 into macro mode, which trades off infinity focus, but allows the lens to come much closer to the subject and magnify its details. For macro images, small apertures are often used to allow enough depth of field to keep the entire subject in sharp focus. On the other hand, a large aperture can be used to isolate the subject by throwing the background into a soft, indistinct blur. To get the right balance, pressing the shutter button half-way stops down the lens to give a depth of field preview in the LCD monitor.

Ice	Near Jasper, Canada, May 2002
	1600x1200 885 KB 1/200 s, f/8.0 ISO 50	We became hip-deep in this stuff on our hike up the Sulphur Summit Trail near Jasper. Needless to say, we had to turn back. A small aperture was used to keep the ice and hand in sharp focus.

Ports

I can connect my laptop to the G2 via a special USB cable to download images. It is much faster, though, to use a compact flash PC Card adapter to transfer the contents. The cable can be used to control the G2 functions remotely from a software application and capture images directly to the laptop.

The G2 also supports composite video out, so I can connect the camera to a video capture board, such as an ATI XCLAIM TV , to capture a movie of a scene or to act as a webcam in a video conferencing application. However, to avoid overheating, the G2 can't drive this video for much more than a few minutes before automatically powering down. Besides, there are cheaper USB webcams available that can do a better job at this than the G2.

The G2 can itself capture short 15 frames/second digital movie snippets with sound at 320x240 for up to 30 seconds or 160x120 for up to 120 seconds at a time. However, while capturing the movie on a G2, one cannot zoom the lens.

Conclusions

On the one hand, the G2 hasn't quite replaced the flexibility of my Elan system for scenic landscapes and macro shots, where interchangeable lenses and high resolution are desired. On the other hand, the G2 has largely replaced my Elan for candids and people shots—all those kinds of images I normally take on print film. The timeliness of being able to take these pictures, and presenting them almost right away in an iPhoto slide show or on the Web is very appealing. Also, I'm relieved of the burden of physically organizing film negatives and prints.

Digital cameras have come a long way since the Apple QuickTake I tried in 1995. For me, I think the G2 is just the beginning. Indeed, the Canon PowerShot G3 has been out for some time now, and it appears to address my concerns about the stiff switch and loudness of the zoom motor, besides having many new and improved features. As prices come down on digital SLR cameras, I could well find myself going fully digital.