Canon PowerShot A640 Review
Simon Joinson, December 2006

Review based on a production Canon PowerShot A640

The PowerShot A640, launched in August, just before Photokina 06, replaces the popular A620 at the top of Canon's increasingly well-specified 'budget' A series range. The new model gets a bit of a facelift (and a new coat of black paint) as well as a bigger screen, major pixel boost (up from 7MP to 10MP) and a few feature tweaks. Otherwise it offers pretty much everything the A620 did; 4x zoom lens, tilt and swivel LCD, full photographic control and optional converter lenses. And like its predecessor, the A640 was launched with an almost identical twin, the A630, the only major difference being the sensor (8MP as opposed to 10MP). Therefore much of what is said in this review will also be applicable to the A630 (we will be adding A630 IQ results in the new year). The A620 was one of our favorite cameras of the last 12 months, and is a tough act to follow. So is the A640 up to the job? Let's find out, starting with the headline features...

• 10.0 million effective pixels
• 35-140mm (equiv.) 4x zoom lens
• DIGIC II, iSAPS, 9-Point AiAF, FlexiZone AF/AE
• Digital Tele-Converter and Safety Zoom
• 2.5-inch vari-angle LCD and real-image optical viewfinder
• 21 shooting modes
• 1cm macro mode
• Optional wide and tele converter lenses

Canon PowerShot A640 vs A620 (main differences)

	Canon PowerShot A640	Canon PowerShot A620
Sensor	• 1/1.8" Type CCD • 10.0 million effective pixels	• 1/1.8" Type CCD • 7.10 million effective pixels
Screen	• 2.5-inch Vari-angle P-Si TFT • 115,000 pixels	• 2.0-inch Vari-angle P-Si TFT • 115,000 pixels
Max image size	3648 x 2736	3072 x 2304
SDHC compatible?	Yes	No
Movie modes	• up to 640 x 480, 30fps • 160 x 120 @ 15fps	• up to 640 x 480, 30fps • 320 x 240, 60fps (up to 1 minute)
Dimensions	109.4 x 66 x 49.1 mm ( 4.3 x 2.6 x 1.9 in.)	105 x 66 x 49 mm (4.1 x 2.6 x 1.9 in)
Weight (exc. batts)	245g / 8.64 oz	235g / 8.29 oz
Continuous Shooting	1.5 fps, limited by card capacity	1.9 fps, limited by card capacity
Others	• Playback overexposure warning feature • 3:2 framing overlay • Safety Zoom • Digital Tele-converter • My Colors in playback mode

Design changes

The size of the models at the top of the A series tree has been creeping up since the A95, and the A640 is a little wider than the camera it replaces. The biggest physical change (aside from the new paint job) is the larger screen, which has jostled all the main controls over to the right. To compare the A640 and A620 rear views just move your mouse over the image below.

Canon PowerShot A640 Key specifications

* Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

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