Canon PowerShot A50

Opinion: Note ratings are for its day. I bought it in 1999, about 6 mo after it was introduced, used it quite a bit for a couple of years, but image quality just wasn't good enough for many purposes. It then spent several years in a lab used as a microscope camera, image quality was good enough for that. It still works. very well built, easy to use, liked the 28mm equivalent wideangle, and the RAW mode.

Opinion: I just realized that I have not learned how to use this camera properly during
the five years of ownership, that is, not until now. I have been taking pictures
in fine JPEG mode (which is reflected in my 4.0 rating), but the only way to
exploit this camera's full power is by taking pictures in RAW mode. Though it
takes more space and time to save the shot, RAW mode provides 30-bit color
resolution, which enables one to adjust the parameters of the shot after it is
taken with great reproduction! The resulting image is stunning (would score a
5.0 rating), and leaves many (even recent) cameras in shame.

On the rating of construction, this camera has survived dropping on hard
floor, crushed by heavy luggage, and other means of abuse, and is still
functional.

Opinion: Sold this camera a while back - it was my first digicam - I wish I never sold it. Built like a tank - battery lasts FOREVER it seems like. Nice images considering the small number of pixels. 4x6 prints look great.

Opinion: Excellent all metal body, very tough, looking good. I post this opinion after a long period of ownership. During the last three years I had a lot of different Cams, but I won't ever sell this PowerShot A50. It's something to keep. If you are looking for one and find a goof offer - take it. Now it ha s a nice price!

Opinion: Excellent and rugged camera for point-and-shoot use. Extremely reliable, with generally clear focus and color rendition. I used one of these for a couple of years, and I was sad to part with it when I upgraded to a Canon G2.

Opinion: I've owned this camera for 2 years now and been very happy with it. The construction is superb, although this makes it a little heavy for a compact digicam. The features are good but this is still a point and shoot camera. The image quality is also very good for this generation of 1.3MP cameras.

The only irritations are the delay between pushing the shutter release and it taking the photo, the slowness of the serial cable link (get a Compactflash reader) and make sure you get a spare battery!

Opinion: I won this camera in a photo contest. It is my first and only digicam. I probably would have given it higher ratings when it first came out, but in comparision with the latest technology improvements it is showing its gray hairs.

Construction is actually fairly robust, with a classy metal case. However, the plastic battery door snagged on something and broke with no provocation. A piece of tape has been securing the battery for a year now.

The A50 has a nice optical zoom with a 28-70 range (35mm equiv). You don't see too many digicams with that go to 28mm. This is very useful in a P&S camera. The zoom controls are not terribly precise.

Image quality is pretty good, especially if you use it mainly for the web. You can do nice small prints as well. The raw file shows much less noise than the next best large fine jpeg. The bad news is the raw file takes a long time to write to the CF card.

The A50 is easy to use, but suffers the same ergonomic shortfalls as most P&S digicams. That is, you have to scroll down through a series of menus for most settings.

My biggest gripe is shutter lag time. Very annoying. You can get around it somewhat by prefocusing, but I've missed "the decisive moment" way too often.

It came with a 4mb CF card, but I quickly replaced that with a 64mb card, which holds 192 large fine jpegs. Forget using the serial cable to download. You'll need a cheap flash card reader.

The stitch software is fun, but sometimes it doesn't match up very well.

My A50 also came with a NiMH battery and charger, which I was very thankful for, since it eats 2CR5s like candy if you like to keep the LCD screen lit up. You can turn the LCD off and use only the optical viewfinder, but the viewfinder only shows about 70% of what you get.

Other than the broken battery door, the A50 has had no problems.

I'd recommend this camera if you find a good deal on E-Bay and have no need for big image files.

Opinion: I've had this camera for over 2 years. For a 1.2 mega pixel camera the picture quality was very high. However, if you are thinking of buying a used one, read "problems". In summary, it was a great introduction to the advantages of digital photography.

Opinion: I have used my A50 for more than two years now and I consider to by a new one but I can't find a better camera for the same money.
Eaven if i pay 50% more I got the same quality exept that the pixels are more. Do I really need more pixel? Is it worth $800 to have 3 Mpixel?
I don't think so at the moment.

+ It's a camera who is digital! Not the oposit.
+ Quit good to hold, fits in my hand nice.
+ Good wide angle.
+ Good optical, exposure and focus.
+ Mechanicly rigid, made to last.