Canon PowerShot A620

Picked up an open box unit from Sears. I have 2 Pentax DSLRs for my heavy work, but wanted a smaller but still potent camera I can carry all the time and while on my business travels. I was thinking of getting the new G7 but I did not want to pay the price of that camera. So I eventually settled on this model. It has good enough megapixels and sufficient manual controls for my need.

I like:
the SIZE - not the smallest or slimmest but one of the smaller ones with decent capability and picture quality. Remember I was shooting for the G7 profile. This one is a little more lumpy with the lens sticking out and the grip.
the GRIP - Despite not having as sleek a profile as G7, I think the grip is really important for me. I really appreciate the grip on my DSLRs.
the BATTERY- one reason I did not jump for the G7 is the use of Li-ion battery. This one uses AA batteries, and I love it. My Pentax DSLRs also use AAs and I know the benefit, so my little camera must also use AAs. I populate all my cameras with NiMH batteries, with Alkaline as back up.
SD card - I am standardising on SD for my digital cameras. The price of SD is now getting cheap.
Canon picture QUALITY - Canon jpg are really good. I owned (still own) an S230 3.2mp camera for 5 years and was amazed by its picture quality. This one does not disappoint me.
Canon MENU - I am used to the Canon menu and I like it.
The FLIP LCD - This was not a very high requirement for me but I can see in some instances it could be useful. There is a cult phenomenon of the FLIP LCD. Just read reviews of the G7, and you will see how people voted down the G7 because it did not have the Flipping LCD.
No lens cover needed - one less thing you have to make sure you don't loose.

I miss or don't like:
the BUILD - the main body of the camer is well built but some things like the zoom ring, the shutter release button, the 4-way navigation ring, operates either flimsy-ly or creaky. The removable ring around the lens also moves a little when you touch it. Overall it does not give you a very solid feel.
the audible NOISE - the lens coming in an out makes a lot of noise.
Missing user selectable SETTING - I miss not being able to set saturation and contrast.

Sony D770 (sold)
Canon S230 (still own)
Pentax ist DS (own 2)

No experience yet.

This is a great camera for those who need something smaller but still want power and flexibility. Although it's not tiny it is small enough that I bring it backpacking and mountain biking all the time. The ease of use and image quality are great for a point and shoot. The swivel lcd is also a plus to keep it protected while it's in the bag. This camera has seen some hard times and it still performs flawlessly. The menu is very intuitive to navigate and offers up many levels of control. I like the fact that you can shoot any where from full auto to full manual. It is a very feature rich camera for the money and I'd recommend it highly.

Ease of use
Battery life
Swivel LCD
Image quality

None so far if this is the type of camera you want this is a great option

The canon A620 is 7 MP cameras and has less noise than previous A95, The A620 has less noise than a95 even in 200- 400 ISO but 400 has more noise than other level but the image is little in the soft side(not too soft) and the colours are more saturated than A95. Off course this depends in your taste and The A95 has sharper image. The canon A620 preformed good in low light and has very good photo quality and this sharp enough! And the colours are very good but not an excellent but has my-colour and this very well. Flimsy rubber cover (very bad canon??? On step forward two back) to power and USB, the rubber cover in a95 is better than this one. One step forward to back canon. The memory cover is bad too. The same to the battery cover. Step zoom too bad canon and plastic triple mode is bad too. I begin to doubt about canon product. The A620 has too much redeye. Canon A95 LCD has better view visibility than the canon A620. The LCD in A95 is colourful and sharper. The canon A620 has an excellent battery life (NiMH) more than previous A95. Good build quality but plastic and now the A620 is faster than a95 and in micro mode you can come 1 cm close to the subject and this has an excellent one plus you have better zoom. I’m not interested in movie mode (this camera is to take pictures not make movies and if I want movie camera I will buy a video camera) but the canon A620 has better and continuous movie mode and better battery life than A95. The build quality is not better than A95. However this is cheap camera with very good result. If you use 2500 mAh NiMH battery, it never gets finish. I’m very impress with battery life. You have the same photo quality even to the last minute of batteries discharging which is making differences with another digital camera. One thing is not too important to me there is discharging warning in last minute. I think this is one of the best digital compact cameras in the market. This is a camera that you can take it everywhere with full manual control and 20 shooting modes help you to take your shot in every situation. I bought SanDisk SD 512 MB Ultra II (write 9 MB/s, read 10 MB/s). This makes the camera has better performer. I must give five points to this because this is very cheap product.

Strength
1.In low light the camera focuses accurately. (AF-assist lamp).
2.The LCD has an auto-gain function (Visible in low light). Flip-out LCD (you can rotate it to 180 degree).The canon A620 has larger LCD and better MF screen display.
3.Full manual controls.
4.There are more than 20 shooting modes
5.Has an excellent micro mode. The minimum focus distance is1 cm.
6.Save favourite settings.
7.Excellent battery life more than before.
8.The canon A620 has better and continuous movie mode.
9.Very good colour (but not excellent) in default mode.
10. Very good photo quality. Low noise with minimal purple fringing.
11. Easy to use.
12.Good software included.
13.Very good value for money (cheap).
14.SD is cheap too.
15.Has my colour. And this very positive.
16.More zoom.
17.The canon A620 has better and continuous movie mode than previous A95

Weakness
1.Too much redeye (redeye reducing is not as should be) and has more redeye than A95.
2.Date printing is available only at the 1600 x 1200 resolution.
3.Plastic tripod Mount.
4.Steps zoom don’t give a flexibility to get the range that you want.
5.Charger and NiMH AA battery not included.
6.The memory cover is bad.
7.Batteries door is plastic and not comfortable to open too.
8.Flimsy rubber cover (very bad canon??? On step forward two back) to power and USB, the rubber cover in a95 was better than this one.
9.The LCD in canon a95 is sharper than this one in cannon A620 (Very bad canon??? On step forward two back).
10.Image stabilizer is needed.

Olypus C750, Canon A75, Canon A85, Canon A95 plus Traditional SLR.

non

Good camera, pretty happy that i chose this model it's easy to use and even my gildfriend can use it (50 of focus photos but...) my shots a 100% clear under 200iso and 7mp is pretty good considering the price for the Powershot a610.

payed 460$ can just before it drop to 399.99 at all store around me

pretty easy too use
size is good/weight
pretty good grip for one hand use
fast and userfrendly
1/2500 f.5.0 will freeze any usual photo
15 sec oppening with f2.8 will light up any night scene with a small light embyance
Best for learning digital photography (before moving to semi-pro models)
7.1 mega pixel
4x optical zoom up to 16x digital zoom(digital best under 50 iso and)
digic II
pictbridge
4 batterie for durable time (approx 2500pix)
verry solide model (my girlfriend tends to drop it alot)

(can not shoot at 1/2500 at f2.5 witch would be good for sports and birds photographie

video soud best under very loud sound as consert and very poor under silence moment..

none yet

Lense was replace after being drop on the lense on concret was still working well but i ask to be replace since still under warenty.. no cost no problemo

Allaround a great consumer camera. It was originally bought for its huge amount
of features. Later I found how good a performer this camera is.

It is really fast in operation. I have been using at the same time Canon 300D with canon's older cpu and A620 is really a blast in performance, speed wise. zooming, moving through images, focusing and calculating correct exposure are done almost instantly.

As far as the final image quality is concerned I have to notice the following. As far as you shoot with 50 ISO, all detail will be there and come out realy nice with a fair amount of sharpening. I have been using NIK's pro sharpener for my sharpening jobs in photoshop and all A620 images @50ISO came out really great in detail. ISO speeds greater than 100 produce alot of chromatic noise which has to be removed. Noise Ninja or even Neat Image usually do a great job removing noise, but be prepared that
images shot with 200 or 400 ISO will look like a pastel or watercolor effect was applied to them, if noise is totally removed.

I wont comment on features like mycolors since they can be alot of fun for the point and shoot type, but personally I haven't used them after the 1st month of purchase.

Overall this camera has a great image quality even though it cannot really catch those soft midtones that a good dSLR can. This is something only those who shoot alot of portraits and fashion with soft shadows on walls will miss. People with a more contrasty taste will be totally pleased.

Having used many other digital compacts I would recommend this for everyone that cannot afford a dslr or doesn't want to carry one, and at the same time needs total control on shutter, aperture , iso, white balance.

Oh did I mention that it has fallen from my hands quite a few times?(I am to blame) This thing is really good built.

Build quality
Image quality at ISO 50
Full control on aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance
Blazing fast operation
Very good battery life

Useless optical diopter
Useless images at 400ISO (too much noise)

canon powershot s1
canon 300D
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sony dsc w1
sony dsc w7
konika minolta d5