Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PowerShot A650 IS Digital Camera - Silver (12.1MP, 6x Optical Zoom) 2.5" LCD

Have not been disappointed with this excellent camera takes great shots in all light conditions. You can over push the optical zoom ending up with a grainy finish so this needs to thought out when taking long shots.
This is my third in the range, started with a G1 and then a G2. Both have battery problems so the conversion of the A650 to ordinary batteries solves this completely.
Very real pity that they have now taken off the 360 degree viewfinder on the next models, it is a real advantage to have when shooting at all angles and the main reason I bought this camera. So buy this A650 as it is the last of a dyeing breed

Not the best of Canon's range.The camera takes great pictures but has two handicaps

1. A poor view finder.
2. big heavy batteries.

However the results are good.

I've been using the A650 IS for about 8 months now for all sorts of photography from holiday snaps, cityscapes, landscapes, portrait work, macro, indoor and out and I find it particularly hard to fault it anywhere. Clearly is suffers the same limitations you expect from any compact camera with a single lens but for the job it's designed for it's perfect.

I chose this camera based on the larger CCD size which should produce a crisper shot when not shooting at full resolution. Of course, it also allows for the massive 12MP max too which is a nice to have but far from essential, I keep this camera fixed in at 8MP, its second setting. Lack of raw mode is one possible flaw with such a full featured camera so beware of that if you want to shoot raw, personally I don't need it. Another possible criticism is the size, it's not a small compact but it is pocket sized, if you want small and sleek go check out other non-Powershot ranges.

The images are first class, I would encourage any potential buyer to check out some of the independent professional reviews and look at their superb sample pics. As far as I'm concerned it's up there with the best in this class. Really very happy I bought and wouldn't hesitate in getting another one. It's a massive step up from my old Powershot A70 which it replaces. I use it with a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III SD card which is faultless with the camera too.

Bought this from Amazon last Christmas, and used it extensively since. this is a great camera - not the smallest or lightest thing you can buy, but if you're looking for outstanding performance for around £200, then buy this. Build quality is excellent. I've dropped this a couple of times and managed to get it wet once, and had no trouble. I previously had a Canon A640 and a A320 before that. These A series Powershots are great, and this one is the best so far.

MY TIP: Buy Energizer Lithium batteries for this - they last ages and are really light! They save a surprising amount of weight!

I already owned a Nikon 8700 semi-pro camera but was finding it too heavy (I am disabled and not as fit as I was). I had a very clear idea of what I wanted and did a great deal of web searching before settling on the Canon A650 IS. One thing that has always annoyed me was having to take a charger, cable and spare batteries with me wherever I went. The "A" in "A650" stands for AA - yes, it will run on those cheap, easilly available batteries rather than expensive unique fits. I also wanted a build quality similar to the Nikon and this Canon is largely made from magnesium alloy and feels solid in the hand. My final choice must also offer full manual control - the Canon has excellent manual facilities including a very good focus system. My final wish was for an electronic view finder (EVF) as good or better than that fitted in my Nikon. Sadly I was unable to find a camera which offered this facility in combination with my other requirements - Sony do a couple but they seem more like snapshot cameras to me.

Whilst bereft of an EVF the Canon has an adequate optical view finder. It zooms with the 6x zoom lens but sadly does not have any focus ability. Still, an optical view finder is certainly far, far better than most modern cameras - I can't believe that Leica, Nikon and many other quality makers feel a real view finder is no longer needed; I bought my wife a Casio which had no view finder and tried to use it myself. It felt like a toy and was unuseable in bright sun - need I say more.

I have now taken several hundred pictures with the new Canon and am more than impressed with the quality. It is amazing at light and shade and the macro ability is breath taking with focussing almost to 1:1 (the lens almost touching the objective).

The menu system is good and makes it easy to access all the bells and whistles - face recognition, image stabalisation, semi-optical zoom boost, programmeable button and custom mode to name a few. Taking everything into consideration, this is a mature camera, more reminiscent in handling of a film compact, which is capable of results easily as good as any DSLR. I would like to see raw mode and, as I have said, an EVF, but it would be very difficult to better this camera without spending several times as much.