Digital cameras have finally hit that sweet spot between price and performance.
Written: May 20 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
| Photo Quality: |
|
|
| Shutter Lag |
|
|
|
Pros: Great price~performance ratio, excellent image quality.
Cons: There is somewhat of a learning curve with the advanced controls.
The Bottom Line: Among it's competition at this price level, you won't be able to find many that even come close to the feature set or have Canon's reputation.
|
|
|
| cwa107's Full Review: Canon PowerShot A60 Digital Camera |
Introduction:
I've been shopping for my second digital camera for nearly two years now. I was disappointed with my first (Kodak DC-215 Zoom) and decided to wait for the products to mature and the price point to come down. At one time, you couldn't touch a Canon digital camera for less than $400. So, when the A60 and A70 were introduced at $250 and $350 respectively, I was intrigued to say the least.
Deciding factors:
First and foremost, the Canon name holds a lot of weight for me personally. I've owned several Canon products including printers and 35mm cameras and have always been very happy with the overall quality and value for the money. Secondly, I felt that $250 was extremely low considering that the A60 packs in full manual controls, movie creating capability (with sound), 3x Optical zoom and uses industry-standard CompactFlash media. I compared the A60's picture quality with that of the more expensive Olympus D-550 and Fuji Finepix 2800z both of which are owned by friends. I chose the A60 over the A70 because in my experience, 2 megapixels is entirely adequate considering the resolution yielded is 1600x1200 (larger than most PC monitors can even handle). In my experience with other 2 megapixel cameras, image quality is generally on par with average consumer-level (non-disposable) 35mm film cameras.
Initial impressions:
The Powershot A60 is surprisingly compact and light considering that it's packed with features, uses the relatively larger sized CompactFlash media and houses 4 AA batteries. I was off and running with the camera within 5 minutes of unpacking it and loading the batteries. Using it entirely on automatic settings, I took a number of inside and outside shots in varying lighting conditions. I was surprised to find that most of them came out beautifully.
Installing the included (and fairly comprehensive) software suite was a breeze. Getting images into my laptop was a snap.
Summary:
In the three weeks that I've owned this camera, I've been able to create a number of impressive shots once I learned how to use the majority of the manual controls. My only gripe is that the icons on both the menus and switchgear are somewhat vague. Once I became more intimately familiar with the superb documentation, I was able to get the hang of the majority of the operations.
The average user is probably going to keep the camera on "automatic" all of the time and will be very satisfied with the results. Even without utilizing the manual controls, this camera produces bright and vivid images comparable with the average consumer-level film camera.
I found battery life to be excellent compared with my old Kodak DC-215. Although I didn't time it - a set of batteries easily lasts through even the most intensive sessions - Canon's claims estimate it at over 600 snapshots! This is partly due to the small size of the LCD screen. Obviously, the larger the size of the screen, the more power drawn from the batteries. While a lot of people may find this to be a detriment, I wasn't at all unhappy with it. Being that all you're really going to do with this screen is preview images, it is adequately sized. You would really need a screen at least the size of a 4x6 to pick out the fine details in an image. So, considering that the form-factor of a digital camera is small to begin with, anything much larger is overkill. Overall, I found the screen to accurately represent colors and was quite viewable in all but the brightest of conditions.
The movie mode of the A60 is 640x480, while the A70 will produce higher-resolution movies. The movies produced have a decent frame-rate and even include sound, but will never rival even the cheapest of home video cameras. Since I haven't been able to find any practical use for a movie feature in a digital camera, I really can't say that this is detrimental. However, if movie production is important to you, look elsewhere (think much bigger money). For those of you that look upon this feature as just an added bonus (as I assume the majority will), you should be quite happy with the results.
I like the fact that the A60 uses AA batteries as opposed to a proprietary battery pack. This is great because rechargeable NiMH AA batteries are readily available and cheap. You can also keep a set of regular AAs handy as a backup in case you run out of power in the field. With some of the Sony-branded cameras that use a battery pack, you actually have to go back to the manufacturer and pay inflated prices if you want a spare or a replacement. Personally, I see the usage of standard AAs as a plus - the more flexibility, the better.
The A60's case is partly metal (the front plate), but mostly plastic. It seems fairly sturdy. Since most competitors at this price level are all-plastic (some with questionable ergonomics), I tend to think that this construction only adds to the "bang-for-the-buck" quotient. Although I haven't dropped it, I've used it heavily and noticed no scratches or other blemishes. There is a built-in lense cover which automatically opens and closes when powered on/off. This is very important since many cameras have an annoying external snap-on lense cover that leaves the lense openly exposed to the inevitable accidental finger print.
Speaking of lenses, the A60 can accept a number of add-on wide-angle and telescopic lenses. Personally, I can't imagine needing anything more than the built-in optical zoom, but it's nice to know that the camera is expandable. Again, considering that the price-point puts this camera in the low to mid-range, this is very impressive.
Conclusion:
Considering the price of this camera, most of the contenders in this range can't touch the image quality or feature set. The bar has definitely been raised. Canon is a reputable vendor with years of experience in the imaging industry. You will be hard-pressed to find a better all-around camera for the price. For average folks who would like to make the jump from film to digital media or even those photography enthusiasts looking to get their feet wet with a digital photography, I believe this is a perfect fit.
Other cameras considered:
Fuji FinePix, Olympus Camedia D-550.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 249
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
cwa107
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.