As the saying goes "The greatest camera is the camera you have with you at all times" so earlier this year I bought a Canon IXUS camera to carry with me. However, when her indoors saw it she commandeered it for her handbag. So I decided to buy the A640 while Canon was running their money back offer of £60.00. (Has anyone else noticed how camera and lens prices suddenly increase during a promotion and then quickly reduces again once the promotion comes to an end?)
This is a much larger camera than the IXUS and I sometimes have difficulty putting it into and getting it out of my coat pocket. However, where the A640 wins over the IXUS is by giving me complete manual control whenever I want it. It's surprising just how big an improvement you can see in your images when you use manual mode instead of the full AUTO or Program modes. Try experimenting and you'll soon see what I'm getting at.
A great facility, although being of low resolution, is the rear flip out LCD screen just like those found on good quality camcorders. This allows me to compose a low level shot and use my thumb to trigger the shutter or an overhead shot at arms length which certainly can help to reduce both backache and neck pain and is only a good thing when you reach my age LOL.
The main circular control dial on the top surface is where you select the shooting mode you want, be it Manual, Aperture or Shutter Priority, Program, Full Auto or one of the many Scenic modes available. Also on this dial is the Movie mode should you wish to video something. You access the main menu by pressing the Function button found at the rear panel and here you can set the ISO speed, White Balance, Drive mode (single/multi shot, shutter timer of 2 or 10 seconds delay. My colors set up (note the American spelling), Flash output, Metering mode and Image size & Quality is also found in these menus.
The one thing that is missing from this camera is a Hot-shoe so that an external flashgun could be used on it but I suppose the built-in flash will do a good enough job for most instances.
All in all an excellent camera which produces excellent images.
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Great Point and Shoot
This is a great little compact camera that has all the features you are likely to need, the plus id the 10Mp sensor and the 4x zoom. I was a little skeptical about using a compact camera as I usually use Canon's 1 series D-SLR cameras but i was really surprised by the image that it produced. I bought this primarily for underwater photography whilst snorkeling as getting a housing for my other cameras is more expensive than a new car!All in all a great camera that will fit in your pocket.
