Canon PowerShot A610

Opinion: One of the best compact ever produced up to date..G lens with f 2.8 speed 1/1.8 " sensor and 5 mp means you can get light better..very balanced sensor size and megapixel .Both make excellent IQ..My potraits and even other pictures are competetive with those days dlsr. I can not find a real defination to express my happiness with this compact..If you do not need prints above A3 or attractive bokeh and candle light iso ability then you will no need to buy a dslr...If you find second hand, no hesitate to buy it. Believe me it is impossible to buy this kind of quality with a small budget. It is a real treasure or most of the time I think canon mistakenly produced this little monster..I guessed they realized their market fault :D and it is now unfortunately discontinued..

Why I am in love;

1.IQ ( I have tried at least 100 compacts of other brands, I compared all photos taken individually side by side and A610 easily beat others still beats most..)

2.Fast G lens that can resolve all details in its range from excellent to medium ( as you go to tele it normally descends)

3. Extensive Feature Set (Full manual control and it has all custom and creative modes anyone could ask for.. all can be chose via metal ring )

4. AA Batteries -You can not remember when it was your last charge (even with heavy flash it stands app over 200 hundreds of shot.)

5. Usable articulating screen and optical viewfinder ( app % 85 coverage )

6. AifAF is fast and flexible enough for day photography..You can get 2 frames per sec with fast sd card and You can hack firmware(Russian one) then you can shot RAW and have live RGB histogram and more add-on feautures..like better unlimited video..

7.Good out of jpeg color in daylight (can be tuned) crisp photos no need unsharp mask. Processing engine is fast shutter lag not much disappointig. Fast start up.Do not use it auto mode to get most unless it is necessary.Av and full manual mode is absolute benefit on this cam and sensor can get light smoothly from G lens under thsese modes..also I found snow/scenery mode provides smooth-warm looking under every condition.

8.1 cm macro ability is fantastic.Use tripod and you can not belive in your eyes.

9.You can get add on equipments (expansion tubes filter ring etc..) so you can use filters like polorized or uvl..

10. You can not buy this kind of quality under $400 nowadays.

Opinion: Love Love Love this camera!! Best camera Ive ever had! I love how you can twist the LCD screen, really good for self portaits. Easy to use with loads of functions. Great zoom. (You can never have enough though. lol)

Opinion: Excellent quality images. The built in flash is quite powerful and allows to you to take
very nice indoor pics.

Opinion: I have been using this camera since 23rd of February, 2006. I made more than 16.000 photos and it still works brilliantly.
Good features:

1. Works extremely fast for compact cameras. 2 fps in continuous mode is really useful (2.4 fps is announced, but in fact it is less). Switch on and off is less than 1 second. Focusing is almost instant. In view mode there is no need to wait loading of photos. (My friend's Olympus C-765 UZ has that problem). Processor Digic II rules.

2. Very good image quality due to large sensor (1/1.8"). I bought Canon A590 (8 Megapixels, small 1/2.5" sensor) recently for present and compared with my A610. Made photos of the same objects, and A610 image quality is much better.

3. Colors are very good. Compared with my brother's Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W7 (7 Megapixels, same size sensor).

4. Rotating LCD is very useful and enables to shot magnificent photos (especially on the rivers, lakes etc.)

5. SD memory cards are popular.

6. Video in 640x480 30 fps mode works very well. Quality is very good.

7. 4 batteries keep camera working for a long time even with flash. By the way, flash recharges very quickly. (A590 has an awful problem with flash recharging, its time is up to 10 seconds!).

8. Macro focus is very good.

9. Full manual control.

So I can say that I've seen and tried many compact cameras and I hadn't found better camera for this price.

Opinion: my first digital camera, no regrets.
dropped it once, still is a-ok.
good image quality.
Good Quality Videos.

Opinion: Very satisfied with the camera, good photos, powerful flash, manual controls easy to use and articulated screen that makes possible to extract incredible photos.

It can found in Ebay for little money (less than 100$). The quality of the photographies is surprising, great better than the Casio V7 that I have had until it broke.

To see examples of photos extracted with this camera, without any retouch, they can visit my web:

www.flickr.com/photos/8252120@N07/

Opinion: Shutter died after 6xxx shots.

I was happy with this camera until 1 weeks ago.

It is easy to use, the image is good. But after 18 months / 6xxx shots, it is dead.

A visit to the customer service center shows that the shutter isn't working. It need to be shipped to get fix and will cost as much as 1/3 of the value of this camera.

Opinion: As I write this review (summer 2007), this is still my most favorite P&S digicam. It is compact enough to take anywhere, yet solid enough to maintain a good grip at slower shutter speeds. The sensor is slightly more sensitive than the A620, virtually noise free at ISO 50/100 and does a lot better than newer higher resolution compacts with 1/2.5" sensors at ISO200. ISO400 is not very usable.

The fill flash in Av mode is excellent on sunny days to eliminate unwanted shadows. Lens is quite fast for a low price P&S digicam. The zoom range is very useful.

In addition to being the ultimate "snapshot" digicam, I have also been able to take some very impressive scenic shots with this camera. Color rendition is excellent.

Overall, excellent value for money.

Opinion: Great camera, now with RAW option