Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Powershot A620 7.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

My camera is the A620, but the A610, except for lower pixel CCD, is the same. The first priority for a snapshot camera is SPEED. This one has it in spades. Very fast shot-to-shot and negligible shutter lag. The first priority for a hobbyist camera is manual control. The A6x0 has Auto, program and many preset scene modes. It also has shutter priority, aperture priority and full manual mode. Computer imaging enthusiasts will be disappointed that the A6x0 cameras do not provide RAW picture format, but it does produce excellent detail in Fine JPEG mode, and I think many in even that group would be satisfied. The lens is excellent for such a small camera. It is fast at f4.1 on the telephoto end of the zoom, very important for family photographs outdoors (fewer blurred photos of children or pets at play). Really good ISO400 results for even more speed. Color and white balance is excellent, right out of the camera. Photos are vivid and life-like. The flash is small, so if you use that a great deal I recommend something like the Sony slave flash which attaches to the tripod fitting on the camera. The zoom works fast. The controls are well laid out, and the camera is easy to handle (my hands are fairly long, I'm 6-2). The menus are easy to use and quick to find. I have not needed to open the manuals, so I can't comment on those. The LCD is bright, and preview mode is fast (the swiveling LCD is fantastic). The optical viewfinder is adequate and bright enough (about 80% coverage, I think). The camera fits in my shirt pocket, but with quite a bulge. Buy a larger SD card because the 32mb card with the camera only holds 9 photos at best quality. AA batteries are convenient. Get a good set of rechargeable batteries with a set of cheap alkaline for backup, and you are ready to go (good battery life here). I have not used movie mode and I might never do so, though I hear it is very good; there is a printer output that I do not use; the camera comes with software that I do not use, so I cannot comment on those three things.
The door for cable connections is flimsy. I opened it once and had trouble closing it. Had to force the top clip to engage. Buy a card reader ($10 or $20) and forget about the cables. Overall, great camera and great photos.

This is an outstanding small camera. It is difficult to call it a "point and shoot" considering the number of advanced options. It has most of the core features offered on even upscale 35mm cameras just a decade or so ago, updated for digital. Regardless, those seeking family shapshots will find it very easy to use (the "basic" users guide covers everything), while the more advanced features (covered in the "advanced" users guide) will appeal to more serious photographers. In addition to the standard shooting modes (full auto, aperture priority, shutter priority, full manual, and so on), one will find complete control of white balance, numerious pre-programmed color modes along with full color adjustment, the ability to use auxiliary lenses and filters, and more.

Picture quality is impressive for such a small camera - better than any 35mm point & shoot camera ever used. Images are sharp, with colors vivid and accurate. Focus and exposure metering are spot on (even more so with spot metering and selectable metering zones available). Lens aberrations (barrel distortion and edge blurriness) are virtually undetectable in "real-world" photos. Purple fringing, a problem with some digital CCD sensors, is not a major issue here.

The flash is perhaps the weakest point of this camera. Not horrible, but obviously could be better. Like most compact cameras, red-eye with flash pictures can be a problem. There is a red-eye reducing flash mode and the camera has a built-in filter to address this, but neither fully eliminated the problem with all subjects. An external slave flash, such as the Canon HF-DC1 or more fully featured Metz 28 CS-2, may offer some relief in this regard. But, even if one eliminates the red-eye problem, the flash is still too weak, located too close to the lense, and not automated enough - too often resulting in over-exposures, vignetting with close subjects (even more so with the conversion lenses), and not enough light for distant subjects. One is almost forced into existing light photography with this camera, but the results are certainly worth it.

The Canon .45x wide angle (WC-DC58N) and 1.7x telephoto (TC-DC58N) conversion lenses are a blast to use. As explained in the "advanced" users guide, these require a special lense adapter (sold separately) attached using the bayanet mount hidden under the large metal ring at the base of the primary lense. The ring is removed by pressing silver button on camera body to the bottom right of the lense. These two increase coverage from 24mm wide angle to about 245mm telephoto. However, vignetting prevents the use of the entire zoom range. With the telephoto, for example, vignetting starts just below 80-90mm, limiting use to above that - offering a zoom range with the conversion lens of roughly 180-245mm. The lense adapter also accepts standard 58mm filters, but many (light correction, color effects, and so on) can be simulated in the camera.

I did extensive research (magazine and user reviews, as well as several trips to the camera store) before deciding on this particular camera. In that process, I was able to narrow the list of possibles down to six - this camera, the FinePix E900 (weak low light focusing), the PowerShot S80 (strange lens adapter and too easy to accidently turn on), the Cybershot DSC-V3 (discontinued in this market, but still available if one hunts), the Olympus SP-350 (somewhat sluggish performance), and the Pentax Optio 750z (weak viewfinder, weak focusing, and somewhat sluggish performance). None of these other cameras performed especially poorly, which is why they made it into the final selection list. So, even with the minor issues noted, any of them would be a good choice. However, this camera, the PowerShot A620, just seemed to do almost everything well - ultimately making it the best choice in this camera category.

Note: Several reviewers here have expressed doubts about the soft plastic door over the USB and A/V connectors. When I mentioned this to a repair tech at a local camera shop, he allowed me to try pulling the door off a store damaged camera (dropped flat on it's face on the hard tile covered cement floor). While I'm sure the door will come off if pulled hard enough, it is a lot tougher than it appears.

I already have the semi-Professional level Canon EOS 20 D of which I love very much but its weight and bulkiness did not encourage me to take candid shots wherever I go.

So I researched a small portable digital camera that I could take with me. I was tossing between this A620 and the SD500 Elph.

I chose the A620 based on features and the rave review that an online camera review did (dpreview dot com).

I ordered it online and once I received it, I was surprised at its size (it would certainly help to see it in physical stores!) and it was not a shirt pocket camera that I was picturing. It could fit in my jacket pockets but I think it will rip my shirt pocket trying to stuff that thing in.

I decided to keep it because it did take great pictures. That is the main function of a camera, right? Take good pictures!!!
After getting a small camera case, the portability was not too bad after all. It is definitely much lighter than the Canon EOS 20D (and thousand dollar less to boot).

But there is no question that I had been spoiled by Canon EOS 20D. The focusing was slower, and it took me longer to take shots. But definitely much faster than my Minolta Dimage 7 (5 megapixel) that I paid one thousand dollars at the local Sam's Club several years back.

I found that the positive for this camera is that it takes great pictures with AUTO.

I found that when I used the zoom lens inside a building with medium light, I did get some blurry shots but the Camera warned with the shake symbol. It is nice that the camera warns you. That tells me that instead of zoom, I should physcally come closer to the subject and then take pictures.

I found that it is possible to turn off the flash (by changing the setting from AUTO to something else like LANDSCAPE). But invariably you will get blurry pictures in a medium light enviroment unless you take it with a tripod.

The other thing that attracted me to this camera vs the other ones was that it used AA batteries. I mean, you can get AA batteries anywhere in the world! And with the ubiquitous rechargeable batteries, you are set! I have noticed that with my 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries I was able to take quite a few pictures, show off the results to folks on the flippable LCD screen and it was couple months before the battery was totally out. Which was NOT BAD at all!

The fact that this camera uses SD chip is also a great feature. SD chip has come down in price trememdously in the past few days. I just got a 4 gig SD chip with 150 X speed for less than one hundred bucks with shipping and tax!!! One could get about 1000 pictures at the highest resolution!!! Ironically, SD chips are now cheaper than Compact Flash for slightly faster speed. I don't know how can they fit 4 gig in that small space...

The video option is a Bonus extra for me and I thought it took surprisingly good video considering the size and the lens of the camera. In a dark room, it does not come out well. It needs bright light enviroment. So for a small camera that you can take videos...that is not too bad. Of course it will not be professional looking and all that...for that I have the Canon XL1S. But for special candid moments or unexpected situations, it is great to be able to get a video of something that is viewable on computer or TV.

I do like this camera!

I bought this camera to replace my digital Olympus C-4000. So far I have not been disappointed. The camera has a lot of features for the price, with aperture priority, shutter priority, and a full manual mode, it gives you more control than most point and shoot models. It also has a 4x optical zoom based on the lens in the Powershot G6, and the macro mode can focus down to 0.4 inches. It is great that the camera runs on AA batteries, and has excellent battery life. Photo quality has been terrific, with sharp, colorful pictures. The only drawbacks are a noisy zoom, some hard to push buttons, and more red-eye than I had with my Olympus. The camera is not ultra light and compact but does have a nice grip and solid construction.

I purchased my A-620 specifically for use underwater in a Canon WP-DC90 housing. I needed an u/w camera system with both still and video capability that met my $750 budget, and the A-620 with housing was actually $100 less than that, including a 2 gig SD card for $135. As of June 2006, the camera's street price has dropped more than $100 from it's introduction, making it a real bargain if you like it's features. For full techno review, see the reviews in DPREVIEW or DCRESOURCE, but here's my two cents worth:

What I like about the A-620:

1. Uses good ol' "AA" NIMH batteries. I hate proprietary power packs that you can usually only buy mail order or from camera stores at three or four times the cost of a set of AA's.

2. Fully point-and-shoot if I just want snapshots or my wife is using the camera (she is a techno-phobe who fears complexity in any gadget). But when I need to be more specific about settings, or the lighting is poor, the camera has full manual exposure and manual focus controls. In normal daylight conditions, Program mode takes very nice pictures. For conditions where I need a lot of depth-of-field, I can use Aperture priority at f7.1 or f8.

3. VGA movie mode. Excellent video quality for this camera's price point. The audio quality isn't great - get a real camcorder if you want good sound - but for underwater use audio was irrevelant since I added my own separate music track in post-production. The finished video DVD from my Cozumel dive trip was incredibly good; I would have had to spend many thousands of dollars on professional gear to get any substantial increase in quality of the video image.

4. Available waterproof housing for under $175, good to 130' for recreational scuba diving.

5. Build quality very good (except for the I/O compartment door), camera's control dial and buttons have a nice feel to them.

6. Reliable image quality. Camera rarely makes auto focus or exposure errors in the automatic modes.

What I don't like about the A-620:

Actually, there is little to complain about. For this camera's very low retail price, it has tremendous capabilities, especially when U/W capability is your primary concern. It would have been near perfect if it had the following features: RAW image output, 28 mm wide angle instead of 35mm.

My main gripes: The lens zoom has only 9 discrete steps; I wish there were more steps or better yet a stepless zoom.

The lens can not be zoomed while shooting video. According to Canon, the reason for locking the zoom in video mode is to not have the zoom motor's noise on the audio track. For underwater video, this would not be a problem since there is no ambient sound to be recorded anyway (the camera is in a sealed housing). IMO, the video zoom lockout should be something that the user can enable or disable as a menu choice.

Summary: Outstanding value for a compact, the A-620 offers a really nice suite of features, very good image quality, and with the addition of the WP-DC90 housing for $160US, it is one of the BEST (maybe THE best) underwater camera systems available for ameteur use. Keep in mind that even a teaspoonfull of salt water leaking through a microscopic defect in a housing seal will usually destroy a digital camera. With the A-620, you lose a $225 camera. With a DSLR, say a Canon D-20, you lose a camera body and lens worth maybe $1800. And as any scuba diver will tell you, there are two types of underwater photographers: those who have already lost a camera to a housing leak, and those who are waiting for their turn to lose one. I highly recommend the A-620 and WP-DC90 housing. Even for use on dry land, the A-620 is a really nice small camera that fits in a jacket pocket. Most photographers that have advanced past the novice level may find the 4x zoom range too limiting, in which case the super-zoom cameras may be more appealing (many brands and models available).

For regular use, I will probably replace my aging Minolta 7I with a Fuji S-9000, which is similar in many ways - it uses Compact Flash cards, AA batteries, and has a manual zoom ring. I will then reserve the A-620 for u/w use on dive trips. NOTE: The WP-DC90 housing is specifically fitted for the A-620 and does not fit any other camera.


Problems
1. Very occasional auto-focus errors even in full daylight, but only perhaps 1 in 200 shots (0.5%). By contrast, my Minolta DImage 7I produces auto focus errors on about 15% of shots.

2. The cover for the I/O ports is a soft plastic and doesn't firmly snap into place, it is frequently flopping loose and I suppose it will eventually break off completely.

3. The power button is too exposed and it is too easy for it to get pressed by other objects in a camera bag. This could cause damage to the lens or the motor drive that extends it if the camera is tightly fitted in the bag and the lens can not freely extend. This problem can be avoided by storing the camera with the play/record switch in "play" position, or of course by removing the batteries (not very convienient).

4. Camera flash has pretty good power output for a compact, but produces lots of red-eye in photos of people or family pets (esprcially cats). The in-camera red-eye reduction feature doesn't seem to help much. I guess red-eye can be removed by most PP utilities.

I consider these problems to be MINOR and they should not be construed as a reason to avoid this camera. At it's current street price of $225, it is an outstanding value (I paid $350 in October 2005). I have shot about 2500 stills and four hours of video clips and have been completely satisfied.