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"Perfect. This needs to be re-reviewed." on by ILoveAlliO
Pros: Large 3inch Screen, great user interface, no Viewfinder to take up space, easy mode switching on top of camera, zoom is in the perfect spot, amazing anti-shake.
Cons: To be honest, the only con would be that it doesnt have the 4x zoom that the Canon SD700 does.
Summary: Time to explain:
Large 3inch Screen
The large 3inch screen is incredible. It certainly gives the user the greatest way to view what your picture will look like before taking it. Aside from the fact that it is the largest screen possible on this sized camera, it also has fifteen brightness settings for the screen to be able to fit the user properly. The three inch screen has no delay to the movement of one's hand which is incredibly impressive.
Great user interface
This is the FIRST camera that I have ever had... that has such a great user interface. (I've owned three sony digital cameras, one konica minolta, one kodak, and one casio.. from 5megapixels to the max which is 8megapixels) Out of all of those, this is the only one that has seemed somewhat 'fun' to use and very interesting to watch. As one slightly presses over the five way dial on the right side of the back of the camera, that individual is also able to see a larger image of the dial on the screen, magnifying which option is being pressed. This reminded me very much of the Mac OS X platform's dock which has the option to have items magnify when you have your cursor above it. This was extremely impressive.
No Viewfinder to take up space
Nothing frustrates me more than to see many older individuals use the view finder on digital cameras. Having to see them press such an expensive and powerful camera to their face just to use the unnecessary view finder (which was probably placed there as an something that many would refer to as an 'after-thought' idea) It's 2006... and no offense to those individuals who like using the view finder, but... the three inch screen on this baby makes up for all of the problems that are caused by the lack of view finder.
Easy mode switching on top of camera
It's simple, three options. Camera, Video and Preview. All on the top of the camera, not taking space away from the screen. It's perfect.
Zoom controls are in the perfect spot
The reviewer of this camera said that the zoom controls were in an uncomfortable position. I feel that it's the opposite. The zoom controls are positioned where the THUMB is not needed to operate it, meaning, one wouldnt have to take away one the important support fingers that are needed to hold the camera still (the thumb) in order to use the zoom for the camera. This makes it AWESOME to use the camera with one hand (while the strap is on, of course).
Enough space the back of the camera to position thumb. (something that wouldnt fit in the Pro's and Con's list.)
I have HUGE hands. I am 6'2 and can palm a basketball properly. I LOVE the way this camera fits in my hands. Even if it is small, Canon makes sure to put grips for the thumb so that it will not slip. Nothing to worry about with this. It's perfect for big hands. Sure it's small... but it's perfect.
Amazing Anti-shake.
The reason why I got rid of my casio Ex-Z57 was because of the terrible anti-shake that it had. Any SLIGHT movement would result in a blurred picture. With this camera, I can take a picture of my girlfriend while she is driving in our car. After taking that picture, I am still able to view the things on the outside of our car, that are not moving with us, in great detail. Also, I made sure to test it out by letting my hands move or shake while taking a picture. Everything turns out great, the picture comes out clear, however, after moving, it might not be of what I had initially wanted to take a picture of! Haha. Either way, the anti-shake on this camera is incredible and makes up for the accurate and precise movements that the camera lens picks up.
Again, I feel that this camera is perfect. IT should be the SD700. Who needs a view finder that costs you a hundred bucks more? (with the added 1x zoom of course). Go with this one. It's perfect. -
"Great camera, but not perfect" on by batmanyo
Pros: Beautiful 3 inch screen, quick shutter speeds, very compact, great image quality
Cons: Small buttons, cramped button layout, no image stablization, pricey, card/battery cover feels flimsy
Summary: This is the second camera I've owned and I could not be more pleased. The main reason I chose this camera over others was because of its 3 inch LCD screen.
First of all, the 3 inch LCD screen is BEAUTIFUL. While looking for a new camera, this camera quickly caught my eye. It is detailed and makes picture taking so much more enjoyable. You can even adjust the brigtness of the screen.
Also, something I found very cool, when you are viewing your pictures, tilting the camera to eaither side causes the picture to shift from a landscape view to a vertale view.
Another thing I really loved about the camera was the quick shutter speed. Pictures are taken very quickly and almost continous. However, shutter speed gets noticably slower when using functions such as vivid colors, color swap, and other specials.
The camera is also very compact. It can fit in a normal adults palm and can be slip eaisly into your pocket. Its thin, not to big, and has a very nice durable feel to it.
The image quality is also very great. Although it may not look really detalied while viewed on the camera itself, pictures look very sharp and crisp on your laptop/pc.
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The camera is great, yes, but not perfect. First of all, the buttons are pretty small. The LCD screen does take a big chunk of space so it doesnt leave too much space for the buttons.
This also causes the button layout to be fairly cramped. All the buttons are still accessable and I havent had any troubles accidentally pushing the wrong buttons, but your thumb will most likly feel cramped after a little while of navigation.
However, I did like the zoom layout. The button used to take picutres is surrounded by a little tab that can be pushed to the left or right, depending on what you want to do. It is eaisly accessed and really not a big problem.
The next problem I found was the absence of an image stablizer. Image stbalization has become standard on many other brand name cameras and they are also fairly cheep when compared to the SD630. For a $400 camera (but can be found $50-60 cheaper on the web), I dont think it would be wrong to expect this feature.
My final main gripe with the camera is the battery/SD card cover feels a bit flimsy and prone to break. If you like to transfer your pics through an SD card reader, this can be a problem.
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Other notable things to mention is that the camera is fairly heavier than other compact cameras.
It is also only bundles with a 16meg SD card, which is a joke. You can take around 4 pics on the highest settings.
Also, when using some of the special features (such as the color swap), Ive noticed that pictures are more prone to come out blurry.
The video mode is a great extra to have. However, I wouldnt have mind this feature cut out and have it priced cheaper. It takes great video for its size, but I find it not too important to have.
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Overall, this camera is very solid. If you are debating weather to get the SD630 or SD600, I would recommend the SD630 if you dont mind the extra $50.
The 3 inch LCD screen is beautiful and makes taking pictures so much more enjoyable. If you are afraid of the screen scratching or breaking, it is very durable. I tapped/hit the screen, ran my fingernails over it, and no damage. This was of course, done on a display camera at a store.
Dispite all of the cons mentioned, this is one of the best ultra compact cameras out there. It has great picture quality, quick shutter speeds, and a handful of extras.Updated
Navigating through the many menus of the camera is fairly simple and straight foward. Everything makes sense and is placed correctly.
However, the only problem I have with it is that scene settings are kinda burried in there. It would have be nice if there was a dedicated button for scene selections but you have to go through several menus to change the things you want.
There are six presets, but the last one is the only one you can change. By going to the sixth icon, you have the option to press menu to leads you to a whole bunch of other settings. The one you choose will then appear on the presets until you switch it something else, which will then replace it, and so on.
You cant change any others around, which is kind of a bummer, especially when everything is deep in there. It would have been nice to customize it because not everyone has the same geographical features. Not a big problem, but a bit of an annoyance. -
"great camera but a steep price" on by smugiri
Pros: Gorgeous LCD, great battery life, multiple functions and options, clear accurately colored point and shoot pictures.
Cons: Price, accessing functions and modes is not intuitive, movies limited to 1GB in size (yes, I know Im nit-picking), LCD screen scratches easy
Summary: Got this camera about 2 weeks ago at Best Buy and I am loving it. I spent another $80 for a 2GB SD card - the largest that they had.
Two weeks in, I really like the camera and find that point and shoot pictures are clear and crisp in the adative focusing mode. The camera shows grid lines which are great for composing shots, has 3 easily accessible flash modes including an auto red eye removal one and changes from normal (portrait?) to macro to infitnity shooting at the click of a single button. The color accent mode is especially cool since you can take black and white pictures with only a single color "picked" out.
The SD630 is VERY expensive for an ultra-compact but the great looking 3' LCD (I don't miss having a tenny viewfinder) and an easy to use menu system that made it easy to do stuff made this a little more palatable. Since this is my first digital camera, I thought that the extra money this camera cost was worth it since the camera does quite a bit to make it easier for you to take good pictures.
I did spend lots of time doing research before buying to make sure I could justiy the price but for the features that the camera offers, no other ultra-compact else came close at this price point expect the Nikon S4 that I could not find in the stores. I especially liked the movide mode functionality that takes video clips since it makes it easier to record little life moments with kids without having to drag a MiniDV cam around as well. Since I have a 2GB SD card, I have captured a couple of largish (15+ minute ) videos of my kid in 640*480 mode but video eats up card space pretty fast. I have not had a chance to try the 320*160 mode but that should be good for about an hour of video according to what I read on the net.
Finding functions within the menus is not that intuitive though since the menus are context driven - when in one mode, they show different options than they do in another. Especially cool is the ability to show histograms with a single click while in View mode. To make the most of this camera though, you really do need to read the manual. This is time well spent though.
I tried the long shutter speed option for a couple of 15 second captures of night scenes and and the pictures turned out even better than I expected.
All in all, I think that this camera is a great buy if you are willing to spend a little extra for the features. -
"I shopped 'til I dropped" on by powrguy
Pros: Compact size with JUMBO screen, excellent Canon quality
Cons: None ! I can't find any problem to report.
Summary: What a beautiful piece of technology! Incredibly small, with a 3" screen, and plenty of features. We shopped for about two months, looking at every compact/subcompact Digital Camera out there. We upgraded from a Sony 2.1MP DCS model, and it is an incredible leap forward with a 6MP camera. Canon's reputation and style/features are hard to beat.
I don't know anyone who is a snap-shooter/point-and-click type that uses a viewfinder, and usually it's simpler and more efficient (let alone cleaning the LCD of the nose-prints left when you use a viewfinder), and we were almost settled on the SD600, over the SD500, until we really looked closely at the SD630.
What a wonderful little camera. They include some useful software for your PC, too.
Finally, the battery charger that is about the size of a room scent cartridge that you plug in a wall socket, and the lack of a bulky cord/charger cable is a nice feature. -
"Great Pocketable Camera, Only One Complaint" on by cac9478
Pros: HUGE screen, great pictures, pocketable.
Cons: Cheap Design, Blurry Photos
Summary: I love this camera. I had an Olympus Stylus SW720 but I hated the quality of the images and the poor macro mode so I switched to the sd630. It is a great camera. It takes awesome photos and allows you to view them on a huge screen. I dont like the cheap plasticy feel and cheap battery cover. I also wish that it had built in optical image stabilization. I do get a few blurry shots especially without a flash.
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