Just Received G3

[ScottGregory]

Just received the G3 I ordered last week. Not too bad a time frame to receive compared to what I have heard in different geographical areas.
I have charged the battery fully last evening, inserted a 16x Lexar 128 mb cf card and hope to get out this weekend and put it through the paces. I will also take along my G2 as a comparison for looking at speed of focus, zoom extensions, writing to card etc etc and will try and post some information late weekend or early next week for folks that may be interested in upgrading to this model. One thing I do not like already, just from playing with the G3 is the fact of turning the system on compared to the G2. You are required to push a very small button inward while rotating the dial to either shoot mode or replay mode. For those who have large fingers or hands this seems to be a bit cumbersome to me at least. I keep thinking...what was wrong with the system on the G2, as I never had a problem with the camera turning on or off inadvertantly. Oh well, that's progress I guess in someone's mind.
But I am looking forward to getting out and shooting!

[gandini]

scottgregory wrote:
...deletions...
One thing I do not like already, just from playing with the G3 is the fact of turning the system on compared to the G2. You are required to push a very small button inward while rotating the dial to either shoot mode or replay mode. For those who have large fingers or hands this seems to be a bit cumbersome to me at least. I keep thinking...what was wrong with the ...deletions...

I got mine yesterday, after 2 years with a G1. I don't seem to have a problem with the on/off button, but I appreciate that it's not as simple as the old system. They have separated the on/off and the mode selectors for some reason (more ways for dirt and moisture to enter the camera?)
I, too, look forward to viewing some images today as a first test. Let's compare notes...

cheers,

[Dragon Spirit]

I simply loved the pics that came with out-of-the-box settings. I daresay image quality beats color negative scans, though I don't want to enter the debate on amount of pixels vs. amount of silver grain in Supra 100.

:)

The biggest gripe I have is the cheap plastic door coverin USB and power jacks. Why not have the same setup in rubber? i'll probably break the plastic off by the end of the week.

Lens cover sucks...ok, not the cover, but the way you put it on. Could be a bit more firm! And where did you attach the cover's string to, anyway?

On-off switch. GEEZ! What a pain!

RAW conversion takes forever in file viewer. If you're not a purist or tweakie-freak, the superfine large jpgs should be more than adequate. The shots I had with factory settings blew me away.

AF slow. Then again, I've never shot with a DC before, and I guess comparing it to even a lowly SLR isn't very fair.

What I dont understand is why AF is much faster at ISO 400 as opposed to ISO50?

[ScottGregory]

Yes, the on/off switch is a pain. One other item I do not like is the dial for the diopter adjustment for the viewfinder. VERY hard to rotate and can't really feel any click stop settings. Much easier to use in the G2, with the lever setup. In fact, I was going to sell my G2 after I received the G3 last week and basically had it sold through the camera store where I purchased the G3. I have decided to keep the G2 now, it still is an amazing little wonder.
The G3 so far does seems noisier when focusing. Can't say yet whether it is much faster though. Still experimenting.

[mikedavid]

I believe one of the reasons for moving the power on switch was to prevent changing of program modes when turning the camera on/off.

With my G1, I've often accidentally changed the mode setting (say going from Manual to Program) when I've turned on the camera, and not realizing it until after I've taken a shot.