Reviews by desertadventure05
Canon PowerShot A640
Price: $899.99 - $899.99
Excellent field camera for advanced photographer03/13/07
- Pros:
- Loaded with MANUAL features, swivel LCD
- Cons:
- Case is a little cheap, HATE the card in batter compartment
I am a pro, I shoot with SLR Digitals (1DS MkII and MkIIN, 30D) but I was looking for a take-along camera that I could bring with me everywhere and not be so conspicuous. Unfortunately, that meant that most snapshot cameras (i.e. elph, etc) had all auto settings and little or no control over the creative elements of photography. In a nutshell - use a snapshot camera and every shot will look like a snapshot - washed out, overexposed, etc etc. I tried the A640 and was VERY pleasantly surprised. The image out of the camera is superb for a point and shoot, as is the color saturation (with some tweaking of the white balance). Performance at higher ISO is OK. Overall I give this camera a very high rating for its manual controls, flexibility, and overall image quality. The Swivel LCD is indespensible when out in the field working in tight spots or on shots that require you to be discreet, that too is one of the best features of this camera. As someone who earns a living making pictures, I have had some very nice (production quality) shots come off the A640. This is a nice little package with good performance and a fantastic price. Complaints: None other than the Mem Card located in the battery compartment. Tips: Use either 2200 mAh NiMh rechargeables or better yet - Lithium disposable batteries and you will never complain about enough power or low battery life again. Standard Alkaline batteries are PATHETIC as power sources for electronics. Nuf Said..
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Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx
Price: $289 - $449.99
Garming GPS - great hardware LOUSY SOFTWARE05/18/06
- Pros:
- Superb hardware, easy to use, durable and feature rich
- Cons:
- Basemap is WORTHLESS - Count on adding $100 just to make it functional!! And then good luck finding any dealers that carry the software!
It was time to upgrade my old Magellan Sportrak soI went with the best out there - the 60CSX. Out of the box I loved it.. but the basemap was horrible.. far worse than any of the magellan products. Strike one.. So after spending $400 I decided I needed a $100 topo map.. I went on line to Garmin and they DO NOT OFFER DIRECT DOWLOAD of maps... CDs only and it takes a week to get them! Strike Two.... So I picked up the phone and called EVERY dealer listed in the Phoenix metro area to see if they carried the Topo disc... after over an hour calling walmarts, REIs, Sports Authorities.. I end up paying full retail $116 + tax at a small ma and pa hiking place. WHAT A JOKE! Garmin needs to step up its software effort BIG TIME. Honestly, I was one step away from taking the unit back.. but alas - I uploaded the maps and the unit truly is a work of art... 10X better than my Sportrak.. I would agree it probably is the nicest handheld unit out there right now.... albeit an expensive one. Garmin - if you ever read these ... how about a usable base map + a user friendly website where customers with $$ can go to download your products instead of wasting time looking for CDs... and getting aggravated!!! Anyone considering this unit... I give it a 5 for hardware... 1 (Zero?) for software and support! DA
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