Looking Back At My First Digital Camera

My first digital camera, purchased in September 2001.

In the summer of 2001, I had the occasion to travel to Seattle for business.  Just prior to this trip, my agency had just purchased its first digital camera so I took it along with me to find out how digital photography differed from film photography and how the quality compared.  The camera was a Canon G1, which was a very versatile 3.2mp optical viewfinder camera.

Walking through the fountain (click to enlarge)

With evenings free and summer bringing a late sunset, I had the opportunity in the evenings to walk to restaurants, visit the famous Pike Place Market and and explore the waterfront.  This would be a good time to try out the G1 and make some images.  Additionally, we stayed for a couple of days after our work ended and took a trip to visit Mt. St. Helens. 

Whenever I traveled for business I always tried to either arrive a day or two early or stay a day or two late and explore the area.  Of course, I always had a camera and a couple of lenses with me.  I've included a few of the images from that trip 15 years ago.

At the time, I was rather impressed with the results of my digital experiment and it wasn't long after that I purchased my first digital camera, a Canon G2.  That was a boost to 4mp, which at the time, was close to state of the art for non-professional cameras.  I wanted to ease my way into digital photography, but was not yet ready to give up my medium format and 35mm film based photography.

I should say that I was fascinated with the technology more than the absolute image quality.  The images, because of lack of any film grain or digital noise (at base ISO) reminded me of medium format images.  Smooth tonality, nice colors and an overall pleasant look.  The instant feedback and ease of use was also very attractive to a guy who almost always used manual focus, manual exposure, etc.  But, I did find it somewhat satisfying as I had never had the opportunity to see instant results.

Recently, I looked up the specs for the Canon G2.  I was surprised as in some ways it very much outdated, but in others, it had features that are still desirable today. Thanks to Imaging-Resource.com from August 16, 2001 for the below lists of specifications.  The photos are also from the same site.  You can find the full page here.  

For example, the 4mp is very outdated as is its 1.8" LCD.  The ISO only went to 400 and the top shutter speed was only 1/1000th sec.  But the lens had auto as well as manual focus and one could photograph in manual, program, aperture and shutter priority.  Amazingly, the camera came standard with a wireless remote control and a 32mb compact flash card!  The G2 was a remarkably good consumer camera for mid-2001.

• 4-megapixel CCD delivering image resolutions as high as 2,272 x 1,704 pixels. (3.87 megapixels effective)
• Real-image optical viewfinder and 1.8-inch, color LCD monitor with swivel design.
• 3x optical zoom, 7-21mm lens (equivalent to a 34-102mm lens on a 35mm camera) with auto and manual focus.
• Three user-selectable focus points.
• Digital telephoto as high as 3.6x.
• Full Automatic, Program AE, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual exposure modes, as well as four preset exposure modes.
• Manually adjustable aperture settings from f/2 to f/8, depending on zoom setting.
• Manually adjustable shutter speed settings from 1/1,000 to 15 seconds.
• Variable light sensitivity: Auto, 50, 100, 200, or 400 ISO equivalents.
• Center-Weighted Average and Spot metering modes, with an adjustable Spot area.
• White Balance adjustment with eight settings.
• Built-in flash with five operating modes.
• External flash hot shoe.
• Continuous Shooting, Stitch-Assist, Auto Exposure Bracketing, and Movie recording modes.
• Contrast, Sharpness, and Saturation adjustment.
• Vivid Color, Normal Color, B&W, and Sepia options.
• Remote control and utilities for operating the camera from a computer.
• JPEG and RAW still image file formats, movies saved as AVI / Motion JPEGs.
• Images saved to CompactFlash Type I or II memory cards, 32MB card included.
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility.
• USB cable for high-speed connection to a computer.
• Canon Digital Camera 6.0 software included.
• Powered by Canon BP-511 rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, with AC adapter included.

Buying clothes (click to enlarge)

Here is a comparison between the G1 and G2.  Incremental at best, which I believe is still the business plan of Canon (and Nikon).  No radical upgrades, incremental improvements—just enough to make the consumer want to buy a new camera and spend their money.

Feature	G2	G1
Body Improvements/Differences	Enlarged Handgrip, Champagne metal cover	Standard grip, gray metal cover
Startup screen, startup sound	Yes/yes	No/no
Maximum Resolution	4.0 MP	3.2 MP
Resolution Settings	Large: 2272 x 1704/11.1MB Medium1: 1600 x 1200 Medium2: 1024 x 768 Small: 640 x 480	Large: 2048 x 1536/9.0MB Medium: 1024 x 768 Small: 640 x 480
Filtration	RGB	CYGM
Signal processing speed	Faster (twice as fast as G1)	---
Noise reduction	Better	---
Battery Life	400 images/LCD on 1000 images/LCD off 300 minutes/Playback	260 images/LCD On 800 images/LCD off 160 minutes/Playback
Focusing Points	3	1
Manual Focus	Focusing area magnified on LCD monitor, numerical distance values displayed	---
Metering Modes	Evaluative, Centerweighted, Center Spot, Off-Center Spot	Centerweighted, Center Spot
Manual exposure mode improvements	Metering display when shutter button is pressed halfway; LCD monitor remains bright even when underexposure is set.	__
White Balance Modes	6 including new Fluorescent H for daylight fluorescents	5
Program Shift	Yes	No
Color Effects Mode	Yes	No
Movie Mode	320 x 240 — 30 sec. 160 x 120 — 120 sec.	320 x 240 — 30 sec.
Continuous Shooting Speeds	Continuous High: 2.5 fps Continuous: 1.5 fps	Continuous: 1.7 fps
Startup time, shutter lag, etc.	Faster	---
Interval between frames in Single frame mode	1.6 sec.	1.8 sec.
Slow shutter speed range	15 sec.	8 sec.
High shutter speed and aperture combinations	1/640 — f/2.8~f/3.5 to f/8 1/800 — f/3.5~f/5.0 to f/8 1/1000 — f/8 only	1/640 ~ 1/1000 sec. — f/8 only
Digital zoom function	True zoom up to 11x combined digital and optical	Digital teleconverter, either 2x or 4x for a maximum of 8x combined
Histogram display in Playback mode	Yes	No
Image magnification during playback	3x/6x	2.5x/5x
Image erase modes	Improved (fewer steps)	---
RemoteCapture functions	Improved: Live video can be shown on attached monitor as well as computer screen. Shutter button on camera remains functional.	Displays captured images only. Shutter can be released with computer only. Video out does not function while RemoteCapture is active.
USB Mounter for Mac OS 9.0 ~ 9.1	Provided.	No (however, software itself is compatible with G1)
Direct Print mode with CP-10	Yes	No
Cropping in Direct Print mode	Yes	--
Accessory Compatibility	Same as G1 plus Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX	Wide, Tele and Macro Converters
Supplied CF Card	32MB	16MB

This statement from Image-Resource.com is telling.  

"At less than $900, the PowerShot G2 is sure to be a hit with professionals, corporate users, advanced amateurs, and even beginning photographers who want a high-quality camera they can grow into."

Yep, $900!  That is in the same range as the current 20mp Sonys, Nikons and Canons.

We've come a long way in 15 years.  I know I've enjoyed the ride.  I wonder what I will be writing about 15 years from now?

Falling over (click to enlarge)

By the way, I still have the camera, the battery still takes a charge and it works just as it did when new!

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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