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Canon's popular A Series cameras have always stood out from the competition, but PowerShot A640 takes that concept to a whole new level. Experience breathtaking 10.0 megapixel resolution-a first for an A-Series camera - and the power of a 4x optical zoom lens. You'll have more fun shooting, and make your finished images even more rewarding, with the camera's exciting array of easy-to-use, high-performance features including 21 shooting modes and ISO800/High ISO Auto settings for much greater ability to shoot in low light. Light Metering Method - Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot Metering Exposure Control - Program Auto Exposure (AE), Shutter Speed-Priority AE, Aperture-Priority AE, Manual Shutter Speed Range - 15 seconds to 1/2500 second (settable in Tv and M) Automatic, multi-mode electronic-flash Storage Media - SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard (MMC) - We recommend purchasing an Optional 1GB SD or MMC memory card. It will allow you to store a lot more Video and images, as well as take advantage of the camera's high Resolution abilities Shooting Modes - Auto; Creative - P, Av, Tv, M, C; Image - Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap), Stitch Assist, Movie Print/Share Button for direct connection to PictBridge-compatible printers via camera's USB 2.0 Hi-Speed cable Unit Dimensions (WxHxD) - 4.31 x 2.60 x 1.93 inch (109.4 x 66.0 x 49.0mm); Weight - 8.64 oz. / 245g
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 Excellent camera, GREAT photos! |
| Review Date: August 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Lyndsey Stark, |
Don't want to spend a fortune but want a GREAT camera? Here ya go!
First off, let me say that I LOVE taking photos but I am not educated on all features digital cameras have to offer. This review is by someone who learns by trying hands on experience, not by reading a manual. If you are looking for a stunning camera just for taking pictures of family and for taking landscape photos when traveling, it's perfect. It also does great when needing inexpensive family photos without paying for a professional photographer.
OUT OF BOX: Right when you get the camera, you feel proud to have it already. It's a stunning camera, the screen is clear and bright and pretty near to perfect. The LCD screen flips around smoothly with no hang ups and clicks into place. If you need to take a picture of you and your friend(s), no problem. You can easily flip the screen around so you can see yourselves and also set a time so you can position yourselves for the picture.
OPTIONS: It's fast when switching options with the dial and also switching from menu to live camera mode. There are several options. Along with everything on the dial, you get underwater, florescent, sepia, black and white, cloudy, day, night, and the list goes on. Changing the flash strength is also quite easy. If you aren't knowledgeable about camera options, you'll soon find that when changing the flash strength, you can get better pictures depending on the lighting of the room or outdoors. It's fun to play with.
PHOTO QUALITY: Because the camera is a 10 megapixel camera, you will end up with stunning photos. You will have the options of Postcard, stitched photos (gives the ability for panoramic photos), and 3-4 more options for high quality photos. Even see the stitching on everyone's clothing when zooming in. Up close photos are quite beautiful as well. If you are a gardener and proud of your flowers, this camera is perfect. Your flowers will look so vibrant. Night photos are stunning as well. Just be sure to get a tripod or everything will smear like with any camera with a night scene mode.
VIDEO: The camera also has the ability to film your child playing sports. The only issue is that when zooming in, it looses quality. In order to keep the quality good, zoom in to the action before you record. You will still have the ability to zoom out and zoom in even further than before. It's not a camcorder but does take perfect videos. Beware though that because it's not a camcorder, the files end up larger than normal and you will soon find that the videos take up a lot of room on your SanDisk drive. I have a 2 gig drive and videos take up room quite fast. I only record up to a minute to three and use the rest of the room for photos. It holds a large amount of photos of any quality you set. It has the option of regular sized videos or email sized videos. When recording in email mode, the video is quite smaller and you still have the ability to record as long as you want. The only problem is that some email servers don't allow large files. You will end up zipping the file or compressing it with some program or saving it so a thumb drive and giving that to someone instead. This is not a problem with the camera, this is with any camcorder or camera.
I burned the videos recorded by this camera onto a DVD for a video of my son. The quality is perfect. It's smooth and the sound is nice. It recorded as if it was a camcorder. While some of the videos were in email mode, the video was good, just pixelated. The sound, however was not lagging. It matched up with the action just perfectly.
PC CONNECTION: Simply put, easy. It has a USB connection and you can either use the Canon program which can be downloaded online to stitch photos and transfer files onto the computer or just use the computer to search through the camera and transfer the files. I have had no issues as all with this.
Recently I dropped the camera and the LCD screen started flickering and had lines through the screen but I can still see everything perfectly. It hit the hard floor pretty hard and still works. It is now sucking the life out of my rechargeable batteries. I just need to see if it's because my batteries are over a year old or the camera is using it all because of the screen.
I will update when I find out...
TRAVELING: The camera is somewhat bulky but makes up for it when you see the stunning photos. I travel around with it in my purse and have it in a camera case. It gets hung on the case and uses a lot of room in my purse. It would help more if you get a case with enough room to open it and pull it out. Try several cases out before you buy one online. If you are a woman, make sure your purse is big enough to carry your personal items along with the camera in a case. My purse is not a large one but can carry the camera in its case. It makes the purse bulge out and becomes quite annoying to me. It's not a camera that you can slip into your pocket unless you have cargo pants with large pockets.
All in all, this camera is worth the price and it's quite a good price for what you get. If you are looking for GREAT photos with a large amount of megapixels, get this camera. You won't regret it. I've done my research and can't find any other camera with a large amount of MP with a low price. Everyone is also stunned to see you can flip the screen around. It's a conversation starter. |
Was a good camera - but now a piece of trash
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| Review Date: July 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: A. Philip, |
I bought this camera in 2008.It had been running fine till date. The overall picture quality is good. Though it generates a lot of noise at low light . My previous camera, A80, didn't have this problem. I guess when they try to cram too much megapixels into the the sensor of same size, it ends up in high -sensitivity. The swivel LCD is the greatest benefit of this camera.
After 2 years of good service, it suddenly went berserk. Initially when the flash was turned on, it just kept on showing the charging indicator and would never charge up. After that, that became ok, but now the image is very dark when taken in auto or the Scene modes. When taken in program mode, the exposure is ok, but the shutter speed is very slow. I took it to the repair and they told they have to replace the entire board(processor I believe) and it would cost me Rs 5000( $100) !!! What a shame.. I had always been a huge fan of Canon, and now I am totally let down. |
Canon's repair service was excellent for me...
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| Review Date: June 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Tom Swift, |
I have owned my Canon PowerShot A640 for many years now and have been very happy with it. Great picture quality, good battery life, excellent display, fits in my right hand perfectly, and the 1Gig SanDisk ultraII memory chip I have in it holds a heck of a lot of pictures and it hasn't lost any files. Downloading pictures to my Mac laptops [OS 10.4.11 and OS 10.6.3] via a USB cable is a snap and it's totally compatible with iPhoto .
Others have written about the A640s features and impressions, but I wanted to document my experience with Canon's repair service. A couple of months ago I stupidly placed the camera loosely on the rear seat of our SUV - when I opened the door at our destination naturally it fell out onto the hard pavement. The only damage thou was to a tiny plastic hook on the body of the camera which holds the battery door closed (the hinged door and it's latch mechanism were fine) but it made the camera totally useless - the door must be closed properly to power the camera.
Hating to give up on this fine unit I checked out the Canon website and found it's repair center. One nominal charge covered diagnosis and return shipping. I sent the A640 in, received an email a few days later confirming that they received my camera and giving me the final repair cost. The repaired camera was returned to me within days and I am totally satisfied. In total it took 6 business days and the actual repair cost was only a few dollars. Highly recommend them.
Definitely using Canon repair has extended the life of my A640 and saved me the high cost of a replacement purchase. Not too many consumer electronics can even be repaired these days.
FYI - [...].
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Not Flashy, Not Good
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| Review Date: May 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: G. Lindsay, Detroit, MI USA |
| I've owned mine for a little more than 18 months. The camera is fine, if nothing spectacular. However, the flash has completely quit working. A brief internet search reveals this to be a very common problem so use extreme caution if you're looking to get this item. You've been warned (I wish I had been). |
Canon Powershot A640
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| Review Date: January 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: P. Esparza, San Diego, CA |
| I purchased this camera because it was a mid-range camera from Canon, not too small or too big. Yet, still had some flavor with the attachments. For a small camera, I used the telephoto lens to shoot pictures on trip to Australia this summer and the added length was the best compared to other slim powershots. With 10Mpixels and 16x total zoom, and all the features that the A640 comes with, is a sure bet to keep a person busy learning and better use the A640. |
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