The New York Times published an article by David Pogue called Digital Photos Even a Miser Can Enjoy. In it Pogue and a group of 20 friends rated the images produced by 12 cameras priced at under $300. According to the article:
The {Canon Powershot} A610’s photos were top ranked in an astonishing 12 out of 20 tests; this camera just takes fantastic pictures in almost every situation. Not bad for $250, especially considering you also get a 4X zoom and a flip-out rotating 2-inch screen – great for shooting over people’s heads, or down low for baby shots.
On the other hand, the A610 is the biggest, ugliest camera here. Canon seems to be forcing the issue: Do you want good-looking pictures, or a good-looking camera?
I have a Canon Powershot A95 which is quite similar in size to the A610. I honestly think calling the A610 the “biggest, ugliest camera” is a bit excessive. It’s only considered big because the fashion in digital cameras is as small as possible. I’d say a camera was big if it didn’t fit in my coat pocket. Every Canon Powershot A-Series camera I’ve ever seen fits in my coat pocket.
I’ve always preferred photo quality and performance over style, so my preferences from their group of cameras they evaluated are:
- Canon Powershot A610
- Fujifilm Finepix F10,
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2,
- Kodak EasyShare v530,
- Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z57,
- Nikon Coolpix S1,
- Olympus Stylus 600,
- HP Photosmart R817,
- Konica Minolta Dimage X1, and
- Pentax Optio S6
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