Canon PowerShot SD630 6MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (OLD MODEL)

We purchased this camera to upgrade from a Canon SD410. Canon cameras are excellent - we owned the SD410 for a few years and took wonderful photos with it. The SD630 greatly improves on what is already a great line of point of shoot cameras. It is pretty amazing how many features they can pack into these tiny cameras. Some highlights:*The first thing you'll notice is the beautiful 3" LCD. It absolutely great to see the images right on your camera - and @ 3", you notice a lot more details than you do on smaller screens. In playback mode, there are some neat slideshow settings you can use to check out your photos.*The other huge upgrade on this camera is the ISO 800 shutter speed. This very fast shutter speed gives you the ability to take awesome indoor photos without the flash. One benefit of no flash = no red eye. Red eye is always going to be an issue shooting indoor photos and using the flash - this camera helps to alleviate the red eye problem as it gives you the speed you need to shoot without the flash. The fast shutter speed also allows for crisp images even when holding the camera by hand (no tripod). I shot a few test images (auto ISO setting) in a dimly lit room w/out the flash and the images came out awesome.*This camera is so easy to operate as a point and shoot (auto mode will work for the majority of shots), but for the serious (or quasi serious) photographer, this camera has additional shooting modes (e.g. portrait, kids & pets, nighttime, indoor, landscape, digital macro, etc...) and manual settings galore. Even includes long shutter mode, self timer, and movie mode - that is also greatly improved from SD410.We prefer this very compact camera as it is easy to carry anywhere - especially hikes, day trips, etc... We took our old SD410 to Belize, Yosemite, Niagara, etc... and have beautiful photos to show off. Definitely small enough for a purse or pants pocket. This camera only has 3x optical zoom - so if you want more zoom (shooting sports, etc...), consider a larger camera (like Canon's S2). We keep the digital zoom turned off as it reduces your image quality. You will definitely need a larger memory card. Get @ least 512 MB and more (like 1 - 2 GB) if you plan to use your camera for movies. No case included - we opted not to buy the accessory pack, because the camera case looked bulky. We prefer a small case that fits snug on the camera so we can 'stay light'. We found some great cases that did the trick by going to Wolf Camera. Take your camera with you when you go so you can try the cases out to see how they work for your needs.Canon makes a phenomenal product and this one is no exception. Highly recommended.

The Canon PowerShot SD630 is a small yet fierce compact point-and-shoot camera. This little 6-megapixel camera managed to bundle performance and snappy photos into a package you can easily carry in your shirt or pants pocket. I recently upgraded from the Canon SD450, and I am so glad that I got the SD630 (rather than the SD600). THE SD630 is almost identical to its little brother, the PowerShot SD600. The SD630 incorporates the same sensor, lens, and internal components. The only advantage over the less expensive SD600 is its 3-inch LCD screen, but had to lose the viewfinder in the process (which I never used anyway).The first thing that jumped out and caught my attention is the (relatively) HUGE 3" LCD screen. It provides plenty of room to frame your shot but not so much room to operate the camera. Granted, the pixel count on this screen is the same as the 2.5" screen on the SD600, I still like the larger view. The buttons on the back include a standard four-way rocker control pad, menu, display, and a button for printing when the camera is hooked up to a PictBridge-compatible printer. If you have large hands, you'll probably find its control layout a little uncomfortable, and it doesn't have an optical viewfinder, but the SD630 is still a great compact camera. Once you get the hang of it, the pad allows "easy" navigation around the menu system, and you can directly set options such as the self-timer, continuous shooting, macro, flash, and ISO sensitivity. The top edge of the camera holds the shutter release, the zoom rocker, the power button, and a slider for switching between photo, movie, and playback modes. The zoom rocker is a tabbed ring around the shutter release similar to the SD600, facing the front edge of the camera. Some users have mentioned that it is uncomfortable for large fingers and extremely awkward to operate with one hand, especially when zooming out. I have large/x-large hands, and I find no problems using the controllers.The Canon PowerShot SD630 has a decent amount of features that give its tiny form a nice amount of flexibility. Canon couples a 6-megapixel CCD with up to 3x optical zoom (35mm-to-105mm equivalent) lens. The lens has a pretty narrow maximum aperture of f/2.8 to f/4.9, with a shutter-speed range of 1/1,500 second to 15 seconds, average numbers for models in this space. The camera has automatic, program, and manual exposure modes with a range of plus or minus 2EV in 1/3EV steps, which is also on a par with the competition. Its sensitivity range goes as high as ISO 800; that's not quite as much as Fujifilm's and Sony's latest offerings, but it will still give you more low-light flexibility than most cameras of its size.I won't go into the details of the measurements, but I have to mention that it is less than an inch thick with its lens tucked in (great to carry around). It is easier to carry around than the SD450, or my ancient S200 (yes, the CompactFlash version!). I liked that the right side of the body is somewhat shaped/curved, because it lets the user hold the camera comfortably in your right hand.In addition to standard automatic and manual exposure modes, the SD630 offers a handful of scene modes. One will also find options for photographing beaches, plants, snowy days, and fireworks (not available on the SD450). It even has an underwater mode to use in conjunction with the optional underwater housing (for extra $$). Color Accent and Color Swap modes can filter and change colors in the camera, producing some neat artistic effects. And, the camera has an awesome 30fps VGA movie capture mode, which can be used in conjuction with the Color Accent modes and other features. I've shot a 45 minute movie of my 4-month old daughter (I have a 2Gb SD card) with no hiccups, and I think I could have gone longer.The SD630 takes a little over a second from power-on to the first shot, and takes about 2 seconds between shots, which increases marginally with flash. I haven't tried the burst mode yet, but it is supposed to shoot at 2.1fps with no buffer constraint on the number of shots.So far, the photos I have taken with the SD630 were quite pleasing, looked crisp and clear, and nice color reproduction (at least with my poor eyes) at the lower ISO range. However, images become noisy at ISO 400 and ISO 800 (as expected), but still usable. I will be doing a field test against my Digital SLR (Nikon D100), results pending. Also, I have not used the bundled software, which is supposed to be very good.Conclusion:I am happy with my purchase of the Canon PowerShot SD630. It is an extremely solid ultra compact, with performance and photo quality that more than make up for its very few design flaws. It's a surprisingly good shooter, and its feature set makes it quite flexible for a camera of its size. It is a more expensive version of the PowerShot SD600 ($50-100 more), with a larger screen and no optical viewfinder. Personally, I don't use the viewfinder, so I am willing to give it up for the larger LCD.