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.
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.
I am very pleased with the camera, love the full manual settings,
great movie mode (u can even zoom) and best of all it takes great
pictures! This is the follow up camera to the A95, advantages include a
bigger LCD, digic 2 processor (which means faster speed), high-speed 2.0
USB connection, better macro mode (less the half an inch!), 4 optical
zoom. I think the biggest thing I noticed was the speed of the zoom lens
and ability to focus. Macro shots is simply amazing! Personally I would
get the Sandisk Ultra 2 SD memory card to go with this for top speed.
Its a simply amazing camera you will love!
I am a first time buyer for this type of camera. I spent days on the
computer researching and trying to get the best deal for my money. I'm
one picky customer and I really hunt for bargains! Consumer Reports
rated the A95 as being a best buy, so when I heard that the A610 was a
step up, I bought it. I've also purchased the charger, batteries, and
case to go with it. (It's cheaper to buy them as a kit). So far I've
been thrilled with everything. It is a great camera for both beginning
and advanced users. The menu is not too complicated, like many of the
cameras out there. The quality is good also. It feels very sturdy and
comfortable in my hand. The size is perfect: not too small and not too
large. I have larger hands and the buttons and controls are easy to use.
I love the zoom lens. This camera has 20 different settings for
picture-taking which was important for my husband and I because we like
to take close-ups of nature. It has other settings for taking action
shots, portraits, snow, and beach pictures. It even gives you the
option of taking multiple shots and later turning them into a panoramic
photo! The screen is larger and swivels around to different positions
so that I could even take a self-portrait if I wanted to. This camera
offers many thoughtful details and is easy to use (after you read the
directions, of course). I would not hesitate to recommend this fine
camera! It is a real deal for the money.
UPDATE: I'm still lovin' my camera! It took a while to learn how to operate all the functions, but it's been fun! The pictures are clear! I can't imagine not having a camera that didn't have the swivel screen. I just purchased a tripod and can now swivel the screen around and set the timer to see exactly where I need to stand to be sure we're all in the shot! It's so nice that my husband wants one for himself!
UPDATE: I'm still lovin' my camera! It took a while to learn how to operate all the functions, but it's been fun! The pictures are clear! I can't imagine not having a camera that didn't have the swivel screen. I just purchased a tripod and can now swivel the screen around and set the timer to see exactly where I need to stand to be sure we're all in the shot! It's so nice that my husband wants one for himself!
