Canon PowerShot SD630 (Digital IXUS 65 / IXY Digital 80) review

Charles Lau

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Seattle, WA, US
I was impressed by my friend's SD550 that came out last year and was looking for a small digicam that can shoot decent pics and movies. The salesman suggested an A630 which is similar in price but with 8 MP. It has good reviews but I was a little put off by its size and the plasticky look. This little SD630 gem looks much better built; although not as nice as the SD550/900 series;it feels quite solid in the hand with an elegant simple design. The 3 inch screen is simply fantastic; you could probably watch a movie on it, and it is far superior to my video iPod. Dispite the big 3 inch screen, the camera is deceptively small. It is smaller than a Pentax Optio X that I also have by a whole inch! The only thing smaller in this class would be an Exlim.
The camera fits nicely in your pocket , being half the size of my PDA and hardly bigger than my phone.
And yes, it does take nice pictures too, not as good as the SD550 but much better than the Pentax Optio X and way better than a Nikon S4 (which I returned). The movie mode is smooth and creamy, at 640x480/30fps; it is almost as good as our camcorder.

I think this is a keeper

Problems:

No battery indicator until the battery is almost dead!

No manual controls

Touch dial is a bit small, but like the iPod style interface

Flimsy battery door and lens cover

Short battery life

Hard to focus in dim light
 

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