Canon G7 / landmark p&s cameras

The G7 is a take along camera.

From the G1 Canon intended to create a enthusiast quality compact camera. You'd like to think that just like Chuck and the boys at Warner Bros., who didn't make cartoons for kids but for each other, Canon's engineers made the G series as a camera they'd like to own themselves. I hesitate the use the word "professional" quality but the G series was purchased by photographers who wanted a take with camera when an SLR wasn't appropriate. The G series improved with each iteration. I have owned several in the series, beginning with the G1. Each I purchased used at a greatly reduced rate. All in the series have good build quality, reasonably fast, sharp lenses, and manual controls. Image Quality improved steadily through the G7. The G6 was the best of the breed prior to the black series, which started with the G7. The G5 was black and a looker but the G6 kicked dirt on it. The G7 produced outstanding IQ, was compact in size and had an amazingly good build quality for the price. All subsequent Gs, through the 16, have been similar in style. The series is outlined well here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_PowerShot_G

I personally think the G7 marks a point of little increasing return going forward. I loved the G10 and the G15 is a really good camera but just looking at IQ OOC, build quality, ease of use, size, etc. the G7 is plenty good enough and for me, a landmark in "take with" cameras. Here are a couple of pics. The cameracides presented here are representative of shots I take from all my cameras to see skin rendering, lens sharpness, white balance, etc. If a camera can nail a face shot OOC, in ambient light without flash, I begin to sit up and take notice because it likely will produce overall good quality pictures. The first two shots above were included to demonstrate that a small coat pocket-able camera can be handy to have with you for incidental photography. The old saying is the best camera is the one you have with you. The amazing thing about the G series is how well they photograph almost anything anytime.

A crop

A hint at my next landmark p&s post