Canon PowerShot A640 Reviews: Digital Compact Camera

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50 Real Customer Reviews - In Summary

This Digital Camera scored high on features. It has no outstanding negative points. “Flip-out and twist screen. functions accessed via menus are fast and easy to…” Richard, Dorchester, Dorset View all 50 real customer reviews

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2.5" Screen, 4x optical zoom, SD Card storage More »

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Real customer reviews

50 verified purchasers have reviewed this product.
97% of people recommend it.

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All purchasers (50)

Build Quality	9.0
Ease of use	8.8
Features	9.1
Image quality	9.2
Value for money (at time of purchase)	9.2
Overall rating	9.1

*not all purchasers provided a score or review

Score 9.0/10

Richard, Dorchester, Dorset

+ Flip-out and twist screen.
Functions accessed via menus are fast and easy to find.
Ability to manual focus.
Optical viewfinder (not perfect) but useful in certain situations.
Takes supplementary W/A and T/PH lenses.
It's not silver!
A lot of features for the money.

- Noise at higher ISO settings. However, subject detail is still present.
Screen could be higher resolution.
Dedicated print button might be put to better use - ISO settings perhaps.

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64 of 64 people found this review helpful

purchased 17 Jan 2007

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ VERY EASY TO USE, EXCELLENT PICTURE QUALITY

- NONE SO FAR

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29 of 29 people found this review helpful

purchased 24 Nov 2006

Score 9.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Does everything I need, in a compact package.

- Reviewer left no comment

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26 of 26 people found this review helpful

purchased 06 Feb 2007

Score 8.0/10

Martin, Northampton

+ Image quality, features, use of AA batteries, degree of manual control. Does eveything a G7 does.

- A bit heavy for a point and shoot. No RAW format. ISO should have a dedicated button.

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13 of 13 people found this review helpful

purchased 01 May 2007

Score 10.0/10

Ella, London

+ Macro lens is great for taking photos of flowers

- It didn't ome with a case.

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12 of 12 people found this review helpful

purchased 13 Mar 2007

Score 9.0/10

Michael, Frampton Cotterell

+ Perfect pictures of use with the "Auto" facility. Plenty of other programme settings to give you great photos in varyious conditions. Nice that you have the option of changing the lens (sold seperately) should you so wish. Unusual for a compact camera.

- Yet to find any bad points.

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12 of 12 people found this review helpful

purchased 13 May 2007

Score 9.0/10

Karen, Newcastle upon Tyne

+ I upgraded from an earlier Powershot which I'd had for years. My new A640 does everything I want it to do and more. The best feature for me is it acts like an SLR with the manual focus so you can blur out the background and still have a sharp image in the forground. It's easy to use.

- Haven't came across any yet

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10 of 10 people found this review helpful

purchased 12 May 2007

Score 8.0/10

carol, worthing,west sussex

+ my shakey hands don't ruin the quality of the picture
love the size of the screen for reviewing pics+special features for reviewing pics
great zoom

- not good for use indoors - picture quality is affected

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10 of 10 people found this review helpful

purchased 24 May 2007

Score 8.0/10

jeff, innerleithen

+ macro, and multy position veiw finder

- optical veiwfinder

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8 of 8 people found this review helpful

purchased 25 May 2007

Score 9.0/10

Les, Guisborough

+ Build quality and gives me options more often found on a SLR but without the bulk.

- None so far

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8 of 8 people found this review helpful

purchased 26 May 2007

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ wonderfully clear pictures

- small print in the instruction

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7 of 7 people found this review helpful

purchased 15 Mar 2007

Score 9.0/10

Pete, High Wycombe

+ Excellent range of features for a compact camera. Can run it manually or as automatic as you'd like. Basically a mini SLR without the bulk!

- Screen resolution is a little less than expected. Why do Canon insist on placing a button on the camera for direct printing? Who does that? Surely it would have been better used a direct command button for ISO or Shot size.

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 25 Jun 2007

Score 9.0/10

Philip, Poole

+ Easy to use, responsive, generous spec & featues. Good ergonomics. Well thought-out user manual.

- No serious downsides for a point & shoot at this price.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

purchased 01 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Michael, Ipswich

+ EXcellent value with superb quality pictures

- Slightly bulky

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 24 May 2007

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ A very simple to use camera with many useful facilities. It can be used with wide angle and telephoto lens attachments, at extra cost.

- No serious bad points except it uses different card technology (SD card) which means that if upgrading from an earlier model (eg A75 or A95) the Compact flash card cannot be used.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 08 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

David, Northwich, Cheshire

+ Nice to hold and easy to use. Very quick start up. Easy to use all controls with right thumb, very useful when operating the settings.

- Find the battery and card cover difficult to open. I previously had a Canon Powershot A70 which was more accessible.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 14 Jul 2007

Score 10.0/10

Nicholas, Woolton Hill

+ Very simple to use. The batteries have lasted well. A great improvement on our last digital camera.

- Reviewer left no comment

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 11 May 2007

Score 10.0/10

Sue, Bradford

+ Ease of use. Fantastic quality photos.

- Reviewer left no comment

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 18 Mar 2007

Score 9.0/10

Carole, St. Austell

+ Good size view panel on back. excellent zoom. easy to hold.

- there are a lot of features that need to be studied at length to get the hang of.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 21 Jul 2007

Score 10.0/10

John, Swansea

+ This camera is like all its earlier relations, built well, comes with a large number of user controls and gives splendid results. The body of the camera fits neatly into a pocket or, can be carried on a hand strap, which means it need never be far away and always ready for use. The 10Mpx chip gives outstanding results over and above A3 size prints. Exposure controls are substantial making the camera useful for a novice or a serious amateur photographer. This is the 3rd "A" series Canon I've owned.

- Can't think of any.

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purchased 20 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Robert, London

+ Auto mode is very good and covers most things. Still getting to grips with the other modes. I got a 2GB memory card with it and just take lots of shots at different settings if I want to make sure I get something. Under normal conditions the one taken on AUTO is the best anyway! Swivelling view screen is brilliant, I've used it a lot to take pics from unusual angles like very low down on the ground, leaning over a wall, and so on.

- It's a bit of a fiddle to change ISO settings, aperture override etc. but gets easier with time. It tends to use the flash too often for my liking, but you can easily turn the flash off. I find I can hold it steady enough to take quite long exposures without blurring.

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purchased 21 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Rob, Nottingham

+ The camera has some excellent features and general picture quality is superb. The menus are relatively easy to use and the moveable LCD adds to the ease of taking good pictures.

- Indoor non flash pictures with people still limited in quality, the aperture and shutter speed options aren't immediately obvious to use and play with.

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purchased 20 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Tim, Cumbria

+ Large flip screen, high resolution, good 4X zoom, fast shutter response

- none to date

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purchased 23 Jun 2007

Score 9.0/10

Steve, Billingham

+ Picture quality, good auto mode with scene modes for even better pictures, good battery life and uses normal batteries no need to wait to 'charge up'.

- None found yet.

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purchased 21 Jul 2007

Score 10.0/10

BRIAN, BRIXHAM, SOUTH DEVON

+ The camera is one of the best I have bought, the picture quility is very good and the zoom is perfect,it also has most features for all types of conditions you are likely to come across, yes there are better cameras about but for the price this one is fine for me.

- There are no bad points, if the camera does what you expect of it, there can't be any !

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purchased 22 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Lynnette, London

+ Lots of different features

- bit bulky

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purchased 20 Jul 2007

Score 8.0/10

Nigel, Loughborough

+ Stylish little camera with very good build quality and a cracking lens

- image noise in clear blue skies (to many megapixels on the sensor), a 6 to 7 megapixel sensor would have been more sensible.

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purchased 23 Jul 2007

Score 9.0/10

Patrick, Rugby

+ Photo quality.Ease of use. Battery life.

- A bit bulky for a point and shoot.(Minor bad point)

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purchased 27 Jul 2007

Score 10.0/10

Andrew, Whitley Bay

+ Very easy to use and the quality of the images can make a very amateur photographer (me) look good.

- Reviewer left no comment

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purchased 24 Jul 2007

Score 10.0/10

SAmantha, Swindon

+ Looks good, easy to use, great picture quality.

- A bit heavy.

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purchased 11 Aug 2007

Score 9.0/10

Vivek, London

+ Brilliant overall

- No Image stabiliser so images taken during night are little blurred

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purchased 07 Aug 2007

Score 6.0/10

nigel, slough

+ small enough to carry in my pocket - that's about it.

- cycle time between frames is rubbish - it was advertised as being the best arround but I'm missing pictures because of the lag

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purchased 23 Jun 2007

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ best camera i have ever had.

- no bad points

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purchased 20 Jul 2007

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Product Features

Camera Type	Compact
There are 2 main types of camera: The SLR and the Compact. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. SLR cameras use a prism to reflect the exact image as seen through the lens and so offers a more accurate viewfinder. SLR cameras have detachable lenses offering greater flexibility if you wish to take a variety of different photographs. Compact cameras have a built in lens and an ‘above lens’ viewfinder which is less accurate but they are often cheaper, more sleekly designed and easier to carry anywhere with you to capture that moment perfectly without having to fiddle with complex settings or a bag full of lenses.
Optical Zoom Ratio	4
The amount by which the camera optics (lens) can bring the subject closer.
Screen Size in Inches	2.5
Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner.
Digital Zoom Ratio	4
Not to be confused with optical zoom, digital zoom enlarges a portion of the image thus simulating optical zoom. In doing so, some image quality is lost.
Face Recognition	No
A function for automatically detecting peoples faces and correctly adjusting the focus and exposure to take the best photo
Image Stabilisation	No
If a photo is taken at a slow shutter speed, or at a long focal length, the effects of ‘hand shake’ will be amplified. Some cameras come with built-in image stabilisation which is designed to act against this to produce sharper images. It’s great for low light shots without a tripod, like at a gig.
Colour	Black
The main colour of the product.
Memory Card Slot	Yes
Having a memory card slot allows you to save data to a memory card and then transfer it to another device. For example you may put a photo from your camera or mobile phone onto a memory card and then plug it into your printer to print directly. Memory card slots come in many formats: Compact Flash Card Memory Stick Duo Micro SD Card MMC SD Card SDHC Card
Media Format	SDHC Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
Media Format	MMC Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
Media Format	SD Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
PictBridge	Yes
An industry standard allowing images to be printed from camera to printer, without needing a computer. CIPA PictBridge Standard Website
Macro Mode	Yes
This mode allows close-up photograpy of small objects such as insects and flowers.
Video Recorder	Yes
Video recording functionality allows the capture of videos in mpeg or avi format which is great if you want to capture a whole scene, not just one moment.
Manual Focus	No
Almost all modern cameras have autofocus. Manual focus allows you to override the autofocus and set the distance yourself. This is especially useful if your camera is struggling to focus in a low-light or confusing scene.
Timer	Yes
Having a timer function is essential if you want to get into the shot yourself. Make sure your camera has this feature if you plan to go on holiday and capture photos of you and your friends or family having fun together.
Under Water	No
An under water feature means your camera is safe to dive with, usually between 3 and 5 metres. Most dSLR cameras will require expensive separate housing so consider investing in a waterproof digital compact first.
Dimensions (mm)	66x109.4x49.1
The size of the device in millimetres, in width x height x depth.
Weight (g)	245
The weight of the product in grams.
Flash	Yes
Whether or not your camera has an in-built flash. Flashes are essential for fully capturing a low light image.
Resolution (Pixels)	3648x2736
A camera sensor, that captures the photograph, is measured in pixels. The number given here is the horizontal amount of pixels followed by the vertical quantity of pixels. The more pixels a camera sensor has, the bigger and higher quality the image will be.
Shortest Shutter Speed	2500
This is the fastest speed at which the camera can take a photo. Faster shutter speeds really freeze the action and are great for sports photography.
Longest Shutter Speed	15"
This is the longest exposure your camera will take. The longer you take a photo for, the more light is let in and the more motion is captured. Long shutter speeds can give fantastic, artistic results. Try photographing the night sky at 30s or longer to see how the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to curve through the scene.
Max. Aperture Lens 1	f2.8-4.1
Measured in f-stops the aperture of a lens dictates the maximum amount of light captured. If you want to do low light photography look for something with a wide aperture like f2.8. The widest aperture is given as a range as it changes when your lens is zoomed in.
USB Port	Yes
Socket for connecting devices such as a computers and other components
WiFi	No
Wifi allows you to connect your device to wireless routers or modems which allows you to connect to broadband internet.

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Manufacturer's Description

The PowerShot A640 bursts with creative options. Use its 10.0 Megapixels to shoot poster size prints with fine detail. Discover new possibilities with the vari-angle LCD and optional accessories.