Can we consider G-series cams to be classics?

Only in the same class as BETA and 8-track tape players

Like for example the "loose screw" syndrome which cost me my G5 after only 14 months... Now THAT's annoying One little rattle, and everything was fried.

I just ordered my G6 yesterday. With a two year international warranty!

Cheers,

K

I have two Canon AE1s from 1981 that are still working.

I wonder how many of the G-series compacts will still be working after a similar time period.

By then, I'll be in my '80s (I hope) and I won't care.

The Canon A-series were some of the best 35mm SLR's, ever. I had the AE-1 and the A-1.

My daughter's babysitter told me a couple days ago that she bought a camera for $2 at a garage sale but then realized it didn't have a lens. She said her son had it, and she couldn't remember what it was, so I suggested she go to Helix, maybe if she was lucky it used a common-but-out-of-use lens, and she could pick one up cheap.

Tonight I asked her if she found a lens and she said Helix told her son that they had a few, one was $60 (used) and one was $120 (new). She said she had the camera, so I asked to see it...

it was a Nikon Pronea 6i. Never heard of it, but it was an SLR with interchangeable lenses, and it was a Nikon, so... SCORE! I told her I'd look it up on the internet tonight and see if i could find a cheap lens on ebay.

So I look it up and it breaks my heart... it cost $800+ new and they're selling on ebay for $20. It's been called the "Best APS camera ever made" and by all accounts it takes great photos and has great features, It's the pre-digital Canon G6 of 1997. And it uses APS film, which is more or less a dead format, so it's nearly useless.

In 10 years, we'll have fond memories of the G6, but Compact Flash will be long gone and we'll all have $800 cameras that have 100 Terrabyte drives built in that shoot 3-D movies and 12 Terrapixel images in 256-bit color. And people will still be using 35mm film and Leicas from the 1940s. : )

Not only that, just select the picture, it will projectt a 3D hologram.

You make an excellent point about people still using 35mm film and Leicas from the 1940's. My other passion in life is hif-fi and I recently read an article where the author suggested that vinyl would be around long after CD became a defunct carrier of music. Which is quite an achievement considering CD was supposed to be the death of vinyl .

King Size wrote:
You make an excellent point about people still using 35mm film and Leicas from the 1940's. My other passion in life is hif-fi and I recently read an article where the author suggested that vinyl would be around long after CD became a defunct carrier of music. Which is quite an achievement considering CD was supposed to be the death of vinyl .

I totally agree with that, I would never call myself an audiophile (or a photographer, ha) because I'm all for cheap crap equipment and music recorded on 4-track in a wet basement, but I still listen to vinyl all the time, and there are plenty of people still putting out records. Vinyl's already outlasted cassettes and 8-tracks, and I don't think it's ever going to "come back" full strength, but there will always be people collecting it and listening to it, and dance music, reggae, indie rock and punk will always embrace it.

In theory, digital ANYTHING is a sacrifice. The quality of digital photography and digital recording rivals (to the eyes or ears) analog these days, but it will never be better, just because it's alway a sample of the total. There will always be people interested in analog.

(I know, in practice that's not entirely true because of film grain and tape noise and such, but you know what I mean)

Bb.

Well, I consider them as having classic rangefinder styling.
-Bruce

King Size wrote:
Hardly a reason to consider a camera a classic. In fact I can think of many cameras that aren't black that would be considered classics

BIG difference with classic cameras being silver. They're silver because they are made out of metal. Silver plastic and alloy simply isn't the same as the stainless steel used in older camera constrution.

Black has been standard for at least 20 years now. Black in my opinion is superior to silver. Then again the only reason cameras are silver right now is because EVERYTHING is silver! I like black TVs, DVD players, VCRs, Stereos, Speakers, etc but its a trick for me to replace anything electronic I have right now because its all silver.

Thankfully black comes back and will be back soon enough. But I think for the money of a G series and the advanced features of the camera they should all be black. If nothing else to stand a part from other P&S cameras.

While silver plastic and alloy simply isn't the same as stainless steel, neither is black plastic and alloy compared to the black metal cameras of yore.

I would beg to differ that black is superior to silver. It scratches and shows marks easier. It normally comes hand in hand with white symbols and text desiginations for the buttons. IMHO these can spoil the look of the camera. Silver gets black symbols and text - looks much smarter.

But as we both point out tastes are cyclical (and personal). Having said that i'm not sure that everything is silver these days. If you look at the current G6 competitors the majority of them (Sony V2, Olympus 7070 etc.) are black. So I guess in that respect the G6 does stand apart from its competitors.

15 years ago I was in camera sales. At that time just about all cameras were black with the exception of the Pentax K1000 and the Olympus OM-4Ti, which was the Olympus Pro camera of the time. This had a Titanium body which was very similar in look and feel to the current G6. It was absolutely stunning! I feel the same about the G6

Just because a camera is black doesn't mean it is not made from metal (and the same goes for "silver" not meaning it is made from metal automatically).

I don't understand why black versions of cameras go for more, they are coated with paint which isn't as tough as the chrome coating of "silver" cameras (I'm talking the 60s and 70s here, not the plastic wonders of the 80s on). Indeed, the black versions would have been sold for less as it's cheaper to spray paint onto a body than plate it in Chrome...

All down to personal taste then, but I doubt my Pentax J Reflex would still be in its almost pristine condition if it were painted rather than plated in copious amounts of chrome.

Great camera,
- my viewfinder's screws fell out allowing back cover to come off.
- the mode dial is frequently accidentally moving off the Auto position. So when I go to shoot its in the wrong mode.
I use Imagebrowser to file photo's but maybe other software better?
- Macro mode can be hard to focus.
- Optical zoom too low
+ Always excellent battery life, persuaded a friend to buy at Auckland Airport for A$800 July05,
+ No other camera in Prosumer segment gives same value for money
+ Canon Market leader (Sony in financial difficulty, Nikon playing catchup, Pentax well.......!!)

G6
G5
G2
heavy stuff

I had a loose bottle top which cost me my Nikon F3!! (Leaked in luggage) I was a naive boy. Now that was a Classic Camera with magnificent optics.