Serious contender for the best under £200 camera (Canon Powershot A640)

Member Name: buckhysen

Product:	Canon Powershot A640
Date:	24/02/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, fantastic picture quality, reliable. best click & shoot I've used

Disadvantages: None

I discovered the Canon Powershot range about 5 years ago now after a fantastic review I read on a camera review website I have long since forgotten the name of. Before discovering the Powershot range my interest in photography stretched no further than taking a few shots on a night out when I could remember my camera... this was mainly down to the fact that I'd never really invested any money in a camera (I'm talking nothing more than £50 here) and been disappointed with mostly every camera I'd ever had.

When the digital camera really took off about 7/8 years ago I bought a couple which were so unmemorable that I can't even remember what they were now. The last one before I found the Powershot was advertised as a 3mp state of the art click and shoot (3mp was about as good as it got back then). Yet despite the claims I found my early digital camera's to be a huge let down, especially when taking photos indoors.

One day I stumbled across a fantastic review for the new Canon Powershot A75. It had the highest ratings of any click and shoot reviewed on the website but at £120 it was more than I'd ever spent on a camera, not really being that much into photography.

Quite simply it was the best thing I'd ever bought at the time, the photos were clear, bright and crisp. The quality compared to any other digital camera I'd owned or seen was like day and night and it was the Canon Powershot A75 which really got me interested in photography.

Since then I've moved on to the A420 and now the A640, and will soon be moving onto the new G10, which has rave reviews.
But after having the A640 for around 18 months now I feel I know enough about it to write a fair review.

Now I am by no means a professional photographer, I love taking pictures and experimenting with shots but I suspect, like most people who own a camera I know very little compared to the professionals (And I don't mean Bodie and Doyle) and a lot of the time am quite happy using the 'Auto' mode, which in most cases will take a very decent photo for you with the correct settings.

After first purchasing the A640, which I got for a fantastic price at the time of £180 from Amazon.co.uk (At the time it was selling everywhere else for over £220) I took it with me on holiday and to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the size and the fact there was no rechargeable battery (It takes 4 AA batteries). But this was very quickly replaced with amazement when I saw the first images from it. Compared to my other camera's I'd had and camera's my friends had it was just pure class. Photo's of my children, the beach and well, just about everything never looked so good.

When I look at the A640 now I think it is a perfect size, yes it's bigger than others but it is sturdy and still easily fits into a pocket. My early worry about having 4 AA batteries was easily gone also after purchasing rechargeable batteries. Which is actually a great idea as I can recharge to almost full power within an hour and this will easily take anything up to 500 shots, especially when not using the flash, even more on a full charge.

When I went to my first Formula 1 qualifying session with the A640 after I bought it, I took over 850 photos in one day, on one set of batteries..... and 1500 photos in 3 days, all with just a quick recharge at the end of each day.
A lot of my friends and family with camera's which recharge often tell me they can't take half this amount of pictures without having to recharge again.

As I've said I do like to experiment with photos sometimes. The A640 is extremely easy to use, the back of the camera has many features to get to the menu and other functions, where you can change the backgrounds, time, date, sounds, exposure settings, flash, red eye and a whole host of other things which really would take me too long to go through in a review.

On top of the camera is a small dial which includes the following settings...
Automatic - This is the one I use the most simply because it is fantastic at setting up the camera for instant shots in whatever situation, whether you are indoors, outside, on the beach, at a concert. Yes you can get better shots if you have time to mess about with the settings or want something different, but to be honest the auto mode is by far the easiest choice, which still gives outstanding results.
I have managed to take some fantastically looking shots of Formula 1 cars moving at 150mph plus, from the back of a grandstand and you can still read the logo on the drivers head. Auto shots can be seriously impressive.

Portrait - Ideal for taking head shots and photos of someone up close. This setting focuses on the person in front and not the background, which gives an almost 3d effect of the person.

Landscape - I've not used this much but I do if I'm taking a shot of anything scenic... Mountains, parks, etc.

Night scene - This does a great job of capturing shots at night which are too far away for a flash. But having limited experience with this I'm not sure how good this is compared to other camera's, but I've read these are excellent, but personally I prefer to use the flash where possible.

Scene -
Scene offers various settings which include Snow, underwater, kids & pets, Night snapshot, fireworks, Indoors, Foliage, Beach, Color accent & color swap.
To be honest I only ever use these if automatic doesn't do the job, in saying that I have found I've used these settings more and more and they do make for some fantastic pictures. Using the 'Snow' setting during the recent bad weather really did enhance my pictures.

Stitch - Thinking about it I have only used this once, so am not 100% sure what it even does other than stitch together more than one photo (i.e. Panoramic shots), I remember it did a good job of a number of shots I took of a beach once, but I do prefer to stitch photos together myself from my PC, so tend not to use this.

Movie - This camera is not a movie recorder but it does take surprisingly good, crisp, clear movie recordings at 640 x 320. I've even got some more than acceptable recordings from concerts when you wouldn't expect very good quality. It is a very nice added bonus as Canon don't advertise this as a movie recorder so I wasn't expecting it to be half as good as it is.

There are other settings on the camera which are obviously aimed at the more professional user where you can change all settings manually, change Aperture, shutter speed, etc but I've never really used these as to be honest I am delighted with the way my pictures come out without these.

All the above settings can also be used with the timer, which can be set to take your picture after 1-10 seconds, 15, 20 or 30 seconds... and will take up to 10 photos at a time.
This function is perfect for taking shots of moving cars, people, etc.

Despite being packed with features, settings and options the A640 is by far the easiest camera I've ever used. You can set things in an instant and most of the time if Automatic shots don't do the job (i.e. At sporting events or concerts, etc) then it really doesn't take any more than a few seconds to change a setting and try another shot. I have literally thousands of shots from concerts and sporting events that I would easily print out and put on my wall or even sell, they are that good.
And I know nothing about taking a good shot, other than by trial and error myself. But I have won a couple of small photo competitions for some fantastic close up shots I got of Formula 1 cars at high speed and of close ups of performers on stage.

This camera really has got me interested in taking photos, not really because I know how or what makes a great shot but more because it is so easy to use and takes such stunning photos that I just love seeing the results of this camera, and then looking back at the memories when I want to.

I have tried a lot of camera's of friends and family, some of which were more expensive than this one, but this camera outshines any other click and shoot camera I've ever known. A lot of my friends and family are also seriously impressed and have now become Canon Powershot owners. There are many in the series and to date this is the best one, although admittedly I've not yet tried the G series (The G10 is next on my list in a few weeks).

Looking around the net I've seen this camera for less than £150 and to be honest I'd recommend anyone looking for a fantastic camera for under £200 to go for this. I really can't fault it. I have some fantastic pictures from this camera and with my 2gb memory card I can go on holiday for a week and take almost 2000 pictures at 1600 x 1200.

This really is the best camera I've ever owned.

Summary: Stick to the Powershot range, you seriously won't be disappointed

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