Cons: ISO 400 and 800 a bit noisy, camera a little flimsy
The Bottom Line: I really like the A630, including its features, performance and low price. I highly recommended it if you need a capable compact camera that...
dkozin's Full Review: Canon PowerShot A630 Digital Camera
Cheaper than the last year's 7.1-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A620, the Canon PowerShot A630 features 8-Megapixel resolution, larger LCD screen and other improvements yet sells for substantially less. Once it became available, I bought one.
I liked the performance of the A620, but disliked its flimsy construction and the fact that it used 4 AA batteries. Is Canon A630 a good buy and an improvement on its predecessor?
What is Canon PowerShot A630?
The Canon PowerShot A630 is an 8-Megapixel compact digital camera with a 4x optical zoom (35-140 mm equivalent), large 2.5-inch articulated Vari-Angle LCD screen, zooming optical viewfinder and acclaimed Canon DiG!C II (Digic 2) Image Processor.
The camera stores pictures on SD (Secure Digital) or MultiMedia memory cards (16 MB SD card supplied) and features USB connection to PC and Mac computers. The camera supports direct printing (without a computer) with PictBridge compatible printers. The camera is powered by 4 AA batteries (four disposable alkaline AA batteries are supplied, rechargeable NiMH batteries are recommended). The A630 is similar to the last year's 7.1-Megapixel Canon A620, but has higher resolution, larger LCD screen, wide range of shutter speeds and ISO and costs less.
Features
The Canon A630 features a carry-over optical zoom lens (35-140 mm in 35mm equivalent with maximum apertures f/2.8-f/4.1). The shutter speed range is 15-1/2,500 sec. (A620 could not go faster than 1/2,000).
The camera is powered by 4 AA-type batteries (NiMH rechargeable or Alkaline). Canon claims that the camera can take about 350 shots on alkaline batteries or 500 shots on AA NiMH rechargeable ones or be powered by either of them for 1200 minutes in playback mode. I use NiMH in my cameras whenever possible.
The camera features selectable Evaluative, Center-Weighted and Spot metering modes. The mode is selected in the menu. The camera has a built-in flash with adjustable output and red-eye reduction mode. The camera has Auto or selectable ISO of 80-800 (ISO selection required in manual modes).
The A630 has a low-light focus assist illuminator that helps it focus in low light. The orientation sensor detects if the camera is held horizontally or vertically and saves the pictures appropriately. It works well, unless you point the camera upward or downward, in which case it might get confused. The resultant pictures are printed well regardless of what orientation sensor detected, but it helps when you open the image in the image editing software. There is no need to rotate the portrait-orientation photos in software like Adobe Photoshop CS2, as it automatically rotates such pictures based on information recorded by the camera using the orientation sensor (EXIF).
The camera also has a Macro mode, which can be engaged with a single push of a button, where it can focus as close as 0.4 inches (1 cm) at wide angle or 9.8 inches (25 cm) at telephoto end.
The available movie mode records movies at up to 640x480 with up to 30 fps frame rate.
The camera can record images at up to 8-Megapixel resolution. Available resolution modes include widescreen 16x9 aspect ratios as well. Each resolution mode can be combined with one of three compression modes: Normal, Fine or SuperFine.
Getting Started
Once the camera arrived, I loaded four of my charged AA NiMH batteries and my SD memory card. The camera is designed to make sure you will not insert or remove the memory card while the camera is on. This could cause data corruption or a malfunction. If the camera is on and you open the memory card door, the camera turns off.
The Canon A630 is nice-looking. Its body is made of combination metal/polycarbonate. It is rather compact and convenient to hold. The camera itself is rather light for its size, but gains weight once loaded with four NiMH batteries.
Build Quality
I was disappointed with the flimsiness of the previous generation of A cameras: A610 and A620. The A630 seems to be built better, but still is not as solid as the A85. Perhaps it is a tradeoff to make the camera lighter. I am sure the camera will hold up just fine if not abused.
Controls
The camera has an on/off button on the top deck as well as a zoom rocker, large shutter release button and a rotating mode wheel. The mode wheel can be set to Auto mode, Program mode, multiple scene modes as well as, more advanced, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual mode as well as Custom setting. It comes pre-set to Auto mode, in which you can just point and shoot.
The bottom of the camera has a threaded tripod mount and a battery compartment lid. The rear houses a 2.5-inch LCD monitor that can be flipped out and rotated, an optical zooming viewfinder, a review/shoot switch and control buttons. The buttons are well-arranged and clearly marked.
The side has a cover, underneath which you can find a USB jack, A/V jack and a DC power input. Below it, there is a cover for the SD card compartment. It is rather sturdy and if you open it while the camera is on, the camera turns off automatically to prevent data corruption.
In Operation
The first time you power the camera on, it asks you to set the time and date. It is rather easy to do. The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover that opens when the camera is powered on. This does not happen if you turn the camera on in the review mode.
The LCD can be rotated so that it faces the back of the camera. In this position it is protected from impact and smudges. You obviously will have to rotate it so that it faces you to be able to use it.
When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes. The camera takes about 2 seconds to power on and can capture images at about 1-2-second intervals (I used my Kingston Elite Pro SD memory card). The focusing takes less than a second and the shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost unnoticeable.
The zooming from wide angle to telephoto (or back) takes about 2-3 seconds. I would prefer that it was smoother and more responsive, but it works well enough. While zooming, the camera makes a slight buzzing sound. Overall, the camera seem to work pretty much exactly as the A620/A610 it replaced.
Batteries
The camera can take more than 400 pictures on one charge of high-capacity NiMH batteries (I recommend at least 2000 mAh). I was able to take about 120 photos using my NiMH batteries and the low battery warning has not appeared yet.
I prefer cameras that use only 2 AA batteries, but there are people who do not mind the fact that the A630 uses four. And there is a nagging problem with most if not all cameras that only use 2 AA batteries: slow flash recycle time and, in some cases, LCD going blank after taking a picture. Two AA batteries are just not enough for such a power-hungry device as a digital camera to do all it needs to do occasionally.
So if you want better performance, especially indoors with flash, you either have to deal with 4 AA batteries or get a camera with a proprietary Li-Ion battery pack.
Usage
The camera can be used in full auto mode (by rotating the mode dial to Auto position), where it is extremely easy to use. In this mode the camera sets all parameters automatically and you only have to point and shoot.
You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused by displaying one or more green rectangles. Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way.
You can go one step further and select an appropriate scene mode (e.g. Portrait, Landscape, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Kids & Pets, etc.) to let camera know what effect you want. For example, in the Portrait mode the camera will try to keep the subject sharp while keeping the background blurry, but will try to keep both foreground and background sharp in the Landscape mode.
When you are ready to take control, you can use the Aperture Priority mode (to control how much of your picture will be in focus) or Shutter Priority mode (to freeze fast motion or, on contrary, create motion blur) or even full Manual mode to control both the Aperture and Shutter Speed.
Keep in mind that in most modes you can use Exposure Compensation to make pictures the camera takes brighter or darker.
DIGIC II
The camera uses the newest version on DIGIC processor: DIGIC II. It is the same generation that is used in expensive Canon digital SLR cameras and it has been around for a while. It makes the camera fast in operation, responsive and helps it produce excellent pictures.
Focusing
You can let camera focus using its AiAF 9-area focusing system and the camera will show you green rectangles over the areas where it focused so that you can confirm the focus areas. You can also switch to the 1-point focusing or use the manual focus capability.
The arrow down button switches the camera to Macro mode when pushed once, and to the manual mode when pushed again. The camera shows you a scale in your chosen units (cm or inches) and magnifies the central portion of the screen to let you confirm the focus. Cumbersome but it works. In dim lighting the magnified portion can get pretty noisy, however, which makes focus more difficult to confirm.
Manual Mode
You can adjust both the aperture and shutter speed in the Manual mode. The camera shows you the under/overexposure as evaluated by the camera once the shutter button is half-pressed. You can also adjust the flash output (albeit only in three steps) in the manual mode. The ISO has to be set to a specific value on Manual, Aperture or Shutter Priority modes.
Ease of Use
I found the A630 to be very easy to use. I have not read the manual, but was able to use all of its functions. If you have seen Canon menus before, your learning curve will be short or non-existent.
LCD
The 2.5-inch LCD feels very solid and well-built. The screen flips out and can be rotated in all directions. Its hinges feel very well-built. The amount of effort required to open, close or rotate the screen is a bit on the high side, but it gives impression of solidity.
The LCD screen itself features pleasing colors, has good visibility in sunlight and is very fluid in good light. It gains-up in dark environments (increases brightness) but gets a little noisy and less fluid. Still, it is useful in situations where LCD screens on other cameras would be of no use at all. And the camera has an optical zooming viewfinder as well.
The screen is larger than the 2-inch screen of the A620, but has the same resolution, which is still sufficient. The LCD coverage as about 100% - you can see exactly what will be recorded. The viewfinder, however, is tight and does not cover everything that will be recorded. This is typical for a compact digital camera.
Flash
The flash has an effective red-eye reduction mode and is sufficient at up to 10-12 feet away. It has a recycle time of about 5--7 seconds (depending on output and battery status). I find the flash powerful enough for most indoor situations.
Image Quality Settings
The camera lets you select between Standard, Fine and Superfine compression levels (regardless of resolution). At the highest resolution, the Fine JPEG can be of about 2.4-2.5-Megabyte size. This is the setting I use more often. It provides a good compromise between the file size and the image quality.
Picture Quality
I usually take photos that contain all primary colors at different focal lengths, apertures and compression ratios. Some photos are taken outdoors, some indoors with and without flash.
Oftentimes, I take a bunch of photos from my balcony. Those photos features all colors: blue sky, green foliage, red curbs, yellow fire hydrant and cars of different colors.
Taking photos at different focal lengths and apertures reveals the camera's optical quality: corner sharpness, chromatic aberrations, overall sharpness.
Taking photos at different ISO settings shows how well a given camera can keep noise levels low in dim light. I mostly evaluate the image quality using my computer monitor, but I also print some photos at different sizes using either my printer or online services like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Sam's Club's online photo center.
With 8 Megapixels and sharp optics, the camera produces excellent photos that are very sharp, contrasty and have beautiful colors. The automatic white balance worked very well outdoors and produced nice green foliage, sky and richly-saturated greens, reds and yellows. Although the colors are probably not very technically correct, they are very pleasing and will serve most consumers better than the technically correct colors.
The camera has good detail level in both shadows and highlights. The pictures are very sharp and I can see very small detail such as individual blades of grass in the photos I took.
Just as with other recent Canon cameras, the A630 produces pleasing skin colors that are true to life and pleasing. This is unlike some Sony cameras that features unnaturally-pink skin tones (which are pleasing as well). And unlike some other cameras (including Canon SD Digital Elph series) that have noticeably softer edges of the frame, the photos taken with the A630 are sharp corner to corner.
The photos seem to have good dynamic range and preserve detail in both shadow and detail well. I was able to find only small amounts of chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in the areas of high contrast.
Usually, the smaller the camera and the higher the optical zoom it can provide, the softer the image becomes, especially at the corners of the frame as it is difficult to produce compact optics with high zoom levels. But the lens of the A630 is very good, despite its compact dimensions and the 4x power and produces sharp photos at all zoom levels.
Noise and Print Sizes
This camera is rather typical for a compact digital camera. The noise is absent at ISO 80 and appears at the ISO 100 in the shadows. It gets more pronounced at ISO 200 and gets worse at ISO 400, getting even worse at ISO 800. Still, if you are printing 6x4 or 5x7 pictures, the noise should not be visible up to (and including) ISO 200 and barely visible at ISO 400-800. And with 8-megapixel images this model produces, you can print your photos at up to 11x14 (ISO 80-200) and even 13x19 inches with good detail (ISO 80-100).
The ISO 800 is a new setting for the A6xx cameras (A620 did not have it) and has less noise than I expected, but a bit softer overall picture because of the noise suppression. Most likely they are (Canon) using binning (combining photosites for higher sensitivity), which decreases real resolution. I am not sure, but in any case, ISO 800 is there and can prove useful in some situations.
Computer Connectivity
The camera uses USB connection to transfer pictures to a computer. It is located behind a lid on the side of the camera. You can also remove the SD memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one), which I do.
What I Like
I like that the camera is fast in operation, easy to use and produces excellent pictures with high resolution. It has a lot of features and manual controls. It has good size and weight and excellent LCD screen. The battery life is excellent as well. And it uses widely available and inexpensive SD memory.
What I Dislike
The camera could have better build quality and use sturdier materials. And I usually prefer to have wider-angle lens (starting at 28mm), which is useful for indoor group photos or European-vacation architectural photos. It is also nice to have optical image stabilization, but that would add to the weight and the price of the camera.
Also Consider
If you need higher resolution, the Canon PoweShot A640 is a very similar camera, but features 10-Megapixel CCD and attractive black color.
Recommendation
I really like the A630, including its features, performance and low price. I highly recommended it if you need a capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 13x19 inches or images with heavy cropping, has 4x zoom and uses AA batteries. The A630 provides the best of both worlds: point-and-shoot simplicity or full manual control and will be usable by any member of the family or photographers of all levels. The camera produces sharp, pleasantly-colored photos at large resolution.
I might keep it and sell my Panasonic FX01, which has less control, but wide angle, optical image stabilization and is much more compact. The photos taken using A630 just look more appealing and sharper.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 259 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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