As a long-time Olympus SLR user, I was blown away by Canon!

I've spent 30 years using and loving Olympus SLR gear, and consider myself a serious amateur photographer. I was unimpressed when my wife brought home a freebie Canon 2MP A60 from her office.
"2MP" I chuckled...

Then I took it out on a photo assignment, but took my Olympus 35mm SLR "just in case."

When I saw the first print drop out of the kiosk developer I basically saw a puny 2MP low end digital kick the daylights out of $1000 worth of film gear that I am EXPERT at using!
I was simply astounded, no other word fits.

After then digging in to this little marvel, getting more & more blown away, my wife wanted it back -- and got me an A630 for my birthday.

I had read a foot-high stack of digital photo magazines by this time, and there was not a camera in the crowd that could touch the A630/640 pair, even for more money -- and I simply had to admit it.

You can get the basic facts from other reviews here, but I want to point out a couple of things they may have missed.
The first is that Canon obviously has decided that everyone deserves the chance to become a serious photographer, and they combine a VERY easy to use, and capable "Auto" mode with a very comprehensive and flexible list of manual controls -- even manual focus.
Even that little A60 has an amazing amount of depth.

But the 630 has some really neat functions.
One is the ability to "hijack" the autofocus and make it operate anywhere in the frame -- say, the lower right corner for example.
They call this "Flexizone" and it's the other option to their AiAF (Artificial Intelligence Auto Focus), which itself works phenomenally well.

But there's a further twist!
You can also have the auto EXPOSURE linked to this little square, or not!
This means you can focus one on spot but expose for another, or lock the two together anywhere in the frame.

The manual focus is interesting as well; it gives you a magnified centre area in the screen.

Another thing mentioned is the size of the camera.
It's small enough to wear in a belt-pouch but it is hefty and solid, as befits a "prosumer" product. Good cameras are usually not the lightest, and pro cameras are all on the heavy and large side.
The A630 is substantial. This is an advantage when shooting because the mass helps keep the camera from shaking. I'm glad it's solid.

Another couple of nice features are "custom colour" and "High ISO".
Custom Colour allows you to alter the relative levels of the three primary colours, for example if you like to downplay the Green a bit, orr emphasise the red in that rusty old locomotive. (The "Vivid" and Neutral" settings raise or lower the colour intensity of all three at once.)

You can take B & W shots that have only one colour (say, red lips), or you can swap one colour for another.


One common factor in small P&S cameras is small sensor size (meaning each pixel-site is small and weak), and small aperture openings.
Combining these two limits low-light performance, but the Canon does as well or better than any in its class in this regard.The electronic amplification (ISO) helps with this, but can introduce noise.
Therefore the "High ISO" mode means trading some quality for the higher shutter speeds, but it's a good option to have. The camera will pick the highest possble ISO setting in this mode, whereas in Auto ISO it will pick the lowest, for quality of detail.

Now don't be offended, but this camera contains a wealth of features which are, frankly, beyond the comprehension or appreciation of 99% of those who will be using it.
Most will happily snap away in Auto, oblivious to the power just below the surface, and they will be rewarded by stunning quality prints anyway!

But occasionally, some will think that 8MP can change the basic laws of light and photography, and will write a negative review when in fact it is their lack of knowledge that is the problem.

I would happily choose the A630 as my "desert-island" camera and never look back.
And I'm definitely a Canon Convert.