My Canon G3 has been a wonderful tool for learning digital photography. I bought my G3 in December of 2002, shortly after it was introduced, and continue to be very pleased with it.

In 2002, except for the lack of interchangeable lenses, the Canon G3 seemed similar to a DSLR. It had external flash, could use filters and had a wireless remote. The G3 even had the ability to make “RAW” files – whatever that was. It also had the cute flip-out and rotatable LCD screen which I certainly did not need (but have used extensively ever since I first tried it!).

The G3 has helped me to learn digital photography: exposures, exposure combinations, histograms, external flash, multiple flash, flash syncronization, stitching, RAW mode, exposure blending, and High Dynamic Range processing. Could I have learned these techniques without the G3? Sure, but the G3 really helped the process.

In my opinion, the Canon “G” series is an introductory camera to the full featured digital single lens reflex (DSLR). That’s certainly the way I’ve used my G3. There is a saying that “The best camera is the one you have with you.” and the Canon G3 has been almost always with me.

 

The latest of the Canon "G" series is the G9 and I've had one for about a month. There is a wonderful website focusing on the Canon G Series of cameras, MyCanonG7, after the very popular Canon G7 camera.