After a few months of ownership, I still like it.

It's easy to get excited about a new toy, be it a camera or mp3 player or whatever for the first few weeks. We want to defend our purchases and justify our choice of equipment, even if they're really not all that great. We want them to be and will skew our comments accordingly. That's why I like to wait a little while to write a review. After a few months, I've generally had enough time to use a product like a camera enough times and in enough situations, to form an opinion that's as balanced as possible and hopefully others will find helpful.

After several years of faithful service from a Canon S200, it was time to invest in a new pocket digital. I wanted at least a 3x optical zoom, a big screen display, a true pocket-sized form factor and high quality/durability. While on a business trip to Hong Kong, I found a good deal on the IXUS 65 (identical to the SD630, obviously) and took the plunge. Since then, I've taken perhaps 800-900 pictures with this camera and am mostly happy with it, but not completely.

It has excellent picture quality with no undue noisiness or grain. It is also very responsive with very little lag from power on to picture taking, or from picture to picture. The battery lasts a decently long time as well. To help put the battery life into perspective, I just returned from a weekend in Austin, Texas at a friend's wedding. I took probably 150 pictures, half of which required a flash. I turned the camera off if I knew it would be more than 1-2 minutes before my next shot. I also used the big LCD a lot to show the pictures to others. No problem at all- the battery has life left in it, though probably not much. I have drained the battery once in a long day of travel in Europe and probably 200 pictures. If you like to shoot lots of pictures and may not be in a place to charge the battery every evening, a second battery would be worth the investment. Make sure it's a genuine Canon. My second battery is an aftermarket knock-off and it doesn't last for more than 50 shots.

I like the size also. It fits in my front jeans pocket and doesn't get in the way of sitting comfortably or moving around. I bought a screen protector for the LCD so it doesn't get scratched, which also works really well. The buttons and knobs are all recessed enough and stiff enough to not get changed around while in my pocket too, unlike my older Canon.

I notice that some have expressed concerns over not having a viewfinder. So far, I haven't missed it. The screen can wash out a bit outdoors, but it's still fine for composing a picture. Once or twice I thought it might be nice to have a viewfinder, but would not give up the screen size to get it. Others might, and that's fine. I knew what I was giving up when I bought it, but I also wasn't buying a camera for serious pro shooting, either. The big LCD is really nice for showing pictures to others, which is a feature I use far more often than I would a viewfinder. Se la vie.

The operating logic is simple and the menus work like I would expect them to. It's a simple matter to switch modes and the rocker button is easy to use. One final positive before I move on to the negatives- the movie quality is better than I expected for such a small camera, though the downside is that the files are relatively large. A few minutes of video can quickly fill a 1GB memory card, so a 2GB card might be a wise investment if you plan to shoot a fair amount of video. I've filled the 1GB card only once, but I didn't have a spare so it was an annoyance.

Now for the negatives. The finish on the body is much less durable than I would like. My old S200 is all stainless steel on the outside, and still looks like new after years of use. This one is already showing wear where the rubber clincher on the hand strap rubs it while in my pocket. It's hard to tell, but I think most of the body might be plastic, or painted aluminum, and it shows every scratch. Canon could have done better here.

Also on the negative, there does not appear to be a fill-flash option that I can find. It can be maddening when there is a borderline light situation or when the subject is poorly illuminated, and I can't force the flash to fire.

These are mostly minor nits, however, and I expect that it will last a long time. It does what I want it to do very well, so I can probably go another 5 years before I get the itch for a new one. Then again, at 6 megapixels and with a large screen, it may be enough to keep me happy much longer than that.