 You
are here: Home
> Digital
Camera Reviews > Canon PowerShot A620 |
Canon PowerShot A620 Review
|
Review
Date: Jan 5, 2006 |
Category: Beginner
to Serious Amateur
 
HANDLING & FEEL
Picture
on Box
Macro ON
7.3mm, Program AE, Evaluative, 0.4sec., F2.8 and
ISO 50
The Canon PowerShot A620 is medium compact,
well-built and handles well with a large enough
and comfortable handgrip. It is best carried in
a coat pocket, handbag or in a soft case hung
around the belt. Startup is about 1-2 sec., shot
to shot time is fast at around 1 sec., and there
is no practical shutter lag. Autofocus is fast
and precise.
| STYLE |
| - |
Colours: overall grey with silver
accents |
| - |
Looks: traditional, a bit "chunky" |
| |
|
|
| FEEL |
| - |
Comfortable to hold and operate |
| - |
Controls & FUNC. menu are intuitive
to use |
| |
|
|
| DIMENSIONS &
WEIGHT |
| - |
Medium Compact: fits in a coat pocket,
soft bag hung from the belt or handbag |
| - |
Dimensions: 104.8 x 66.0 x 49.1 mm
/
4.13 x 2.60 x 1.93 in. |
| - |
Weight: 235 g / 8.29 oz. |
| - |
Takes 4 AA type alkaline batteries
(included) or 4 AA rechargeable NiMH
batteries (optional) |
| |
|
|
| SPEED OF OPERATION |
| - |
Startup with lens extending about
2.3 cm (1 in.) and LCD turning on in
about 2 sec. |
| - |
Shot to shot time in about 1 sec. |
| - |
No practical shutter lag |
| |
|
|
Included in the box are 4 AA type alkaline batteries
that last a very long time (about 350 shots on
a fresh charge, 500 shots using NiMH rechargeable
batteries). We recommend that you purchase a set
of 4 AA rechargeable NiMH batteries and battery
charger.
Controls
Almost all the functions are accessible through
the Canon standard FUNC. button. The Mode Dial
has the standard AUTO, PASM (Programmed Auto,
Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and Manual),
plus Custom, Movie, Stitch Assist (Panorama),
My Colors, Scene (8 scene modes), and 3 more Scene
Modes: Night Scene, Landscape, Portrait.
The Mode Dial can be rotated with the thumb and
has a positive locking click to it.
You can record movies with sound (until the memory
card is full) at either 640 x 480 pixels 30fps
(you'll be able to record about 14 min 54 sec
on a 1GB card) or 320x240 30fps (record about
29 min 20 sec on a 1GB card).
|
|
| FUNCTIONS ACCESSIBLE
BY CONTROL BUTTONS (clockwise starting from
the Mode Dial) |
| - |
Zoom lever (around shutter release
button) |
| - |
Mode Dial: AUTO, PASM, Custom, Movie
(Standard, Fast Frame Rate, Compact,
My Colors), Stitch Assist, My Colors,
Scene (Fireworks, Underwater, Night
Snapshot, Kids&Pets, Indoor, Foliage,
Snow, Beach), Night Scene, Landscape,
Portrait |
| - |
Mode Switch (Playback, Shooting) |
| - |
Exposure Compensation / Erase |
| - |
Print/Share (with direct print to
any PictBridge-enabled printer) |
| - |
4 Way Arrows (Flash, Macro/Manual
Focus) |
| - |
FUNC./SET |
| - |
MENU |
| - |
DISPLAY (LCD Off, No info, Info) |
| |
|
|
| PROGRAM SHIFT |
| - |
While the shutter release
button is half-pressed, press Exposure
Compensation. A "*" and arrows
will display besides the shutter speed
/ aperture on screen. Use the LEFT and
RIGHT arrows on the 4-way controller
to shift the shutter speed/aperture
combination without altering exposure. |
| |
|
|
| CONTINUOUS SHOOTING |
| - |
The camera records successive images
as long as the shutter release button
is depressed. Recording ceases when
the shutter button is released or the
memory card is full. |
| - |
Besides the 2 sec. and 10 sec. selftimer,
there is also a very interesting Custom
Delay selftimer where you can set both
the delay and the number of images (1
- 10) to take after that delay. |
| - |
The drive mode resets to Single when
the camera is turned off and on again. |
| |
|
|
| EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
/ HISTOGRAM |
| - |
Once set, the Exposure Compensation
Indicator conveniently stays displayed
on screen until it is reset to "0" |
| - |
Range: -2 EV to +2 EV (13 steps in
1/3 EV increments) |
| - |
The screen brightness will increase
or decrease to reflect the value you
use |
| - |
Note: the exposure compensation value
selected is retained even when mode
is changed or camera is turned off (so
remember to reset to "0" after
using it or the next time you turn the
camera on, your shots may be over- or
under-exposed.) |
| - |
The Histogram displays only in Playback
mode. |
| |
|
|
LCD & Menus
There is an optical viewfinder as well as a large
2 in. LCD monitor with a standard 115,000 pixels
resolution. The LCD has a fast enough refresh
rate for a smooth display in good light, but is
choppy in low light. The LCD monitor's brightness
cannot be adjusted, but the display is bright
and clear, and the flip-and-rotate LCD means that
you can always have a clear view even in bright
sunlight. The LCD also gains up very well in low-light,
though the image on the LCD can look grainy (as
expected).
The LCD monitor flips out and rotates from 90°
to face down to 180° to face forward, or any
point in between. Self-portrait shots are therefore
easy, as are shots close to the ground and above
heads.
There is a very effective AF-assist and I've
found auto focusing to be quite fast and precise
in low-light situations.
The MENU button gives access to the Menu, Setup
and My Theme settings, and a FUNC. button gives
access to all shooting settings.
Besides Exposure Compensation, Flash and Macro
modes, all other functions are accessed thru the
FUNC. screen.
A great feature is the AF Frame FlexiZone focusing
mode with (21 horizontal x 11 vertical =) 231
positions. You can move the AF target point to
any of these 231 positions and the camera will
focus where the AF target point has been moved.
You can also indicate that you want the light
meter to take its reading at that AF Frame point.
I find this very helpful in macro photography
and whenever the subject is off-center.
The 231 AF points overlap one another and therefore
allow very precise positioning of the AF Frame.
Unfortunately, the AF Frame skips a pretty large
area around the edges of the screen.
The tripod mount is plastic. The battery door
has a lock to prevent accidental opening.
The flash does not zoom with the focal length
change as in the A520; however, there is flash
compensation, so you can adjust the strength of
the flash output if it's too strong for close
ups.
The flash is powerful but physically placed too
close to the top edge, so be careful your left
fingers do not get in the way when using flash.
You can set the flash to Off, Auto, or Fill-in.
Macro is as close as 1 cm (0.4 in.).
 |
MENU 1 of 3
- AF Frame: FlexiZone, AiAF, Center
- Flash Sync: 1st-curtain, 2nd-curtain
- Slow Synchro: On, Off
- Red-Eye: On, Off
- Spot AE Point: AF Point, Center
- MF-Point Zoom: On, Off
|
 |
MENU 2 of 3
- AF-assist Beam: On, Off
- Digital Zoom: On, Off
- Review: 2 sec. - 10 sec., Hold, Off
- Reverse Disp.: On, Off
- Grid Lines: On, Off (Once selected, Grid
Lines always display when the LCD is ON)
|
 |
MENU 3 of 3
- Date Stamp: Off, Date & Time, Date
[Note: the Date Stamp function is only
available when Image Size is set to 'Postcard']
|
 |
SETUP 1 of 2
- Mute: On, Off
- Volume: Start-up Vol., Operation Vol.,
Selftimer Vol., Shutter Volume, Playback
Vol.
- Power Saving: Auto Power Down: On, Off;
Display Off: 10 sec., 20 sec., 30 sec.,
1 min., 2 min., 3 min.
- Date/Time
|
 |
SETUP 2 of 2
- File No. Reset: On, Off
- Auto Rotate: On, Off
- Distance Units: m/cm, ft/in.
- Language...: 22 languages to choose from
- Video System: NTSC, PAL
- Reset ALL...
|
 |
ISO
- Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400
|
 |
WB
- AWB, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent,
Fluorescent H, Underwater, Custom
|
 |
DRIVE MODE
- Single, Continuous (camera will continue
shooting as long as the shutter release
is depressed and the memory card is not
full), Selftimer 10 sec., Selftimer 2 sec.,
Custom delay (from 0-10 sec., 15 sec., 20
sec., 30 sec., and between 1 to 10 shots)
|
 |
IMAGE EFFECTS
- Effect Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening,
Sepia, B/W
- Available frames: 228
- ISO 80
- Camera Shake warning
- Flash pop-up reminder
- AF target point (in center)
- Shutter Speed and Aperture values (----
indicates outside range) with Program Shift
indicator
|
 |
FLASH COMPENSATION
- +/- 2 in 1/3 increments
|
 |
LIGHT METERING
- Evaluative, Center Weighted Avg., Spot
|
 |
IMAGE QUALITY
- Superfine (322 *)
- Fine (515 *)
- Normal (1067 *)
*: approx. # of images at Large size on
a 1GB SD memory card
|
 |
IMAGE SIZE
- Large (3072x2304)
- Medium 1 (2592x1944)
- Medium 2 (2048x1536)
- Medium 3 (1600x1200)
- Small (640x480)
- Postcard (1600x1200)
|
 |
PROGRAM AUTO
Clockwise:
- ISO 50, FLash Off, Program Auto mode,
space for 266 images, Macro ON, Exposure
Compensation scale, Image Size Large, Image
Quality Superfine, Evaluative metering mode,
Single shot
|
 |
AF FLEXIZONE
- If AF Frame is set to FlexiZone, then
you press the Exposure Compensation button
until the AF Frame turns green, then use
the arrow keys to move it to any of 21 x
11 = 231 points on screen.
- However, these 231 points overlap and
do not cover the edges of the screen
|
 |
HISTOGRAM
- Histogram is displayed only in Playback
mode
|
Unlike many entry-level digital cameras, the
Canon A620 comes with a number of optional useful
accessories. There is a wide-angle converter (25mm,
35mm equivalent) and a tele converter (245mm,
35mm equivalent); a waterproof case that can work
at depths of up to 40 meters (130 feet); and a
High-Power Flash.
The Canon PowerShot A620 is very comfortable
and intuitive to use. Even though you need to
access shooting functions on the FUNC. screen,
I've found this to be well implemented. I like
the fact the exposure compensation is not in the
FUNC. screen but has its own dedicated button.
Operations are fast with a superb AF that works
very well even in low-light, and there is no practical
shutter lag. Information is presented well on
screen. The feel and construction of the sturdy
plastic body is excellent and the camera handles
very well.
|
|
|
