- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 66 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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38 out of 40 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Great camera, but not perfect"
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.
