Continues the A series line

Author's Rating:

Pros: Lots of pixels, nice feel

Cons: A bit slow and a bit bulky

The Bottom Line: 
Good camera with lots of pixels, good zoom, flexible screen, can be a bit slow

Author's Review
I was going to write a longer review but the other review of this camera by Howard just nailed it. If you want information on specs and performance then visit his much longer (and better) review. I will discuss more of my impressions of the camera.
The A650IS is the latest version of the great Canon A series of point and shoot cameras.
The one great feature of this camera that I like is the swiveling LCD screen. The screen is mounted to a double pivoting hinge that allows the screen to swing out from the camera and then pivot. This means that the screen can be turned into the camera to protect it during transport, flipped around like a “traditional” digital camera, but then it can be shifted around for low/high and even self portraits. This was the reason I loved the previous version of this camera. Think of taking a picture of a parade from within a crowd and you can see the benefit.
The big improvement for this camera over the previous versions is the 12 Megapixel sensor, 6X optical zoom, and optical image stabilization. More Megapixels means that you can crop the images more and still have acceptable prints, the zoom means that you can get closer to your subject from farther away, and the optical stabilization means that you can take fewer blurry shots.
The overall feel of the camera is that it is getting a bit big. It is starting to feel a bit hefty. Some people think a camera should have some bulk to help with stable shots but this is the kind of camera that you want to throw in a pocket for a trip to a park with the family. If I want bulk I will drag out the dSLR.
Of course it is amazing that this thing has crammed in 12 Megapixels into a smallish frame. I mean WOW, that is neat! Ok enough gushing about the Megapixels, but that is pretty cool. Most people will tell you that unless you are creating very large prints anything over about 6 megapixels are wasted. That is true if you are printing the whole picture. One way to thing about these mega-Megapixels is that now you have additional post processing zoom available. It is amazing to take a group shot from a picnic and zoom all the way into your friend’s bad hair and make a great print from it. (I’m sure there are other uses but that is the first one I did). I mean you can zoom WAY in and snatch out some hidden details.
The LCD screen is about 2.4” diagonal and looks pretty good. I wish it had a bit more detail but overall is OK. The best part of the screen is the swiveling feature I discussed earlier.
The 6x optical zoom with image stabilization is very good. You can turn off the IS in the menu tree and the difference is noticeable. I think the zoom mechanism is a bit noisy but that could just be the one I’m using.
The camera takes 4 AA batteries which can be a lifesaver out in the field. Nothing beats the dreaded low battery warning and you are miles from a charger or AC outlet.
The camera used the SD memory card format which is getting pretty universal. We are using a 2 Gig card and the camera is showing about 650 shots on large size and fine quality.
The response of the camera is a bit slow but I guess it can take a while to process 12 Megapixels. The continuous shooting mode is only available in Program mode and seems to shoot about 1.5 shots per second.
The movies are pretty good quality with 640x480 and 30 frames/sec.
The overall feel of the camera is one with lots of features pushed into a semi-bulky frame.
I have been very happy with the quality of the pictures I’ve taken but I almost miss my old A series which was smaller and more agile. But hey I’ve got lots more Megapixels to work with.

UPDATE
I took this camera to my son's birthday party at a martial arts studio and I have to admit that the sutter lag caused me to miss a great deal of shots. I know I am spoiled by our DSLR but a second (or more) is just too long to wait for the camera to take a picture. When kids are jumping onto a mat and I am sitting right where they are jumping there should be an easy way to capture that moment. I still like the camera but am less attracted to the design. Especially since you are apporaching the cheapter DSLR's out there.

Bradman