Canon PowerShot G1Canon combines dead-easy auto shooting, full manual control, and excellent image quality in a killer3 megapixel!<<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & InterfaceReview First Posted: 10/28/2000 |
Image
Storage and Interface
The Canon G1 uses CompactFlash memory cards
for image storage, accommodating both Type I and II card sizes. This means that
the camera is also able to store images to an IBM MicroDrive for increased
storage capacity. A 16MB CompactFlash Type I memory card is supplied with the
camera. Entire CompactFlash cards cannot be write-protected, however, the G1's
Play menu allows you to write-protect individual image files, protecting them
from accidental erasure, unless the card is reformatted.
Still images can
be saved at one of three resolutions (2,048x1,536, 1,024x768, or 640 x 480
pixels), while movie images are recorded at 320x240 pixels. Still images also
have three JPEG compression levels available: Superfine, Fine, and Normal, plus
a RAW setting that records the image straight from the CCD, with no further
processing. RAW images require the Canon Zoom Browser software for processing on
a computer. The benefit of the RAW data file format is that it compresses the
image file without any loss in image quality.
A full complement of
interface software comes with the G1, as does a USB cable for speedy connection
to a PC or Macintosh computer. The USB interface makes it feasible to download
images directly from the camera, although it still isn't quite as fast as a good
external card reader. In our tests, the G1 transferred a 2.2 megabyte file in
only 6.1 seconds, a data rate of 369 KBytes/second. This is about average for
USB-connected cameras we've tested.
Following are the approximate
resolution/quality and compression ratios for a 16MB card (compression numbers
are based on our own computations):
| Resolution/Quality vs Image Capacity |
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| Superfine Quality |
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| Fine Quality |
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| Normal Quality |
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| RAW Format |
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