Canon G7 good/bad/alternatives?

[steil]

Your widom appreciated - I don't want an SLR as it's bulky for frequent use which means it'll sit at home forever, thought this was a potential improvement over a compact.

Worth buying or is there a better alternative?

many thanks,
SS

[UKBob]

I wouldnt really consider another G series camera. The G5 was too bulky for my liking, and couldnt be slipped inside a pocket. Im sure you could find a decent top of the range P&S which achieved roughly the same result (ie not SLR quality!) which wasnt the size of a small brick, which was my main gripe about the G5 that I once owned. Or buy an SLR to suit your needs. All imho of course.

[andyparrott]

Just bought one, received it this morning. Not impressed at all with my first attempts. Thought it might be a suitable camera to carry around (my 1DII is too heavy and only gets used for specific purposes).

My immediate reaction is to send it back. We are having a party on saturday for my mother's birthday. I had planned to use the G7 but don't think I trust it enough, so the SLR will be getting some more use.

[steil]

I'd appreciate a bit more info - what about it is dissapointing & is there a better alternative?

ta

[andyparrott]

steil said:

I'd appreciate a bit more info - what about it is dissapointing & is there a better alternative?

ta

I was going to post a picture, but couldn't work out how. Can send you some pictures from this morning if you like. All of the close (10 - 15ft) pics were out of focus, could have been me, but I can't work out what the camera has focused on. I wanted a camera with manual override, which the G7 has but I need to be able to trust the AF system.

Size wise it is fine, will fit in a coat pocket, but not a shirt pocket. Solidly built and feels nice in a range finder sort of way (reminds me of my Xpan). I am actually sat looking at it on my desk at the moment trying to decide what to do, I shall probably have another play tomorrow, but not sure it is good enough for what I want and I shall end up sending it back.

I bought it as an alternative to a bridge camera, had one of those and you may as well carry an SLR. At least the G7 will fit in a pocket, but it is still much bigger than the 850 IS (I bought one at the same time for my sister's birthday present) bit disappointed in that too. I am a bit confused because both cameras score very well in tests (apart from noise), but they don't seem to give as good results as a friends Sony that doesn't score so well in tests.

In terms of competition, depends if you need the zoom, the Ricoh GRD gets some good write ups but I haven't used one. Or alternatively a small SLR, I did think about a 400D, but then I would end up buying new lenses ( I have a number of Canon lenses that are quite bulky) and didn't want to go down the route of lenses that won't fit on my other SLR.

Not sure if that helps