Canon A80 or G3 ?

[tHE_0ne]

Im looking to buy a Canon A80 or a G3 digital camera, which one would be the better buy with all the features it has one it?

Circuit City has a special on the A80's $400 with free 128mb memory, not sure about the G3's tho

[Jeremy]

the g3 is an older high end camera, the a80 is much newer, maybe a tad less advanced (it's canon's flagship low end model).

the a80 looks better imho, has a flip-out lcd, and the image quality is about as good as any 4MP camera, so i'd go for that. i own an a60 and it's great. it's also got manual controls; i shoot 35mm with a SLR and the a60 works pretty well compared to it.

the g3 has a 4x lens vs the a80's 3x, and its lens is much faster (you can shoot in lower light more easily or use faster shutter speeds if you're a more advanced photogorapher)

the a80 also uses AAs, which are cheaper and often last longer than special batteries if you get good NiMH ones; i bought 2 sets and they last hundreds of shots and run $15/4 and have lasted fine since nov 2002.

www.steves-digicams.com might help you out.

-Jeremy

[Massa]

The G3 is a far superior camera, take a look at the optics.. that should make up your mind right there.

[WhoNut]

I got the A80 for Christmas, and love it.

It's got a ton of manual controls, and works well as a fully automatic unit too. The AA power supply and CF memory make for a pretty compatible camera. There are probably a lot of cameras that are better, but for $350 (Newegg), it can't be beat.

[Massa]

G3
Specifications Type of Camera Image Capture Device Lens Viewfinders Aperture and Shutter Exposure Control White Balance Flash Shooting Specifications Image Storage Number of Recordable Images Time of Recordable Movies Playback Specifications Erasing Specifications Interfaces Power Supply Physical Specifications Computer System Requirements

TYPE OF CAMERA

Type of Camera Compact Digital Still Camera with Built-in Flash and 4x Optical Zoom Lens. Lens and Flash accessories available.

IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE
Type 1/1.8-inch Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)
Total Pixels Approx. 4.1 million
Effective Pixels Approx. 4 million



LENS
Focal Length 7.2 – 28.8mm (35mm film equivalent: 34 – 140mm)
Digital Zoom 3.6x (Maximum 14x digital zoom is available when combined with optical zoom.)
Focusing Range Normal AF: 50cm (1.6 ft.) – infinity
Macro AF: 5cm (0.2 ft.) (wide-angle)/ 15cm (0.5 ft.) (telephoto) – 50cm (1.6 ft.)
Manual focus: 5cm (0.2 ft.) (wide-angle)/15cm (0.5 ft.) (telephoto) – infinity
Autofocus Center AF Point or Flexi Zone AF: user can move AF Pint freely around most of picture area; AF lock and Manual focus are available.
System AF lock and Manual focus are available.



VIEWFINDERS
Optical Viewfinder Real-image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD Monitor 1.8 inch low temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD
LCD Pixels 113,578 dots (521 (H) x 218 (V))
LCD Coverage Approx. 97%



APERTURE AND SHUTTER
Maximum Aperture f/2.0 – f/3.0
Shutter Speed 15 – 1/2,000 sec.
Slow shutter of 1.3 sec. and more operates with noise reduction.



EXPOSURE CONTROL
Sensitivity Auto/ISO 50/ 100/ 200/ 400 equivalent.
Light Metering Method Evaluation metering, Center-weighted average metering or Spot metering.
Exposure Control Method Program AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE or Manual exposure control; AE lock is available.
Exposure Compensation +/- 2.0EV in 1/3-step increments.
Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is available.



WHITE BALANCE
White Balance Control TTL Auto White Balance, Pre-set White Balance (available settings: Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent , Fluorescent H or Flash) or Custom White Balance. (read off white objector 18% gray card)



FLASH
Built-in Flash Operation Modes: Auto/ On/ Off, Auto Red-Eye Reduction Auto, Red-Eye Reduction ON, flash ON or OFF.
Flash Range WIDE: 0.7 – 4.5m (2.3 – 14.7 ft.)
TELE: 0.7 – 3.6m (2.3 – 11.8 ft.)
(When sensitivity is set to ISO 100 equivalent)
Recycling Time Approx. 10 sec. or shorter.
Terminals for External Flash Sync-terminals at accessory shoe.
Automatic E-TTL Flash is possible with EX-Series Speedlites: Canon Speedlite 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 550EX, and Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX and Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX.
Flash Exposure Compensation +/- 2.0EV (at every 1/3-stop)



SHOOTING SPECIFICATIONS
Shooting Modes Creative zone: Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority and Manual
Image zone: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Photo Effect (Black & White, Sepia, Neutral Color, Vivid Color), Stitch Assist and Movie.
Self Timer Operates with approx. 10 second countdown.
Wireless Control Shooting and playback are available.
Computer-connected Shooting Available (Using included "Remote Computer" software. Required USB connection to competible computer).
Continuous Shooting High Speed: Approx. 2.5 images/sec., Normal: Approx. 1.5 images/sec.
(at Large/Fine mode and LCD viewfinder is OFF)



IMAGE STORAGE
Storage Media CompactFlash (CF) Card Type I or Type II
File Format Design rule for Camera File system (DCF*1)
Print Order Format Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) Version 1.1
Image Recording Format Still Image: JPEGor CCD-RAW
JPEG Compression Mode SuperFine, Fine or Normal
Number of Recording Pixels Still image: Large: 2,272 x 1,704, Medium 1: 1,600 x 1,200, Medium 2: 1,024 x 768, Small: 640 x 480
Movie: 320 x 240 or 160 x 120



A80

Specifications Type of Camera Image Capture Device Lens Viewfinders Aperture and Shutter Exposure Control White Balance Flash Shooting Specifications Image Storage Number of Recordable Images Time of Recordable Movies Playback Specifications Erasing Specifications Interfaces Power Supply Physical Specifications Computer System Requirements

TYPE OF CAMERA

Type of Camera Compact digital still camera with built-in flash and 3x Optical / 3.6x Digital /11x Combined Zoom

IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE
Type 1/1.8 inch Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)
Effective Pixels Approx. 4.0 million



LENS
Focal Length 7.8– 23.4mm, f/2.8– 4.9 zoom Lens
(35mm film equivalent: 38– 114mm)
Digital Zoom 3.6x
Focusing Range Normal AF: 1.5 ft. – infinity/45cm – infinity
Macro AF: 2 in. – 1.5 ft./5cm – 45cm (WIDE), 9.8 in. – 1.5 ft./25cm – 45cm (TELE)
Autofocus 9-point AiAF/ 1-point AF (Fixed to center)



VIEWFINDERS
Optical Viewfinder Real-image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD Monitor 1.5 in. amorphous sillicon TFT color LCD With variable-angle function.
LCD Pixels Approx. 67,000 pixels (Picture coverage approx. 100%)
LCD Coverage 100%



APERTURE AND SHUTTER
Maximum Aperture f/2.8/ 8.0 (W), f/4.9/ 8.0 (T)
Shutter Speed 15 – 1/2,000 sec.
Slow shutter of 1.3 sec. and more operates with noise reduction



EXPOSURE CONTROL
Sensitivity AUTO/ ISO 50/ 100/ 200/ 400 (Equivalent to ISO)
Light Metering Method Evaluative/ Center-weighted average/ Spot
Exposure Control Method Program AE/Aperture or Shutter-priority AE/Manual



WHITE BALANCE
White Balance Control Auto, Pre-set (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent or Fluorescent H) or Custom



FLASH
Built-in Flash Operation Modes: Auto, Red-eye Reduction On/ Off, Slow-Sync
Flash Range WIDE: 1.5 ft. – 14 ft. (45cm – 4.4m)
TELE: 1.5 ft.– 8.2 ft. (45cm – 2.5m)
Macro: 9.8 in. – 1.5 ft./25cm – 45cm
(When sensitivity is set to ISO 100 equivalent)
Recycling Time Approx. 10 sec. or shorter



SHOOTING SPECIFICATIONS
Shooting Modes Auto, Creative (P, Av, Tv, M, Custom 1, Custom 2), Programmed Image Control Zone, Image (Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Stitch Assist, Movie)
Self-Timer Operates with approx. 2 sec. or approx 10 sec. count-down
Wireless Control Not Available
Continuous Shooting Approx. 2.4 shots/ sec. (Large/ Fine Mode and LCD monitor is Off)
Photo Effects Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia and Black & White



IMAGE STORAGE
Storage Media CompactFlash (CF) Card Type I
Print Order Format Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) Version 1.1
Image Recording Format Still Image: JPEG (Exif 2.2 compliant)
JPEG Compression Mode SuperFine, Fine or Normal
Number of Recording Pixels Still image: Large: 2,272 x 1,704, Medium 1: 1,600 x 1,200, Medium 2: 1,024 x 768, Small: 640 x 480
Movie: 320 x 240 or 160 x 120

[Massa]

Overall, the G3 is superior in technical terms .. .but make up your own mind!

[tHE_0ne]

I ended up buying a G5 thanks everyone!