Built of plastic and aluminium,
available in red, blue, white, silver, or even — as
reviewed here — a glossy black trimmed with a dull silver
mid-section dotted with chromed buttons and controls, GE's
debut digital camera, the aptly named G1,
should get noticed when lined up on store shelves next to
the current crop of ultra-compact digitals.
The G1, an entry-level 7-megapixel
camera with a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, has a design that places
the 3X optical zoom's front lens element on the top left side
of the camera — as one holds it — putting it in
close proximity to the left hand's fingers, and embeds the
AF assist lamp / self-timer indicator even more precariously,
right on the edge.
Three controls are aligned
on the right end of the thin top section. Starting on the
left, the power switch comes first, followed
by the elongated, two-stageshutter release button. Finally, positioned
near the right edge, is the zoom control.
The zoom control moves the lens from the wide angle end to
the telephoto position and vice versa in approximately 2 seconds,
and with the camera set to the Playback mode,
serves to see images in index ()
views of 4, 9 or 16 thumbnails per screen, or to zoom into
a photo ()
with a magnification of up to 8X.
All other controls on the G1 are organized on the right edge
of the 153,600 pixel, 2.5-inch
LCD monitor, starting with the Mode Dial,
whichhas 8 positions:
Auto is
the fully automatic, all-purpose shooting mode of the
G1.
Although the camera selects
the shutter speed and aperture for standard shots, the
Manual mode allows the user to adjust
all other settings (white balance, sensitivity, image
quality and size, colour mode. etc.) and even the shutter
speed — up to 30 seconds — when the Slow
Shutter option is selected.
Playback
mode serves to review photos and movies captured with
the G1.
The Movie mode serves
to capture videos with the G1. Two frame sizes are offered:
640 x 480 pixels at either 30 or 15 frames per second.
320 x 240 pixels at either 30 or 15 frames per second.
Focus can be single — established at the first
frame — or continuous. While the recording is
in progress, the optical zoom is disabled (locked into
position at the first frame) but the 1.5X digital zoom
is available. Similarly, electronic image stabilization
is available but is limited to movies captured at 15
frames per second.
The Image Stabilization
mode is an electronic stabilization mode — not to
be confused with optical stabilization — that increases
the CCD sensitivity to allow for a shutter speed that
is sufficiently fast to prevent camera shake from causing
a blurred image.
Serves as the access point
to the G1's 12 Scene modes which automate the
camera for specific subjects:
Sport
Fireworks
Children
Glass
Indoor
Museum
Leaf
Landscape
Snow
Night Landscape
Sunset
Night Portrait
Each mode features a short text explanation of its intended
use, and once a specific mode is selected, the camera will
return to it when the Mode Dial is turned to the SCN
position.
Portrait
mode makes it possible to take close up portraits and
optimises the image for skin tones while using as large
an aperture as possible to shorten the depth of field.
Panorama
mode allows capturing three images going from left to
right or right to left. The camera displays the edge of
the image to which the next shot will attach, making it
easier to overlap each successive photo. Then the camera
stitches the three images together into a panoramic image,
which can be reviewed on the monitor.
Two small buttons are aligned
between the Mode Dial and the Navigation Pad:
The first on the left turns
on the Face Detection system of the
G1. When activated, the camera looks for one or more
faces in the shot being framed, and once it detects
a face, it places a white square around it that moves
with the face if it moves in the frame.
The other button, menu, displays the menu
that corresponds to the current camera mode. (See the
Characteristics and Interface
sections of the review for details on the menus.)
Navigation of the menus is
done using the Navigation Pad, a disk-like
control that can be pressed up, down left and right, and which
has a small button labeled func/ok in the
middle.
Each of the Navigation Pad's directions also support another
function when the camera is set to a capture mode:
Serves to compensate the
exposure, providing and Exposure Compensation
range of ±2 EV in 0.3 EV increments.
Starts the Macro
mode, which allows the camera to focus on a subject
that is 5 cm (1.95 inches) from the front of the lens.
Selects the Self-timer,
offering either 2 or 10 seconds, or the Continuous mode,
the particular continuous mode (5-shot or Last 5-shots)
being as selected in the Photo menu (see the Characteristics
section of the review).
Selects the Flash
Modes: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced
off, Slow Sync and Red-eye Reduction with Slow Sync.
The func/ok in the middle of the Navigation
pad serves to confirm menu selection. In addition, when the
camera is set to a capture mode, it displays the Function
Menu which contains the most commonly accessed camera
settings.
The number of settings available
in the Function menu varies according to the shooting mode,
with most modes only offering the selection of image size
and quality. The Manual mode, however, has access to all settings:
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy,
Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Manual (user set
under ambient light).
ISO serves to set CCD sensitivity: Auto,
80, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600 ISO.
Image Quality decides the amount of compression
applied to images:
BQ (Best Quality)
FQ (Fine Quality)
NQ (Normal Quality) (See the Characteristics section
of the review for compression ratios.)
Image Size: selects the resolution (See
the Characteristics section of the review
for more information.)
Colour Mode determines the image colour:
Off, captures the image with normal
colours.
Black and White.
Sepia.
Vivid, enhances colour saturation.
The last external button of the G1 is at the bottom, overhanging
the edge of the camera:
Serves to Delete
one image at a time when the camera is in Playback mode.
The GE G1 is a simple camera
to use. It has a limited number of features and functions
and its operation takes little time to become familiar. Ergonomically,
however, it has a few idiosyncrasies. The position of the
lens, as well as the position of the AF assist lamp make them
prone to being obstructed by the fingers of the left hand.
Likewise, the placement of the zoom control, on the right
edge of the camera's top, gets in the way of the shutter release.
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Introduction
)
views of 4, 9 or 16 thumbnails per screen, or to zoom into
a photo (
)
with a magnification of up to 8X.
