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View Full Version : First impressions of Canon A650


Bonzo
08-11-2008, 02:53 PM
Handling – Feels very solid and is quite heavy. Not a great fit the hand as my fingers touch the ring around the lens and the zoom/shutter switch is awkward. I suppose I will get used to that over time.
My nose just fits down the side of the camera when using the optical view finder.

Build quality – Good although I do not know how long the cover over the USB connection will last as it feels a bit flimsy.
The mode dial is nice and positive.
The battery cover is well fixed and will not come open accidentaly but this also makes it a bit hard to use as you need to move the lock to one side then pull/push the cover to get it open.

Use – Very easy to take photos even without reading the manual; the setup screen was easy to navigate and make adjustments. It will take a while to learn all the icons; although all the icons are displayed when adjusting them there are only certain ones you can be adjust in each mode.
Fast download to the PC; I just us the Microsoft photo wizard or view the card in My computer.
The view finder zooms in and out with the lens.
The first photo I took with macro and the flash operated and the exposure seems very good to me.

Results – The photo quality is very good, the video is very good and you can zoom while taking video.
The photos are saved quickly – I brought a Transcend 4GB SDHC card.
I have tried the photostitch and it is a bit hard to see where the photos overlap when you are taking them as the preview is only about half the height of the screen. The results were again very good with some misalignment at the top and bottom of the photo. I will need to practice this as I had zoomed in to far!

First photo:
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/lily.jpg

bascom
08-21-2008, 02:39 PM
Thanks for the review. The video zoom is just digital, not optical, unless you use CHKDSK.

Bonzo
08-30-2008, 01:06 PM
Just back from a trip to Italy - Lake Garda and some more results.

I tried a few different things out and found that on one of the display settings when viewing an image I get the over exposed areas indicated.

A photo taken on auto; I thought it may select a long exposure but it didn't.
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/auto.jpg
I tried a fully manual setting which worked but the photos where "blurred" and in the end I went for a 15sec TV setting at F2.8
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/15_sec_TV.jpg

A couple of photos using the photosticher software that came with the camera.
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/day.jpg
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/night.jpg

A fully auto shot of a sunset; I had to get the correct part of the image for the aperature etc. or it was over exposed. I also took a couple adjusting the stops which came out OK as well
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/sunset.jpg

Two shots of the same view just adjusting the stops between them; this is quite easy to do on all modes except not on auto.
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/auto_view.jpg
http://www.rubble.info/donotdelete/stopped_view.jpg

The camera was OK to carry around and easy to use.

With the video bascom I think the zoom is optical up to a certain range before it goes digital although I will need to check that.
Did you mean CHDK ? My camera has a version G1.00 ( from memory ) and currently only F1.00 is supported :(

danielg
09-06-2008, 03:03 AM
Congratulations on your purchase, nice shots too :)

It should be really good as it's basically a G9 in an different form factor. It shares the same sensor and the same lens (reportedly with a different lens coating) so for all intents and purposes it will produce the same image quality as a G9 at a lower price :)

I always tell my friends that if they don't need RAW, they don't need the ND or metal body and vintage look then the A650is is a great camera to buy :)

Bonzo
09-06-2008, 10:49 AM
I had not thought about it being very similar to the G9; I think the A650IS looks a lot nicer. I was hoping to use the CDK software to get the RAW option but my camera firmware is not supported yet.

I was going to buy the Fuji F100FD but it didn't have the optical view finder; I am very glad I did buy this camera instead as the images seem a lot nicer that the Fuji images from my old E550.