My User Review of the Canon Powershot G7 versus the Nikon Coolpix P5000

The G7 and P5000 are both at the top end of their respective manufacturers' compact ranges, and are frequently compared. They have some significant features in common, but also some major differences.

They both offer extensive manual control over exposure, white balance, etc., and they both allow the use of an external flash and auxiliary lenses. In terms of features, the main difference is the G7's longer telephoto, with a 6x zoom range, compared to only 3.5x for the P5000.

As an owner of the Canon Rebel XT, one obvious advantage that tempted me to buy a G7 was that it uses the same size battery, meaning fewer types of batteries and chargers to carry on a trip.

I did buy a G7, and took it with me on a two week trip to Europe (along with the XT). When I got back, I had over 1000 images shot with the G7. Examining them on the computer, they just didn't meet my image quality expectations. Fortunately, the nice people at Best Buy were willing to give me a refund, and I gave it back.

I had known the image quality wouldn't be up to the standards of the XT, but the reviews I had read of it (especially at DPreview.com) suggested it would be pretty good. I previously had a Canon S70, and I expected the G7 to be in the same class of image quality. I was quite disappointed to find a very high amount of noise in shadow areas, and blurring of fine detail in low-contrast areas. I could see this even in 8x10 prints. (I submit some of my pictures to stock photography agencies, and I have never had such a high rate of rejection as from the G7 pictures.)

It was perhaps a mistake on the part of Canon to make 80 the lowest ISO on the G7. Perhaps, if it had ISO 50 as its base, as the S70 and S80 did, the image quality would have been better.

In addition to the image quality, I didn't care for the ergonomics of the G7. While it has excellent external controls, logically laid out, the body is just not comfortable to hold. There is almost no grip, and what there is was very slippery. Some people have customized their G7s with glue-on grip material, but this shouldn't be necessary, and it's questionable how durable it will be.

Perhaps because I found it hard to hold, I didn't find the image stabilization on the G7 very effective. I couldn't hand-hold it at below 1/15th second shutter speed.

One of the features I consider very useful in any camera is the ability to use an external flash, for bouncing light off a ceiling for more natural illumionation. I already had the 420EX flash, which works on the G7 to produce accurate exposure. Unfortunately, in terms of size and weight, it's a terrible mismatch, which is worsened by the fact that the G7 is so hard to hold. Basically, you have to hold the flash, and have the camera hang off it, but the flash obviouusly isn't designed for this. Canon's only compact flash is the 220EX, which is quite overpriced, and doesn't allow you to bounce the light.

If the fit of the flash wasn't bad enough, the G7 makes it worse by having an excessive amount of shutter lag when using an external flash. This makes it useless for any kind of action shot.

While I found these negatives important enough to return the G7, it does have some good points. It is generally quite fast in operation (except when using an external flash), and exposure and focussing are quite accurate. Colour straight out of the camera is usually good, needing little post-processing.

Turning now to the P5000, some of its best features are what the G7 lacks, and vice versa.

The P5000 has an excellent, rubberized hand grip, that makes it very easy to hold with one hand. It is also significantly lighter than the G7. There is a very compact wide-angle adapter available for it, that allows the equivalent of 24mm (the WC-E67). The corresponding adapter for the G7 is huge and heavy by comparison.

Nikon makes a tiny external flash, the SB-400, that weighs only 180 grams (including two AA batteries), with excellent recycling time. This makes them a wonderful pair to take to family gatherings, etc., where you want to take some nice pictures without being weighed down by the DSLR.

The image quality potential from the P5000 is, on the whole, better than from the G7. Shadow area noise is not a problem, and blurring of detail, while it happens, is not quite as obtrusive.

However, images straight out of the camera appear somewhat dull, even with the quality set to "vivid," and particularly at their default setting, contrast and saturation are quite low. So to get the best out of the P5000, you have to be prepared to do more post-processing than with the G7.

In addition, focussing is both slower and less accurate than with the G7. Its default will focus on the closest object to the camera, even if it's way off to the side of the screen -- pretty stupid. Set the P5000 to central area mode, and lock focus and recompose. Also, set the focus limiter to the "pine tree" symbol when you are shooting outdoors to speed things up. If you pre-focus, shutter lag is minimal, and you can even take sports pictures. With these work-arounds you get good results, but they are less convenient.

The image stabilization on the P5000 is very effective. Combined with its "best shot selector," I have shot sharp pics hand-held at 1/2 second, and 1/4 is easy to do.

Shot-to-shot times on the P5000 are also significantly slower than on the G7.

If Canon and Nikon got together and combined the best of the G7 and the P5000 into one camera (and throw in a 28mm lens), you would have one really fine camera. Unfortunately, such a camera doesn't exist. (Panasonic makes small cameras with 28mm wide, but their anti-noise image blurring is even worse, judging from samples I've seen.)

Life is full of compromises, and this is one of them. If you prefer action photography, the speed of the G7 makes it a reasonable choice. If you prefer landscapes and architecture, and want to take indoor shots with flash, the P5000 is quite a bit better. For me, the P5000 was the logical choice, and I am reasonably happy with it, in spite of its shortcomings.