I just bought the a620 based on the great reviews. I've got the original Digital Rebel which I love to deliver fantastic photos but I've become addicted to my point-and-shoot which is the Sony DSC-P150, mainly for its compact size and movie mode. I don't even know where my camcorder is now, and it is an expensive sony.
So what's my question? I was getting frustrated w/the Sony's inaccurate skin tones. And it seems like I get a LOT of blurry pictures of my 3-year-old daughter. So I thought I'd try the a620. I must be doing something wrong, because I'm having a hard time getting accurate focus of my goldfish in their tank (oughta be pretty easy, they aren't THAT fast). I can get ONE good picture w/accurate focus. With my Sony I always get accurate focus.
Am I doing something wrong? I'm using fully automatic mode. I am taking this sucker back tomorrow if I can't work it out, but I'm hoping I'm just missing something because I'm tired of the so-called great image quality of my Sony.
Anybody have helpful hints? I would appreciate them.
Maybe its trying to focus on the glass? Auto mode can be tricky because the camera isnt that smart. It doesnt really know what your subject is. It says it trys to focus on straight edges or any sharp edges so if you have an edge the camera can pickup on and its closer then your subject it will focus on that.
What you can do is, zoom in and focus on the fish then hit the MF button to lock the focus then zoom back out and compose the shot. Zoom in so the fish fills the screen if you can.
When you put the camera in MF for manual focus (you may have to do this taking pictures threw glass)
How does the front lens look? its easy to smudge it but when its off you cant see it because the front lens sutters close down over it.
I have the A610 and I just took a bunch of pictures last week on vacation of some tropical fish in an aquarium and many didn't turn out but many did and turned out surprisingly well. I'd stay stick with it because even though I'm a beginner, I'm very happy with my camera considering I paid 350 canadian for it.
One of the thing you need to do in order to get more accurate focusing is to turn off AiAF in the menu and use P mode instead of Auto. P mode is still full automatic, but it lets you tweak a few settings, like turning AiAF off.
AiAF automatically picks what it wants to focus on, which might not always agree with what YOU want. With AiAF off, you get a single focus box in the center and you can then be sure of exactly what the focus point is going to be.
The A620 wants to use ISO50 despite the fact that it's warning you of handshake. It's not the focus having a problem but the camera using too low of an ISO! It's hard to diagnose because when you're using full auto mode you can't see the ISO or see it in the review or the properties of the file on your computer. As a matter of fact, the ISO doesn't show up in the picture's properties on Program Mode, either. Program mode also wants to use an ISO that's too low. Too bad. It took longer than a day, but this is going back. I want a point-and-shoot camera with creative controls, not a sort-of point-and-shoot camera. That's the problem I already have with a 3-year-old. No time to think.
"Just about all of the specifications of the Canon Powershot A610 also apply directly to the Canon Powershot A620. It's essentially an identical camera, but with a 7.1MP sensor instead of a 5MP sensor."
AND
"ISO settings
The A610 can be set to "auto ISO" or manually to ISO 50, 100, 200 and 400. Comparing shutter speed and aperture readings between an EOS 20D at ISO settings from 50 to 400, the ISO settings agreed to within 1/3 stop. In "Auto" mode you can't see what ISO setting was used either in record or playback modes. Even the EXIF data stored with the image indicates ISO as "auto", so the only way to figure out what ISO was chosen is to shoot the same scene at a fixed ISO and compare the shutter speed and aperture values chosen. The "auto" ISO mode seems to hang on to slow settings for all it's worth, even when it causes the shutter speed to drop below that at which the camera can be handheld without risking image blur due to shake. If you want to force the camera to use the fastest shutter speed you should manually set ISO 400, though this can only be done in the P, Av, TV and M modes (in all "fully auto" scene and programmed modes ISO is also set to "auto")"
The A620 wants to use ISO50 despite the fact that it's warning you of handshake. It's not the focus having a problem but the camera using too low of an ISO! It's hard to diagnose because when you're using full auto mode you can't see the ISO or see it in the review or the properties of the file on your computer. As a matter of fact, the ISO doesn't show up in the picture's properties on Program Mode, either. Program mode also wants to use an ISO that's too low. Too bad. It took longer than a day, but this is going back. I want a point-and-shoot camera with creative controls, not a sort-of point-and-shoot camera. That's the problem I already have with a 3-year-old. No time to think.
I have a 620 and you are correct. The camera seems geared to using ISO 50 since that is theoretically the finest grain (at least in film cameras). What I did that seemed to help was I switched to the P mode, which is just above Auto, and was able to set the ISO to 100 or 200. That seems to reduce the recurrence of the camera shake icon. Of course, theoretically you will have more noise, but odds are you will not notice it if you are shooting in a well lighted area, and night shots usually look better shot with a tripod. Lastly, in the P mode you can leave the rest of the camera functions in their auto modes. P lets you tinker with a lot or as few settings as you choose. Only digital SLRs will act like the old reliable film cameras.
I was all excited to have such a nice compact camera at such a low price, until I saw my first (big) batch of photos. The first few photos seemed ok at first glance. I'd only taken a few inside with the flash until I got a decent sized (2G) SD card today. The movies are wonderful, but my pictures today are ALL ranging from slightly blurry to so blurry they're worthless.
So bad that it seems that the "Auto" mode is basically broken and useless unless you're shooting in low light with the flash. Why haven't reviewers noticed this?
I'm suprpised that this even happened outside with the subject directly light by sunlight. I'll try again tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe something is wrong with mine?
I was getting finer detail in macro shots with my Olympus C-5050, even though it's 2 less megapixels (and several years older!). I thought the combination of the newer sensor + 7.1 MP would give me sharper macro shots I'll give it a few more days before I think about returning it.
Canon A620 Focus Problems
A620 and ISO50
Same problems for me too.
I'll give it a few more days before I think about returning it.
Linear Mode
