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Review: I bought two Casio cameras first, one was unbelievably mediocre, barely able to take a photo at night and the other was more or less the same. I researched a hell of a lot into what camera I would get after replacing those and settled on this Canon PowerShot A610. A very good technical review can be found here http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A610/A610A.HTM So far its proved to be very good. It takes excellent quality pictures at night and has about 20 special modes, of which about 8 are essential and work well while the rest are quite technical and beyond my basic needs. It can also code up to 1 gig of video. The main reason I purchased this camera was because I needed one which was capable of shooting at night without blurring the image. So far, this has more than done the job. The camera also displays an icon when the camera is shaking too much as to interfere with the image. It is not so sensitive that the mere firing of the shutter will blur the image, like Casio, and also it processes the images really quickly once taken (even in the special modes), again unlike Casio. What it really has going for it is the sturdy design and grip, 4x optical zoom, over and above the standard 3x, 5 MP though don’t be too hung up on this as it doesn’t make too much of a difference, and its photographic quality. One thing I will say is that its larger than an ultra portable camera by about 20% but I think this makes it better, the tiny cameras have many problems such as being overly sensitive to movement (blurring the image) and suffering from the flash being right next to the lens. Also the screen is brilliant, it is flexible and can be moved about all over the place. Bad points, there are a few and you should bare them in mind:- -ITS NOT RECHARGEABLE! I didn’t really notice this when I bought it but it’s a big drawback. You have to use 4 standard AA batteries which is a pain (on the plus you will never run out of power as you can keep many spares!). It also makes the camera a tad bulky. (Canon have an accessory rechargeable pack set). -It is a little bulky on one end and so it can be difficult getting a generic case unless you purchase a huge ugly one or get Canon’s. -The zoom switch is a bit sensitive and it can be hard getting it where you want. It does not zoom in or out as smoothly as other cameras. -The flap to the USB port is a joke, literally a piece of plastic which will break off at any second. -Screen is 2” and more can be had for this kind of money from other cameras and even though it’s flexible it can be annoying having to flick it out every time. -No pod to sit the camera on (unlike Kodak and virtually every other make) so you have to roll out the USB cable and connect it manually every time. -Software is dire. Canon is too stingy to give you things like Photoshop Elements or something so they bundle their own junk along. ZoomBrowser is annoying and ultra-basic and the other programs are useless with the exception of PhotoStitch (which allows you to create a seamless panorama using the same mode on the camera). Overall a 4. | 
Digital Cameras
