Canon PowerShot A650IS

Review summary: The Canon PowerShot A650 IS is based around a 6x optical zoom lens -- the 35mm equivalent of a 35 to 210mm zoom, an excellent range for all-purpose photography. It also includes a high resolution 12-megapixel sensor, more than enough for tack-sharp ...

Pros: Optical image stabilization ; Articulating LCD ; Accepts conversion lenses ; Face detection sets focus, exposure and flash power ; Flash power is variable so you can shoot fill flash ; Good macro performance ; Above average scores on most performance ...

Cons: Noise evident at ISO 80, getting quickly stronger at 200 ; Barrel distortion at wide angle is moderately high ; Chromatic aberration is moderately high in wide angle shots ; A bit too big and heavy for a pocket ; Optical viewfinder only shows about 78 ...

Verdict: The Canon A650 IS sports an articulating 2.5" rear-panel LCD and a real-image optical viewfinder. In addition to fully automatic shooting, it features aperture-priority and shutter-priority exposure modes and even fully manual shooting, welcome ...

Review summary: This is 12 megapixel camera with image stabilisation and a 6x zoom lens (35-210mm film equivalent). There is face detection, which works about 10 per cent of the time. The swivelling LCD is a boon for low level, waist level and self portrait shots. ...

Pros: The flash is particularly good, with fine colour balance and pleasant diffusion. Red eye is not a problem. The movie mode is surprisingly useable, although the sound quality won't win any academy awards. The camera is responsive with little noticeable ...

Cons: Even at low ISO speeds image noise is a problem. 12 megapixel sensors in compact cameras are ridiculous. It is hard to know which is more objectionable, the noise (grain) or the attempts at noise reduction that blur fine detail.

Verdict: Once again we are dealing with what is basically a good camera, as far as design and build are concerned, with excellent features, like the optical viewfinder and the articulated LCD, which is let down by the image sensor. However, allowing for the ...

Review summary: Canon's 12.1-megapixel compact delivers high image quality and great battery life at a competitive price.

Review summary: The Canon PowerShot A650 IS is a 12 megapixel image sense with a 6x optical zoom lens (35 - 210mm), image stabilization and a 2.5 inch vari-angle LCD. It features an ISO range of 80 - 1600 (with up to 3200 expandable). The camera measures 4.41 x 2.67 ...