Canon PowerShot A620 Digital Camera : 7.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom
Executive Summary about : canon powershot a620 digital camera Posted By Agus Mardiana
Introduction
The A620 and its 5-megapixel twin the A610 are most closely related to Canon’s A520, which was released in February 2005. They have a similar shape and size, including a solid right-hand grip, plus a 4x optical zoom that covers the 35mm equivalent of 35mm to 140mm, the same shutter speed range, most of the same exposure controls.
canon powershot a620 digital camera
Both cameras are distinguished by their fold-out LCD panels, but the A620’s is 2 inches, versus the A95’s 1.8 inches. The large right-handed grip adds a lot to the camera’s size–necessary to accommodate the camera’s four AA batteries that give it such excellent battery life. It makes the A620 too big to fit in anything smaller than a coat pocket or small carry bag, but it does give your hand a solid purchase on the camera and pushes the shutter release and zoom control well out in front, where your trigger finger comfortably rests.
Though encased in a plastic shell, the A620’s body looks sturdy and durable; and the large 2-inch LCD is attached to the camera body by a beefy hinge that should hold up to a lot of use. The PowerShot A620 sits at the top of Canon’s A-series- a lineup distinguished by cameras that are fairly compact, relatively inexpensive and equipped with a robust set of exposure controls.
Not an improvement, but still one of the better features in Canon’s digital cameras is the Function button, which now resides in the center of the four-way thumb buttons. Pressing the Function button pops up a concise, well-organized menu of key exposure controls on the A620’s LCD screen. With the A620, the zoom range jumped from the A95’s 3X to 4X. The A620 focal length starts at the 35mm film equivalent of 35mm–a basic wide-angle length, and it can accept wide-angle and telephoto accessory lenses–almost unheard of in a camera in this price range.
Operation and controls
Canon has found a formula for camera operation and control that works well, and the A620 will be very familiar to anyone who’s used a Canon compact in the last few years. The control layout is almost identical to the PowerShot A95 it replaces, although the slightly different body design and larger screen means a few of the buttons have moved, and a couple have new functions. There is also now a dedicated AE compensation button (which also covers AF frame location and switches between apertures and shutter speeds in manual mode).
Although I personally would like to see a couple more external controls (for drive mode, white balance and ISO setting for example), the excellent FUNC menu design means these settings are never more than a couple of button presses away.
canon powershot a620 digital camera
Specific Image Quality Issues
No real complaints here - the A620 produces clean, detailed results in a wide variety of shooting situations. The images are a touch on the soft side when viewed at 100% on-screen, but they respond well to a little unsharp masking, and I’d rather that than images that are over-processed (especially over-sharpened). Colors are natural (less over-saturated than the A95), and white balance generally very accurate (unless you’re shooting under tungsten lighting). We’re not talking groundbreaking image quality here - there’s still some muddying of low contrast detail such as foliage, but the pictures are on a par with all the other 7MP cameras in this class, and - given the specification on offer and the keen pricing - I don’t think many users will find much to grumble about.
The good news is that the purple fringing that plagued the A95 has been all but eliminated, and focus accuracy is significantly better (only one or two shots out of 500 had missed focus).
Advanced printing
When used in combination with Canon’s new Compact Photo Printer Selphy CP510 and Canon’s Ink and Paper Set (KP-108IP), prints can be produced very inexpensively. Printing via Selphy CP Compact Photo Printers also allows the user to print handy ID photo prints and movie prints.
Also new is Captured Info print, which prints shooting data such as shutter speed, aperture and shooting mode within the photo border.
Comprehensive software
The new cameras come bundled with a comprehensive software suite, including Canon’s browsing and printing software ZoomBrowser EX 5.5 (Windows) and ImageBrowser 5.5 (Mac), easy printing software PhotoRecord 2.2 and PhotoStitch 3.1 for creating stunning panoramas. The cameras support PTP for driverless transfer to supported Windows XP or Mac OS X.
Product Features and Technical Details
Product Features
- 7-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 15 x 20-inch prints
- 2.0-inch vari-angle LCD display; 4x optical zoom
- Shoot high-quality movies at up to 60 frames per second
- DIG!C II Image Processor for faster processing, vibrant colors, and excellent image quality
- 20 shooting modes including My Color settings for customization while shooting
Technical Details
- Brand Name: Canon
- Model: PowerShot A620
- Optical Sensor Resolution: 7 MP
- Optical Sensor Technology: CCD
- Optical zoom: 4 x
- Maximum_aperture_range: f/2.8-4.1
- Minimum focal length: 7.3 millimeters
- Maximum focal length: 29.2 millimeters
- Lens Type: Zoom lens
- Optical_sensor_size: 1/1.8
- Included Flash Type: Built-in flash
- Display Size: 2 inches
- Light_sensitivity: ISO 100, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 50, ISO auto
- Image types: JPEG
- Shooting Modes: Frame movie mode
- Exposure Control Type: Program, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
- Viewfinder Type: Optical
- Width: 4.0 inches
- Depth: 1.9 inches
- Height: 2.5 inches
- Weight: 0.52 pounds
