Questions for anyone with a Pro 1

[jukas]

I have a buddy of mine looking to upgrade from his old G5. He was originally looking at the G6 but I pointed him in the direction of the Pro 1. He emailed me this morning with a couple links from dpreview reviews which kind of suprised me.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong6/page19.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonpro1/page20.asp

Some of the cons listed are quite concerning



Vignetting / lens shading at maximum aperture
Visible noise from ISO 100 upwards
Disappointing battery life - camera bug?
Poor automatic white balance in artificial light
No WB fine tuning



Can anyone who has a Pro1 chime in on this and tell me how accurate the write up really is? All the L glass in the world isn't going to make a difference if the camera produces overly noisy images and has horrible battery life.

[jwcdds]

If his heart is set on the G6, then let him get the G6.

Yes, the pro1 does vignet occasionally, depending on shooting conditions. This can be fixed/compensated by reducing the aperture, and/or shooting in RAW where ACR has a slider tool to easily correct vignetting. A fair amount of G6 owners are experiencing blurred images along the right side of the lens at full tele and wide aperture. So the G6 certainly isn't without its flaws.

It is true that at iso 200 and 400, pro1's sensor produces a little more noise. However, the G6 isn't much cleaner. In fact, most would still have to run the image through some kind of noise reduction software to make them more tolerable. Nothing short of a DSLR will be able to produce acceptable high iso photos. Most people with the G6 still run around shooting no higher than iso50. That tells you how usable iso 200/400 is to them.

Battery life. Well, both use the same battery. The pro1 doesn't have an OVF, but instead, has an EVF. The benefits of an EVF (IMO) outweighs an 84% viewing, offset OVF. So naturally, the pro1's battery life will be shorter. That said, however, a good charge can easily get you 250-400 shots depending on usage. Some pro1 owners have claimed upwards of 600+. Batteries are cheap (if you don't mind generics) and small. Anyone who isn't willing to carry an extra battery is asking for trouble to begin with as batteries normally goes out at the most inopportune time.

I haven't had a problem with AWB. It's nothing that can't be adjusted in post-processing. Given that G6 and pro1 both use the same Digic processor, I can't see how G6 is any better in that department.

Again, if your friend is set on the G6, let him get the G6. If he doesn't need the 28mm wide, or the 200mm tele, then the G6 is more than sufficient for him. And if he ends up getting a Lensmate adapter to buy the WCON and TCON to make his G6 a pro1... well, he could have gotten the pro1 for cheaper than the G6 + accessories. But that's his prerogative. :D

[kb244]

Well the battery life I belive was fixed with a firmware upgrade. The rest I think is about right, look at the 100% view of noise between the G6 and Pro1 on that site. "Visible noise from ISO 100 upwards" is about what someone might say of all point and shoot consumer digitals.

[S45_fornow...]

Well the battery life I belive was fixed with a firmware upgrade. The rest I think is about right, look at the 100% view of noise between the G6 and Pro1 on that site. "Visible noise from ISO 100 upwards" is about what someone might say of all point and shoot consumer digitals.

Just wondering how firmware could possibly affect battery life... I can understand switching from continuous-focus to single-focus giving prolonged battery life, but how on earth can firmware improve battery life?? Being able to focus quicker with no hunting possibly?

[chris clements]

Stay with the G6
The Pro1 isn't Canon's finest hour.
Whilst it overcomes the problems better than its rivals, all the 8meg bridge cameras are saddled with the same suspect Sony chip and its well-documented noise and aberration issues.
Despite the "Pro" tag, it doesn't have the same build quality as the G6. And you can grow old waiting for it to zoom or focus.

[chris clements]

Just re-read your original post - why does he want to upgrade from the "old" G5?
Neither the G6 or Pro1 offer any significant improvements.
Wait for the G7 or the Pro2 in 2006!

[soko]

A lot of the bad press about the Pro 1 related to its introductory pricing. When it came out, it was more expensive than the 300D and twice the street price of the G5. That is a lot of money for what is the guts of a typical G series camera + 28-200 mm lens. In the company it was keeping, whilst it may have been a good camera by G standards, it was seen as poor value and its sensor was compared to DSLR 6 and 8 meg offerings rather than other compact cams. People still talk about the small physical size of its sensor and compared to a DSLR it is much smaller but its still bigger than G5 and G6.

Also, many reviewers early on commented favourably on Pro 1 image quality compared to its 8 meg cousins but none seemed to really like the camera. I think one was the price issue, two was the motor driven zoom compared to the manual ones and third, I think it was size - the impression I got was that most of the reviewers were DSLR tragics, the more the camera felt like a fixed lens DSLR, the more excited they were. They loved the Minolta A2 even though picture quality was usually assessed at the bottom of the group. Personally, one of the reasons I chose the Pro 1 over a DSLR was its compactness - my preference. As for the dreaded zoom, compared to manual, even with the firmware update, its nowhere as nice. BUT it is FAR BETTER than the buttons or levers on other cameras - this is the comparison you never hear, IMHO. Also, it is probably more compact than a manual zoom could have been made.

All G series tests have mentioned chromatic aberation, slowness of operation, excess noise at high ISO etc (I also have a G2 and noise at ISO 400 is certainly worse). Its just that you don't expect that at DSLR prices.

G6 and Pro 1 are both very nice cameras. Both their strengths and weaknesses are similar. He should decide on the feature set for his needs. At current street prices, the Pro 1 is an absolute bargain compared to when it was first reviewed and I would suggest compared to G6 if you want a lens without wide and tele adaptors. As for build quality mentioned in the earlier post, this is the first time ever that I have heard such a general put down. I have not read one review, as opposed to the opinion of a G6 owner or someone that wants to justify their own decsions, rate G6 build qality over a Pro 1. Build quality even at its initial inflated price was always considered very good, even in comparison to its 8 meg cousins with full magnesium chassis. There was a well documented problem with dust in the front lens element but this seems to have been fixed in later cameras and Canon seem to have always honoured warranty claims for this. Rather than a quality issue, it seems to have been a design blunder. Unlike most cameras, the front element was made removable for ease of replacement if it got damaged - remember, this is an "L" lens with some expensive elements inside, not something you would want to throw away. The gap people talk about is miniscule but the effect is probably the same as screwing down a cylinder head on an engine without using a gasket or "o" ring. Can't see the gap but we all know what happens.

You can wait for a new model because you know evetually there will allways be one. In this case I agree with the comment about the G6 and Pro 1 not being much of an improvement on the G5 - wise words. The only argument I can see is if he wants to go wider or longer with the lens without using attachments. The problem with Canon attachments is that they are not much good a little further down the track and they are expensive. I always found mine too inconvenient to use.

Good luck.

[lefturn99]

I agonized over the same two cameras. In the end I chose the G6 mainly because of the reviews. These days, the two cameras are about the same price. Did I do the right thing? I'll never know. I do know I'm very happy with the G6.

One odd thing: I upgraded from an A80 which I use in my job. That camera was dropped one too many times and I knew I wouldn't be wearing my G6 on my belt. Late one night I had brain fade and bid on a Sony P150 on eBay. I never intended to buy a non-Canon but nobody outbid me and now I have it. Don't really need 7.2 mp to take pictures of bent fenders and email them but..... Then I read where the G6 has the same sensor! Go figure. It takes wonderful point and shoot pictures. Maybe there is life after Canon after all. Naw..