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Stellar camera at a great price!, October 10, 2005
Reviewer: R. Scott Broadway
I had been looking forward to this purchase ever since I saw the press
release about the A610. I ordered it from Amazon as soon as it was in
stock, they shipped it immediately, one-day shipping got it to me exactly
when I expected it.
I am not ordinarily one to make such broad, sweeping statements, but I am
very, VERY impressed with this camera. Here are some initial impressions:
- Movie mode is great...it makes AVI files in 160, 320, or 640 resolution
(4:3) with okay quality mono sound. It uses very low compression, so you
get great quality but large file sizes. The way I calculate it, you can
get a 640x480 30fps AVI encoded at 2MB/s. You can use the zoom before you
hit the shutter, but you cannot zoom while filming. Bummer.
- The autofocus mechanism is spectacular. It seems to have 9 zones in the
AiAF setup, and will make a best guess at where you are focusing and show
you those zones before you pull the shutter release. You can also put it
in "FlexiZone" which lets you move a single autofocus point around the
frame, allowing you to ask the autofocus to aim wherever you'd like. Macro
focus is great...it really does focus accurately at ranges as close as a
centimeter from the lens when zoomed all the way out (1x). It does have a
manual focus setting, but I can't yet beat the autofocus.
- The "My Colors" feature is cool...one of the modes allows you to replace
one color for another (you select by aiming the center of the frame at the
colors you select). You can also set it to select one hue, washing all
others to grayscale. For the photoshoppers out there, it's also got a mode
where it stores both the original shot and the color-altered shot on the
card. No worries.
- The photos I take with auto-exposure and autofocus turn out beautiful,
crisp, and with great color balance (the RGB histograms look very even). I
can even get zoom shots of a close subject where the background appears
blurred...very pretty.
- The camera's user interface is quick enough to learn if you read the
booklet. On-screen menus are very informative without being over-designed.
Do yourself a favor and buy this camera or the A620. You will be investing
in a very capable tool at an extraordinarily reasonable price. Buy a big
SD card, too, so you don't have to worry about setting the camera on
anything but the highest resolution and lowest compression.
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Bad Customer Service, March 21, 2006
Reviewer: Dr. Craig R. Mcclain
I bought this camera because I am a dedicated Canon customer. I have owned
several Canon cameras and have no problem. I purchased this camera in Jan.
2006 and in Feb. 2006 I had to have it serviced. The camera would drain a
battery charge within 15 minutes of usage and eventually would transfer
pictures to my pc. I contacted Canon who advised me to send it in and it
would be returned to me within 7 business days. I sent it Feb. 3rd and it
arrived there according to FedEx on Feb. 7th. On the the 15th I received
an email stating that it would be returned to me in 7 business days (14+
days after they received it). I told the rep. on the phone I needed it for
my research by no later than March 21st. I called and called when it never
came back only to be redirected to a new department every time I spoke
with someone. I was always cordial on the phone, only to be treated with
apathy or rudeness everytime I called. I emailed only to get a 1800 number
to call. I have yet to speak to one person who actually helped or
listened. It was finally shipped but unexpedited before the 21st ensuring
that it would not arrive for me to use on this date. Don't buy if you are
concerned with customer service.
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Superb camera. The best Christmas present I ever got., March 21, 2006
Reviewer: Eugene Fenlon. "Eugenius."
Wow. What a camera. With so many functions, pictures can be taken anywhere
with professional quallity and ease. A very reliable camera thats perfect
for business and hobby use. 10/10.
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Great pictures, easy to use, multi-featured, March 23, 2006
Reviewer: C. Rosenberg (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
This camara has all of the features I need. I can take great pet photos,
night and indoor shots. These three were nearly impossible to capture well
with my old camara. The ease of use auto focus is important to me also. I
highly recommend this camara.
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Canon Powershot A610
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