CNET Asia Review

Sliding easily to the head of Canon's A-series line, the 7-megapixel PowerShot A620 (and its 5-megapixel sibling, the PowerShot A610) steps comfortably into the large shoes worn by the wildly popular PowerShot A95. With a 4x optical zoom that spans a useful 35mm-to-140mm (35mm-equivalent) range, the Canon PowerShot A620 keeps up the A95's tradition of packing full manual controls and a solid list of scene modes into an easy-to-use, moderately sized camera that will meet the needs of a broad spectrum of photographers. Given the A620's improved performance, higher-quality movie clips, larger LCD, G-series lens, and high resolution, some current PowerShot A95 users may even want to consider an upgrade.

Design

	We're happy to see that buttons no longer sit below the LCD; instead, everything you need--other than the mode dial and the zoom lever--sits neatly to the right of the LCD, within easy reach.

However, the vari-angle LCD now measures two inches, and because of its increased size, Canon has moved some of its buttons. A small mode switch sits horizontally to the upper right of the LCD, so toggling between playback and capture takes little effort. Below, four control buttons surround the four-way controller. One does multiple duties by deleting images during playback, adjusting exposure compensation, and in full manual mode, jumping between aperture and shutter-speed settings. A display button cycles through three LCD options: Off, no information, and full information. The Canon PowerShot A620 also has a Menu button and a Print/Share button for transferring images to a computer or a compatible printer.

In the center of the four-way controller is one of the camera's most convenient features: The Function button. It brings up a menu of the most frequently changed settings, including resolution, compression, white balance, ISO, drive mode, effects, flash intensity, and metering. While you're operating any of the controls, the camera feels responsive and the menus are clear, bright, and easy to read.

Regardless of whether you choose program or full-manual mode or a scene mode, the user-friendly Canon PowerShot A620 generally won't trip you up with confusing icons or menu references.

Features
The Canon PowerShot A620 has it all: Full manual exposure controls; auto, program, and scene modes for snapshooting; and a high-quality video mode--there's something for every photographer and every shooting situation. You can even choose a shooting mode that fits your mood. After all, some days you might just want to point and shoot; other days, you might feel more enthused about manual controls.

While you won't find as many advanced features as on some more sophisticated cameras, the Canon PowerShot A620 provides enough to keep most control-happy photographers satisfied. They include manual white balance, low sharpening, sepia and black-and-white effects, three metering options, and settings for vivid and neutral color.

We particularly like two features: The camera's Flexizone focusing option and the ability to layer a grid over the LCD to line up horizons and other straight edges. The Flexizone option lets you manually move the focus point so that your off-center subjects come out sharp. Another helpful feature is Safety Shift, which functions in aperture-priority or shutter mode and selects the proper aperture or shutter-speed setting if your choice doesn't quite work out. For instance, if your selected shutter speed requires an aperture wider than the PowerShot A620 can produce, the camera compensates to prevent an underexposed shot. You can also save your settings so that you don't have to dig around the setup menu to prevent the camera from resetting everything when it powers down.

On the easy-to-use side, the camera offers a point-and-shoot automatic mode, as well as a program mode that allows you to adjust pretty much everything except the aperture and shutter speed. Of course, the scene modes make shooting easy by automatically choosing the best settings for a particular type of subject. To use them, you select standard modes such as Portrait and Landscape via the mode dial; a special scene-mode setting then makes other options available via the menu system. These include Kids And Pets, Foliage, Fireworks, Snow, Beach, and even an Underwater setting for use with Canon's underwater housing, which is good to a depth of 39m. Other optional accessories include wide, telephoto, and macro add-on lenses as well as a higher-powered flash.

Canon has upped the video ante with this camera: You can now shoot 30fps VGA movies with sound up to 1GB. There's even a fast-frame movie mode that records QVGA movies at 60fps, but it stores only up to 60 seconds per clip.

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