Canon Powershot A650 IS First Thoughts

Canon’s newly-introduced Powershot A650 IS has been anointed their new "top-of-the-line" A series offering, and Canon has packed a wealth of features into the camera to back up that ad copy. 12MP, DIGIC III processing, Face Detection focus/exposure technology, a 6X optical zoom (35-210mm) with optical image stabilization and a 2.5 inch variable angle LCD monitor are a few of the goodies to be found in the A650 IS.

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One nice thing about the “A” series cameras is the AA battery power source  –  instant gratification requires no more than loading four batteries and a memory card and firing away. That’s exactly what I did when the A650 IS review unit arrived yesterday, and the results so far are what I’ve come to expect from Canon’s small digital line: good color and image quality, good focus acquisition times and shutter performance, and ISO noise performance that is typical for cameras in this class. With the sensor capacity jumping to 12MP, I was concerned about noise levels, but Canon’s 1/1.7” sensor seems to produce noise levels and image quality on a par with their past cameras, which is to say quite good overall.

We’ve only scratched the surface thus far with the A650 IS, and a more complete review will follow soon, but based on what I’ve seen so far, Canon has produced another first-rate imaging product.

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