| Canon PowerShot A630 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom | ||
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by Canon  Stores images on SD cards; powered by 4 AA-size batteries 3:2 guide masks LCD to display 4 x 6-inch print size; 16:9 format option for still images ISO range up to ISO 800 for less blur in low light while hand-holding 4x optical zoom; 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD display 8-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints |
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| From the Manufacturer Replacing the highly popular PowerShot A620, the PowerShot A630 features a rotating 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD, 4x optical zoom lens, and a vast array of creative shooting modes. The PowerShot A630 packs a vast array of advanced features into a remarkably compact space:
The 8.0-megapixel sensor allows for creative cropping while providing enough detail for large, high-quality prints. A new Safety Zoom takes advantage of the camera's high resolution to offer extra zoom magnification without affecting image quality--up to 16x zoom when shooting Small size images. Users can also activate the Digital Teleconverter to add extra telephoto reach on all shots, similar to adding a teleconverter lens to the camera. The 4x optical zoom lens achieves a 35-140mm focal length (35mm equivalent) while allowing the camera to maintain a compact size. The lens construction incorporates 8 elements in 7 groupings, including two aspherical elements to maximize sharpness across the whole image. With a maximum aperture range of f2.8 (wide) to f4.1 (telephoto), the lens is remarkably bright at the telephoto end. ISO 800 mode improves results when shooting in low-light settings and enables flash-free photography indoors. The camera's High ISO Auto setting prioritizes fast shutter speeds by automatically using the higher range of ISO sensitivities, reducing the risk of unwanted image blur. Improved LCD and playback Flexible shooting Filming is also possible at a high standard--VGA quality movies can be captured with sound at a smooth 30 frames per second (fps). The AV-out connection and supplied cable allows for full screen playback on a TV. Full range of accessories Technologies Explained iSAPS 9-Point AiAF FlexiZone AF/AE Digital Teleconverter and Safety Zoom Safety Zoom protects the image from interpolation at high levels of digital zoom, allowing users to extend zoom magnification without sacrificing image quality. What's in the box Amazing camera value!
This is one of those nice cameras that's so well done, it's easier to talk about what the camera ISN'T, rather than what it IS! This camera is not a small, shirt pocket camera, and might be a bit bigger than a woman would wish to carry in a purse. It's not a super-tele camera, but it does have a respectable, bit longer than average 4x optical zoom. Using the camera, it has a good weight and feel for average sized hands. The use of AA batteries helps keep the cost down, and has it's own advantages, although some may prefer the longer life charges of Lithium-Ion batteries (I do). General, controls are well thought out and easy to use. The zoom is nice and smooth. For those that prefer an optical viewfinder, Canon is probably the strongest supporter, and this is a better than average viewfinder, although it does not have a diopter adjustment. But you'll probably never use it with the tremendous 2.5" rotary screen. Yes, there are 3" screens on the market, but this dwarfs anything on a hinge! It is a great aid in composing photos at low, high, or other odd angles (photos you simply didn't take before). Another feature that gets high praise is the flex-focus system. Today's AF cameras do a decent job, but occassionally, they just don't hit on the right focus point. With the flex system, you can determine which point to use. This is simply great for crowded rooms or nature photos where the subject may not be the closest item within the focusing areas. Control for this price point is very good indeed. Multiple "scene" modes make it easy for the novice (ok, or sometimes lazy pro), while the semi-auto and manual modes give even experienced users all they need. Simply put, this camera could have easily been priced $50 to $100 more. The only real competition is the A640, $100 more, 10 meg, and a bit more attractive black finish. Unexpectedly Good Pictures
My first impression of the A630 was less than stellar. After a year plus squinting through the viewfinder of my Rebel XT, I was really looking forward to composing my shots in a big, beautiful LCD again. Unfortunately, the LCD on the A630 may be big, but it's not beautiful. It does a fine job helping you review what's already been captured and presenting menu options legibly, but a mediocre job of rendering what's coming through the lens. The color is inaccurate and interference frequently appeared on the screen when half-clicking to freeze the focus. It still beats a viewfinder for composing an image but, frankly, I'd rather have the smaller LCD on my daughter's A620. Ultimately, though, picture quality is everything to me, and here the A630 excels. I took 60+ pictures on a recent trip to Door County, WI and not one of them was a clunker, including several taken in very tricky lighting situations. Shooting modes worked as advertised although, with good lighting, the auto mode produced identical results. Indoors, flash pictures were perfectly exposed and the flash had a surprisingly good range. On average, and I know this is heresy, the A630 took better pictures than my Rebel XT, and I didn't feel the need to Photoshop a single one of them. If I cared more about the LCD, I would have given this camera a lower rating, but a lower rating would not have done justice to the quality of the images this camera produces. Worth to buy!
I have considered canon A610 and A630, and some SD brands. Finally, I chosen A630. The LCD are large, the only problem is that it has few pixels compared to the 2.5 inch LCD. However, the pictures are good! Great Camera for the price
I just got my Canon A630 digital camera two days ago. I have to say that it is a gorgeous looking camera. The only difference with the A640 is in the color and obviously in the number of pixels (this last one has 10). Everything else is exactly the same and it is 100 dollars less that the A640. The picture quality is neat, and I am pretty sure I will have lots of fun with it. Excellent camera
I purchased this to replace the Canon A70 (another good camera) as I wanted more megapixels in order to take photos to be enlarged and have greater ability to crop. The camera is easy to use, has lots of useful "one-button" features such as for night shots, aperture priority and shutter priority. The camera can also be put in manual mode which permits manual settings and I've found to be very useful particularly for outdoor, backlit situations. The clarity of the photos is very good. The movie function is also very good and far better than the A70 which was more grainy and pixilated due to the lower resolution. The software provided is eay to use (at leat for Windows, I do not know about for Macs). A couple of features of these Canon cameras I've found very, very useful and you might want to consider in buying any camera, particularly if you travel. First, it uses AA batteries which are easy to find, so you don;t have to worry about finding an outlet and adpator to recharge your proprietary battery. Second, it uses an SD card which are also relatively easy to find and can be used in many devices, as opposed to say a Sony memory stick. WOW!
I just recently had a baby and we were using my husbands old Kodak DX4330 (3.1 mega pixels). After making prints we were not satisfied so we decided we needed a better but afforable camera. And after researching I found this to be the one. And I was right on! Great quality pictures! Easy to use! Awesome flip screen!! Just be sure to get a bigger memory card! Excellent digital for the money
I actually happened upon the A630 in exchange for an A620. I am totally please with its performance thus far. This camera was purchased as an underwater camera w/ the optional underwater housing. My "A" camera is a Canon Rebel XT & I would have to say this is almost comparable & easy to use for the high-end amateur. The preset mode for "kids/pets" was perfect as I took photos in a tour van through New Orleans. Not one of the pictures came out blurry. Other preset modes are: snow, fireworks, underwater, macro (which took great shots), and other. I would definitely purchase this camera again. I will update this review after I take the camera diving. Review from Iceland - Europe
This camera works just fine. Good quality for little money. Good value, but lots of image noise and poor quality flash
My wife upgraded from her old Olympus 3030 and wow were we disappointed with this camera! Low light image noise was an order of magnitude worse than the old Olympus, and the flash was nowhere near as even as the older camera. Even though Canon has made this a fairly easy to use camera, my wife still goes back to Olympus. We are probably going to return the A630. That being said, the camera is only $250, so we were probably expecting too much. Maybe I should have left 4 stars (Amazon site won't let me edit the rating). I own a Canon 30D SLR and several lenses, so I don't have a thing against Canon. The 30D is an incredible semi-pro camera that I highly recommend if you don't mind the bulk and price of an SLR. Simply...one of the best cameras you will find
I have owned several canon camera's from the a310 to the a95 and this one the a630 simply blows them all away. pic quality is excellent, especially when I compare the difference in two same shots between the a95 and the a630. the a630 is sharper,more vivid, and the features and ease of use is outstanding.AA batteries is a plus, I do recommend rechargeable batteries. 8 mp is the way to go. also get at least a 1 gig sd card. I love this camera, I can't put it down!!
This is the best camera, EVER!! I love this camera; the quality is amazing and the pictures are so clear. If you have any doubts, DON'T! This is the camera you want and you will not be disappointed!! Great Camera Well Worth It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was hesitant to spend the money on this camera but after I did, I was very pleased and would have spent another $50-100 on it. So many options to use, great picture quality, and the rotating screen very helpful for taking pictures of yourself for webpages and other uses. If you take a picture and view it while turning the camera sideways the picture will rotate anyway you turn the camera except the upside down position. Any otherway the picture will rotate with you, it was something I was in aaahhhh about the first time I discovered it. It caught me off guard the first time I discovered it since I never read directions anyways. extreamly please with its performance
I really like this camera. It has many features of my larger and bulkier digital SLR. I like the stitching mode. The picture quality is very good. Night shots at low light performance is admirable. It is not exactly a "slim" type camera but does fit into your pocket. It servs well as camera for the starter (my wife) in the "auto" mode, or for the more experienced in the sp, or ap mode. The details in 11 by 8 prints are excellent. I am very happy with this buy. First Time Canon Buyer
I'm a amateur for sure but this camera makes me look like a pro. I'm amazed at the picture quality especially from distance. In the zoom mode while reviewing photos I can pick up detail from far away. I wish the manual had more explanations on how to use the all the features. Auto mode works good for now. WOW!
My previous camera was a Samsung digimax--about 4MP, no optical zoom. It just stopped turning on one day(I had not dropped it or damaged it--just stopped). It's apparently a common problem with Samsung. This camera is amazing. It takes fantastic pictures. It took a picture of my engagement ring perfectly--I will upload a photo if Amazon lets me. Most cameras cannot focus that closely, and the 1 cm(or something like that) distance was what made me splurge for this over the 5MP Canon. The camera has a function so that it can take panoramic pictures(it holds part of the previous picture on screen so you can line it up), it takes large video for a camera, you can set it to turn everything into black and white except for one color--and can even make said color(say, blue) turn into, red, or any other color you like. It takes pictures fairly quickly even when using the flash. I'm impressed with the battery life. I know I've taken well over 100 photos and several videos, and I haven't had to recharge yet(I picked a camera that used AA's so that I could keep a set handy if I was at a wedding or camping and didn't have the time or place to wait for a specialty battery to recharge). One gripe is that it isn't small enough--I had one of those little cameras before, and I always always got my finger in the shot. This camera is big enough to hold. It's not "cute" and it won't fit in your pocket, but it's got too many features to do that. My only problem is that I get the "shake" warning a lot, nearly all the time if I turn the flash off(which is my own fault). I am very impressed with this camera. Something that I didn't know until I bought this, but I believe that I saw in the manual that you can replace the lenses and attach a large flash to it. For me, this is the perfect camera for anyone who wants to work his way into serious photography, or have that option. I think that 8MP is a great size--not many people will ever need to take more than an 8x10. If you want bigger than that, might as well pay a professional. And the camera has a speaker built in. Rather wasteful on space, but it is nice to play back movies with sound. And the greatest novelty of all--you can buy a waterproof case if you want to take it to the beach or in the pool. How sweet is that? Not what I expected
I currently own a Canon A80 (which I love) and was interested in upgrading to the highly reviewed A630. I received the camera in time for Thanksgiving and took about 200 photos with it in a variety of conditions. Everything was great until I got home and downloaded my photos to the computer. About half of them were blurry... but worse, ALL of my indoor shots had a lot of noise. I took some more test shots, and noticed that the "camera movement" icon came on every time I used the zoom on indoor shots or any time I tried to take an indoor shot without the flash. After calling customer service, I was convinced that I just had a defective camera, so I contacted Amazon and they were wonderful about sending another camera right out. Today I received the second camera. It was no different from the first. I am a point and shoot photographer who is mostly interested in taking photos of my children... so I took a variety of photos using the same settings on both of my cameras (a80 and a630) then downloaded them to my computer for comparison. I even printed out several photos to make sure the problems weren't with my monitor. Outdoor photos were excellent on both, however there was a huge difference inside. In a well lit room with plenty of natural light from outside, the a630 still produced significant noise, while my a80 on the same setting (auto) produced clear noise-free photos. When my toddler was moving, I got mostly blurry photos with the a630 on auto as well as using the "kids and pets" mode, while my a80 produced crisp and clear photos. I love Canon cameras, and this was my 3rd PowerShot. I really expected to love this camera as much as my previous Canons. Now I don't know whether I should even try to find a newer camera, if the inside shots are going to be like this. Things I liked about the a630: LARGE LCD Nice quality movies Scene assists Great outdoor shots Very accurate colors Quick shutter response Things I didn't like about the a630: Poor quality inside shots with lots of noise and blurry results. If I were a pro, I could probably figure out how to use the manual controls to fix my indoor problems... but I'm just a mom who wants some cute photos of her kids, so this didn't work for me. I'm sticking with my slow-but-dependable A80. Great - Even for a first-timer!
Aye, this camera is great. I suppose I might be biased, this being my first digital, but I have used cameras borrowed from pals in the recent past, and didn't particularly enjoy them (which is why I wasn't too interested in a digi before). Quick startup is a big bonus. On my trip earlier this year, I missed many opportunities for good photos with my pal's HP camera, as it took a few seconds to boot, and seconds between photos. The only video I took had to be tossed due to the 15fps blurry quality (and he had no memory card). The digital zoom was horrible, and indoors photos were really crappy - especially at night. The 30fps movie mode in the A630 is wonderful for a camera of this price - I never use the 15fps mode at all - it's blurry and the picture is 'jumpy,' although if it's done outdoors with good ambient lighting, it seems to work a bit better. I quickly learned to navigate the settings, being a complete novice, but I still need to check the manual on a couple of items that I have no idea about. Even though it won't fit in my pocket and is heavier than many, the battery life is great. I have the camera over a month now, have taken video, stills with and without flash, deleted and re-shot stuff, and still have not changed the original batteries. If this were my pal's camera, I would have changed batteries after about 8 or so shots. Serious. I bought a 2GB SD card for it, along with rechargeables and a charger. The only off-key thing I noticed so far is that the images can get pretty grainy on night-time zoomed indoor shots where incandescent (normal) light bulbs are used. As one other reviewer said, I don't know if I have to tinker with the settings to fix this, but that's the only issue I have had. So basically these things do it for me with this camera: - Excellent battery life - AA size is easy to get and keep for emergencies - Excellent video capture with sound - Quick boot and inter-shot response - Excellent image quality with little or no blur - Nice features such as color swap and pre-sets for common situations, apart from manual settings for more advanced users. - Foldable vari-angle LCD is very very useful - the screen won't get damaged once it's folded in - unlike those with the screen showing at the back. This is great for evaluating your shots, and the quality is pretty good for a small screen. - Image quality settings allow for maximized space utilization on you SD. (GET a 1-Gig or larger card!) Drawbacks: - Some grainy zoomed indoor shots (moreso in nighttime video capture) - Larger than expected - Haven't been able to find the correct carrying case up to December 2006! What?! - Causes me to waste time instead of preparing for my exams! :) Overall, an easy-to-use, excellent camera, straight out of the box. Would recommend it (and already did - 3 of my coworkers are ordering it, so Canon please organize my cut). ML. Great Pictures
I had been looking for a new digital camera for over a year. I finally made this my pick. At first I wasn't happy with the menus and settings. But after testing it for a few weeks, I'm very happy with it. I had been looking for a new digital camera for over a year. I finally made this my pick. At first I wasn't happy with the menus and settings. But after testing it for a few weeks, I'm very pleased with it. The pictures are outstanding!! If you have never used a Canon digital(I hadn't) the menu settings and multiple picture settings can be overwhelming. Just set it to "auto" the pics come out great. Then you can slowly learn the various setting(if you want to). I'm a geek so I tested them all. -It starts up within 2 seconds and the time between shots is just over 1 second(really). -The flippable LCD screen is great, but, the quality of the image on the LCD is only fair. If this is important to you, this camera is not for you. It really doesn't matter to me, I prefer the optical view finder for 99% of my shots. -There is NO information displayed in the optical view finder. -Very comfortable in the hand. -There is no battery meter (just tells you need to replace). -A little larger and heavier than a "pocket" camera. -It takes four AA batteries - which is great, can get them anywhere - no waiting for recharge. -For a still camera it takes great videos. I would recommend this camera. It's not perfect - but after much research, it was a good choice for the price range. Also, I bought a 1GB memory card - so I don't have to work about running out of space. Redeye
I replaced my Canon A95 with the A630, and I have the worst case of redeye I have ever seen in a camera. The sharpness of the pictures is no different from the A95 nor is the quality of the images any better. I may go back to my A95. Just what I was looking for
I think I looked at every camera on the Amazon site and figured out and compared each one to decide which one to buy. I finally decided that I needed a camera that used AA batteries and used a SD card. So then I started comparing the Canons and reading the reviews. I couldn't figure out why the A630 cost about the same as the A620, so decided to buy the one with the most pixels. As you can tell, I am not a camera expert; but, just an ordinary person wanting to take pictures that are above ordinary. I had a cheap digital camera before that just wouldn't take pictures inside. I could put them in a photo software program and lighten them up a bit, but they just weren't good quality. A lot of my pictures are taken indoors of kids,people and pets. No one ever shows those pictures when they post them as an example though. I was very concerned that if I got a new camera, it wouldn't be too much different. Thank goodness the Canon A630 takes great indoor pictures even in my low- light living room. It is absolutely amazing. I have a 14x30 ft. living room dining room combination and when I take a picture at night on on end of the room, the other end of the room shows up well lit up too. There are lots of digital cameras out there that don't take good indoor pictures. This camera is not one of them. I'm so happy I decided on the Canon A630. I can hardly wait to take Christmas pictures with it! I know they will be great. | ||