Jean Eng Blog

This Canon PowerShot A650IS is actually my second one. I had bought the first one back in September 2006 when it was first released to the public. I was excited because I’d been on the market for a new digital camera plus I wanted a new one for my upcoming trip to Denver.

I’d been using my old Kodak DC290 for about 6 or 7 years. Back then, it was the top of the line and retailed for $999.99 but these days, technology and new camera designs change so quickly and cost so much less than in those days. I’d hit limitations a long time ago with this camera, it was just time to upgrade!

The reason I had to buy a second Canon A650 was because of a recall on the first batches of cameras. There apparently was a light leak issue that cause purple fringing on photos that were shot with the flip screen open in bright lighting. What’s interesting was that I did notice some photos from my trip that had a weird rectangle block of purplish coloring in the middle of the picture but I just thought I did something off with my photographic skills. Luckily I was reading posts at a camera forum and someone mentioned the issue and about the recall. So when I got back from my trip, I was still within my 30 days return period with Amazon.com and since I didn’t want to mess with having it fixed by Canon’s Warranty, I just decided to send it back because of the defect.

BTW, Amazon.com is sure pretty no hassle when it comes to returns. AND I love the prime shipping!

I’ll just say that I really missed this camera and I waited to repurchase it just so I know that I’m not getting old “fixed” batches of the camera. About two or three weeks ago, I started seeing the camera back in stock at amazon and the price had even dropped some!

I originally bought it for around $384 and about $20 more bucks for a 2gb SD card, the price on the cards have dropped in price too. I really want a 4gb and I’ll keep monitoring the prices for their drop and then I’ll snag it!

Last week, the price had slowly dropped to $331 and when I checked, they had 1 left but more would be in stock soon. I’m actually going back to Denver in two weeks and would like to have the camera but I decided to roll the dice and wait until the fresh batches are in stock and maybe the price would go down a bit more.

The saga continues when they got it back in stock a few days later but it was listed for regular price! I thought I had missed the good price but seeing how the other marketplace sellers were still selling the Canon PowerShot A650IS for under $350, I decided to just wait it out. I’m glad I did because Wednesday I had checked and the price was $299.99! I remember thinking to myself how I would totally snag it if it ever dropped below $300 bucks, that’s my price point.

I ordered it with Amazon Prime Shipping and like clockwork, it’s Friday and my camera was waiting for me at the door along with a new 2gb card! I gave my other card to my brother when he bought a new camera recently. I didn’t even know the ups man was at my house, it must’ve been the stealth delivery one who doesn’t knock or beep the horn. When I was going downstairs and had passed the front door, I had a thought to check…maybe my camera was calling out to me! I opened the door and there were my two boxes! I was so happy to get this camera again that I hugged the box.

I got it inside and opened it up, just like how I remembered it. I attached the wrist strap because accidents happen. I put in the SD memory card and a set of my rechargeable AA batteries. That is one of the great points of this camera is that they use SD cards and take AA batteries that you can find practically anywhere, very convenient! I love my rechargeable batteries!

I flipped open that screen and clicked it shut again just so I could hear that familiar click. Did I mention how I really missed this camera? I turned it on and saw the beautiful bright vivid screen. I set my date and time along with other settings. Then I put my new camera away in my camera case/bag.

Since I’ve already taken pics with the Canon A650 before, I didn’t need to run around taking test shots this time around. I will give more thorough reviews of the camera in future posts along with showing off some of the fantastic shots I’m able to capture with this gem!

But just to whet your appetite, here’s a picture I took of my bf’s doggie at the dog park. This was taken in “Kids & Pets” mode with ISO Speed at 200(Auto) at the Superfine image quality which I think was probably on 12 megapixels. Just to be clear here, I’m not a pro and I certainly do not know what all this data really means, this shooting information shows up for each picture in the zoom browser software that came with this camera!

Jesse, the doggie, whom I like to refer to as “Rainbow Doggie” loves the water and was jumping and splashing all over the place. I think that’s why I chose the kids and pets mode for the quick shooting. It was bright sunny day so I didn’t think there would be any problems with getting good shots! This is one of my favorites and has not been retouched other than resizing. The sweet thing about having so many megapixels is that I could crop the image down and still have exceptional resolution for larger printing!

Enjoy the pic, he’s such a cute doggie!! (click image to see it larger, the original is 4000×3000!) You can buy this great camera here.