Canon PowerShot A650 IS

Opinion: I purchased this camera two years ago; previously I had a Canon S3IS, a Canon A630 and a couple of Kodaks. So far, the best point and shoot camera that I've owned. Even more, I've compared side by side with cameras of other brands like Sony and Panasonic owned by my friends and this model is the winer always. Excellent image quality, a lot of features and manual controls, the vary-angle screen is the best, excellent battery life...
I made some research today because I always want an upgrade, and amazingly I found that at least by specs and features, only the Canon G11 made me think about change my loved A650.
Unfortunatelly, the tendency of the market is to dumb down the features, add more useless MP in small sensors, and offer pink and blue cases... that's going to improve the quality of my pictures? I don't think so... it's a shame...

Opinion: Pequena Notável com vários atrativos, dentre eles estão:

Controles manuais;
Foco manual;
Macro de 1cm;
Abertura de f/2.8;
LCD vari-angle;
Estabilizador de Imagem.

Ps.: Utilizo um SDHC de 16GB, e funciona muito bem! =)

Opinion: A robust "old style" camera with a very good
resolution.
I like AA batteries power.

Opinion: Was a review here, with a link to samples, but it's not displaying properly!

Camera is great, apart from JPEG compression artifacts above 100 ISO

Opinion: I've been using this camera for almost 3 months now. Purchased from amazon for $315 and it was worth every penny of it.
Its a good upgrade from a590is. The 12.1 mp is so convenient! You may think its too much, but once you get hooked on the ability to crop to this great extent, its hard to let go of.
Highly recommended if you're looking for an upgrade in terms of size.

PROS:
* Great resolution!
*Fast focusing (not as fast as some sony point-n-shoots, but still impressive)
*excellent face tracking (manages to track my cats face :) )
*Good video modes; the lowest size is more or less useless
*The white balance is impressive as well; works great with the yellow bulbs n everything
*I managed to get some great shots of fireworks in the fireworks mode
*The battery life is good for atleast 400 pics (some with flash)
*Excellent flash recharge time; on a extreme III sd card, the burst mode is around 3-4 fps with flash!
* Good size LCD; flip screen is ultra convenient

Opinion: Sound quality issues on videos! 'S' words sound like you have a lisp. The flip screen is a bit of a pain in the neck, but is very handy when you want to get a different perspective from say ground level of above your head. Love the widescreen picture option as we view all our photos on a 16:9 TV. Great picture quality. Fast and accurate focus (a massive improvement on the Sony DSC100 that we have).

Opinion: I have used two cameras A650 four days long. I bought the first of them and found 7x20 bad pixels in the centre of the matrix. I returned it back to the seller and took another A650. At the same day, after approximately 20 on/off's scratches (abrasion spot) appeared on the front lens. These scratches were made by the lens lamellas. So the other A650 is also to return back to the seller forever…

Opinion: Purchased this for my wife to replace her old 4mp Kodak DX6490, which has been an excellent camera for her. She is strictly a P&S user, with no interest in manual settings.

I did a direct comparison of this camera against the Lumix TZ4 and the Canon SD890 IS for ten days, shooting identical frames with all three cameras. Although there were features of both of the other cameras that we liked, the A650 quickly emerged as the one to beat. IQ consistently came in higher from this camera than from the other two, with very few exceptions. Also, my wife doesn't really like the small form factor of the 890, finding it difficult to hold and handle. She appreciates the finger grip on the 650, and I appreciate that it uses 4xAA batteries. The body is still small enough to fit a belt case, and I will probably go find a neck strap to replace the little wrist lanyard that comes with it. The LCD is very well protected when flipped toward the body and tucked in.

I don't mind the build quality; but the Lumix TZ4 is noticeably finer, built like a tank. I bought the 650 at Costco for $300 bundled in the same box with a cheap Canon MP470 multi-function printer. We didn't need or want the printer, but the $300 price for both was $50 less than the camera alone at Ritz. I can sell the printer on eBay or give it to one of my kids or friends.

Noise is an issue at ISO over 400. I would say just manually set the camera to not exceed 400 and you'll be happy enough with the noise levels except dark exposures. Aside from that, the camera is a joy to use. Ergonomics are great. My wife loves the articulated LCD, which is bright enough to use in sunshine. The video capability is an interesting novelty, but not of much interest to us.

Bottom line: A superb value for the money, fine IQ, nice features, lots of auto scene modes for the casual shooter. I might go get one for myself to replace an old Oly Stylus 410 that lives in my glove-box.

Opinion: It took me a (long) long time to decide on my most recent digital camera purchase! I guess i wanted everything; great image quality, good zoom, good features, and all in a compact format that i could use easily when hiking etc. In the end, as always, it came down to a compromise and i'm really not disappointed with the decision i made.
The 6x zoom is very useful, the image quality is extemely good for my purposes (RAW not needed), start times/ease of use is very good, build quality seems fine and the price seems very reasonable for all these features in a pretty compact and lightweight body. The movie quality and ability to zoom in movie mode are also very pleasing. The swivelling lens is really useful too, for awkward shots and also to protect the screen. In summary, i love it!