What I like / don't like about Canon G5

OK, so after a long justification for why I bought Canon G5 in the previous post, I feel I should review how that decision turned out.

What I like about Canon G5

• Battery Life : I have been very happy so far. I have been able to take so many pictures in parties and site seeing without worrying about the battery. I don't even have a backup battery. But I have been lucky so far. One thing I'd caution though, If you run into the low battery signal, you will not have long time after that. So turn off the LCD and start using that viewfinder after that.
  
  
• Color and Detail Reproduction : I still feel this is the strongest positive of Canon. No Complaints.
  
  
• Great LCD : I had not paid much attention to this when I purchased but looks like this one has one of the finest LCDs. I keep hearing "your LCD is much better then mine" :-) !
  
  
• 5MP : I've many times heard "You don't need 5MP, 3MP is enough!" Well, I think that is right unless you want to be serious about photography. With Large Image Size and Super fine quality, you can get a lot out of a poorly framed picture by cropping out all the less interesting stuff. You will be amazed at how much difference proper framing can make. But you can't do framing by cropping if your picture itself is small. Can you :-) ?
  
  

Now, here are few things that I have learned to dislike after using this camera for the last few months and I think these things will play a good role in how I evaluate a camera for purchase next time.

What I don't like about Canon G5

• Sideways LCD Flip-out with Strap next to it : This is my Number 1 Complaint. The sideways LCD flip-out can get tangled with the strap. Yes, you can turn the LCD 180 degrees and put it back in the camera body, facing the LCD your side and the strap won't be a problem. Still I think a vertical flip like Olympus C5060 is a much better design.
  
  
• Function settings are different for each mode : Function settings, i.e. the things that you set using the FUNC button, like Image Size, Image Quality, Effects, ISO Speed etc. are stored separately for each mode. Why is this a problem ? Let's say you are taking pictures in Aperture Priority Mode and you set the size to Large "L" and quality to Super Fine "S". Then if you decide to take a picture in Shutter priority, Your Image settings have to be set again to L and S. Otherwise you will end up taking pictures with size and quality you had used in Shutter Priority mode last time. There is no "Global Setting".
  
  
• Slow Autofocus in low light : I did not have this complaint until I saw a friend's olympus. In low light, the lens motor keeps moving looking for proper focus and it can easily take 2 to 5 seconds to set the autofocus. I wish it were faster like the Olympus.