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Canon PowerShot A60 2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot A60 2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

List Price: $259.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Out of box impressions
Review: I'm writing this review maybe 20 minutes into owning and operating my A60, to provide some very out-of-box feedback for anyone looking for a "first impression" of the camera. And yes, this review is definately for casual photographers and starters.

-2 megapixels? Not a problem. I've already snapped quite a few pictures, and I'm pretty pleased with the quality. As stated, our family's other digital is 3megs, and there's not much difference. I'm keeping it in highest resolution (1600x1200 Superfine), and at this resolution a 64 meg card will hold 61 pictures- which is more than I'm going to need at one time. Not to mention the camera itself comes with a spare 16meg card if you haven't gotten one for it. On our refridgerator we have word magnets (not much larger print than the text you're reading). I took a picture from across my kitchen and was able to read them off the image (note that this was in max quality). Unless you want to blow up portions of images or print off wall-size posters... this camera seems to have enough quality for most applications. If you're comparing cameras and the difference between numbers can save you some money, go with this one.

-Software: With a few exceptions, it can be said that digital imaging devices tend to come with horrible software. For someone like me who has a little knowledge of photo editing, most all image programs perform the one necessary task- getting images off the camera and onto the computer. I personally probably won't even try the onboard software since I already have a means to edit and share my photos. If you really haven't ever edited photos before, then using the prepackaged software might be your only choice. And if you're a very casual user, the onboard software is probably going to do everything you need it to do. But if you have any software at all that you enjoy using for editing photos, it probably has an Import feature to get your pictures for you. Stick to that.

-Overall saisfaction: All I was looking for was a replacement for the countless instant cameras I've gone through with my fiancee. What I got was a smart little camera that's more than worth what you pay. The assortment of features also makes it obvious that there's plenty of room to grow if you ever want to learn the finer arts of adjusting your pictures. With the excellent price, relatively simple startup, and overall quality, this camera is definately perfect for a beginner- while still having a little room for the more advanced photographer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My experience with the A60
Review: I think Canon are about to phase out this camera, but that makes it cheap.

I am a long-time Canon SLR user, yes my SLR is 24 years old, I am still putting my foot in the water as far as digicams are concerned. I am also, unfortunately, on a very tight budget, and this is my third digital camera. I wanted to use the camera to get pics for my website, so I would reduce them to 800x600 anyway, so I figure a 2MB should be OK. The main reason for getting a 3MB camera is that you can crop the results. I was a bit worried about the long time it takes to take a picture (according to the serious reviews), but in fact I did not find this to be a problem. I am not into action photography, but for those of you who are, the A70 is faster.

Pros:
Full of features (P, Tv, Av, M etc, etc), even has an output to the TV. The manual does not explain these features, so I tended to stick with program mode.
Not too small and the controls are nice, it does take 4 batteries, but that is OK with me.
Five zone focussing system, impressed by that.
AF assist meaning that you can focus in the dark, loved that
Good colour rendition, nice that. Exposure was perfect.
View finder zooms, this is important for composing an image in full sun because the LCD monitor is hard to see with the sun behind you.
Good battery life, I got 175 shots with alkalines, the current rechargeable NI-MH batteries will give you at least twice that.
Lens is covered up when camera switch off, important to keep the dust out.
Takes nice indoor flash pics, as long as the autofocus system grabs hold of the subject you get fantastic shots, if it does not be prepared for an out of focus shot. On average 4 out of five flash shots were very good.
Uses compact flash memory which is cheap (you need a 64 or 128 MB card)
A 64MB card will take 60 pics in superfine and 120 in fine mode at 1600x1200
Can stitch pictures together to get a panorama shot.
As a SLR user there was a reassuring 'click' when it takes a picture.
There are wide-angle and zoom accessories, I like landscape photography.

Cons:
Images could not pick up the detail of difficult subjects like a leafless tree in winter or berries on a bush or tiles on a roof. This was using ISO 50 and superfine mode on a sunny winter day.
Lens only goes to F8 which means that using shutter speed priority a bit difficult.
Cannot focus easily on a bush (probably the same on most AF cameras).
I knew the image processing software was [bad], but I use Thumbs Plus software, so I do not care.

For the money, you get a lot of bang for the buck. I was pleased at the indoor shots using flash, my dad came out great and so did the books in my bookcase (these were stunning, better than my SLR). But, I was quite disappointed at the lack of detail in some difficult outdoor subjects, and this is where the rubber hits the road. Unfortunately, I cannot compare it to other digicams (Olympus C-350, Sony DSC-P72), so I do not know whether the lack of detail is due to the lens or the sensor, I suspect the former.

The bottom line for me is that this cheap digicam produces better pictures for my website than my SLR, because by the time I have converted film or slides to jpg files, I lose so much quality, that I am better off with a cheap digicam.
Overall, it is amazing value for money and Amazon was the cheapest, but you know that anyway.

Digital cameras do not do miracles, you still need good lighting to get good results. ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good value with excellent picture quality "unless you're pro
Review: This is my second digital camera that I own. The first one was Powershot A100 which was great which died after 3 years of usage. A60 is truely an excellent camera for its price range, and whats more, it can use additional lens though I'm still saving to buy one "quite expensive even for third party lens". The image is crystal clear with slight saturation if taken with night shot. However, as I'm colour blind, you guys cant take my words seriously. The buttons is placed perfectly unless you have small hands. Yes, it is big but I find it is much easier to handle especially to take a stable shot without flash "I have big hands".

I used 2000 nimh rechargeble battery and would you believe that it lasted till about 890 shots with LCD on. !!!!! Oh my that is great as compared to my old A100 which only lasted till 200 shots with LCD on.

Thats all!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good price for a good camera
Review: This is an excellent camera. I have the Powershot A60 and have worked a bit with the A70. The only difference on these cameras is that the A70 has more megapixels, other than that they are THE SAME. The cameras offer various features, each with several different ways to manipulate the camera, including shutter speed and aperture. For the beginner, it offers a few preset options that allow a quick switch to the desired need of the user. The manual is very clear and easy to apply. I would recommend this camera to someone wanting a point and click camera, as well as a more advanced person desiring some control of the camera.

This camera has optional shutter speeds of up to 15 seconds, which I like to use with streams and other pictures involving water. The speed has its highest shutter speed at 1/2000 of a second, which I haven't yet had success with, but will have fun playing with (it needs to be really bright for this). I haven't yet played with the aperture, but it seems like it will be fun to play with as well.

If you are wondering if you need 3 MP (A70), consider what you want to do with the pictures. I would recommend a 3 MP if you want to do some cropping or want to blow up pictures greater than 5x7. I simply use my A60 just for 4x6 and looking at pictures on my computer, which it does an excellent job of.

I would recommend getting either a 128 or a 256 Mb compactflash card (cards used in these cameras) in addition to this camera (runs between $40 and $70), because the camera only comes with a 16 Mb card, which holds about 15-20 pictures. I personally prefer Lexar's 12x or higher cards. Get rechargable batteries!!! Amazon's prices seems to be the cheapest for both cameras and compactflash cards (or within a couple bucks of other places).

I would highly recommend either the Powershot A60 or A70 to anyone that wants a digital camera because of the versatility offered.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good for the price, but...
Review: I needed camera within 300$ with possibility of manual control, resolution enough to print 10x15cm, 3x zoom, video with sound recording. After my 2-month investigation I've chosen Canon A60.
This camera provides all of this. CompactFalsh memory card is very reliable, fast and most cheeper comparing with other flash memory standarts. Personally I don't like Fuji/Olympus xD cards, because they are motiveless expensive and readable only by the camera (unlike CompactFlash which can be inserted in virtually any cardreader).

This camera is reliable, it has elaborate design, not bad LCD display. All pictures I store in maximum resolution and minimal compression. It is nice that this camera "super fine" compression quality (minimal compression) produce no visible JPEG artifacts, almost like TIFF.

Weaknesses of this camera: The quality of pictures not good enough. Sunny pictures are really good. But I think any camera in this price-range will have similar color noise. Only ISO 50 and 100 are suitable, other modes produce noisy pictures. I never use AUTO mode. Instead I predefined P-mode with my favorite settings or Av-mode. Along the edges pictures sometimes are a little bit blackouted. But this drawback is typical for compact camera designs. Quality of video mode is average (both video and sound suck). And as already was mentioned, the battery life indicator is absolutely stupid. After it becomes blinking you can take only 2-3 pictures. There is no way to forecast and plan recharge. Canon, what happened?! May first cell phone had much more informative indicator for the same type of acc batteries. Shame on you!

It upset me to learn that you cannot upload any files on this camera, unlike Sony and many other cameras. Software (for me as software developer) is not perfect too: it is good-looking but not very handy and intuitive. At least for windows user. I admit it is more friendly to Mac users. I think software is not a strong point of Canon. Its a pity, seems like they are trying to save on software.

Summary. This is not bad camera for my 270$ spent on it. I like that it has manual controls (although I rare use this feature) and use of CompactFlash memory. For point-and-shoot men and others who dosn't consider these as advantages I recommend to consider other brands. Sony P72 and newer clones may fit you better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: pleasantly surprised!
Review: Just got back from my holidays and I took this with me. What a delightful surprise. I downloaded my pictures two days ago and they are all bright and crisp with great colours. For a beginner, this is a great little camera at a decent price that will meet all your expectations. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a digital camera to start with.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Camera for continous use!
Review: I began buying this camera when it came down in price for the company I work for. We take on average 75-100 photos per day and not only ease of use, but battery life is important. This product has a great battery life from the users I have spoken with and am glad I got this instead of continuing with the A300.
As for the E18 error messages, folks, I've researched this on Google and all I can find are customers complaining about this error message. Go to Canon Support site and look it up. It just means you have too much pressure on the lens. Which of course means now I'm part of the google search! hee hee..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camera!
Review: I received this camera as a gift, and couldn't have picked a better one. I don't know much about cameras, but it is very easy to use and takes great pictures. My fiance is more technical with it and knows the different settings it has for the different pictures you can take, and it works really well. He's taken some great shots of people & things in the dark, lit up, or from a distance, using the different lighting and speed settings on the camera. Very user-friendly and easy to learn!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Two different A60 cameras...both had problems.
Review: 2 different A60 cameras... 2 different problems. The first A60 camera I purchased didn't work right out of the box. The lens would zoom out but wouldn't zoom back. It appeared to be a problem with the toggle switch. I sent it back and received a new camera. I used the new camera 2 or 3 times and suddenly got the infamous Canon E18 error. The lens gets stuck in the out position and the error code "E18" appears in the display. It appears to be a common problem with Canon digitals... just do a Google search on "Canon E18 error". I was dissappointed.... twice!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A60 problems with E 18 error
Review: I purchased the Canon A60 for my son to use while he travelled on a 6 month visit to America. All went really well with the camera and we were very pleased with the quality of the photos and the performance of the camera. That was until he arrived back in Australia. Two days later we got the E18 error message. The lens would not retract and the camera is inoperable. To make matters worse when I checked the warranty, Canon offer only a limited warranty that is only effective in the country of purchase. This limited warranty was not obvious to us on purchase. We now have to mail the camera back to the US to have it fixed. Not only are we left without our camera but we will also have the expense of the postage. This error is well documented on the internet and seems to be a common fault with this camera.


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