Manual Control Options
This digital camera does offer manual control – and it can be found in several places. The shutter speed and aperture appear right on the viewing screen with arrows pointing right and left for changes. Users can scroll to the selected setting, then push the exposure compensation button to switch to the other exposure control. There are manual, aperture priority and shutter speed priority modes. In all of these, users can manually adjust the ISO, white balance, metering, flash output and AF frame, and can even manually focus. There are many manual options, but they are located throughout the split-menu system.
Focus
Auto Focus (7.75)
The A620 still isn’t anywhere near as speedy as a DSLR, but is faster than its pedestrian PowerShot siblings. This camera uses a through-the-lens auto focus system that can work continuously or only with the push of the shutter release button. The continuous auto focus makes a tiny bit of noise, but isn’t audible enough to be a serious distraction. The A620 can focus from 0.4-18” in the wide macro mode and 10-18” in telephoto macro mode. Normally, it can focus as close as 18 inches (45 cm) and as far as the lens can see.
There are three auto focus framing options. The Center framing option frames just where it says it does. The FlexiZone option lets users manually select an AF point from nine positions; this syncs with the spot metering mode for accurate measurement of off-center subjects. The third AF option is the AiAF mode, which is Canon’s “smart” auto focus system that automatically finds the subject. The camera displays brackets where it is focusing; these turn green when the lens is focused and ready to shoot. In low light, there is an AF beam to assist the focus. This works well and works faster than the AF assist beam from most cameras.
Overall, the auto focus system did well. It had a problem while shooting a movie clip though. While recording a baby crawling in the sun near a window, the camera wouldn’t focus before or during recording. This only happened once, but is of note and is assumed to be because of the high level of contrast in the frame.
Manual Focus (3.5)
The Canon A620 can manually focus on subjects with just a few taps of the right and left sides of the multi-selector. Users need only to select the manual focus option by pushing the bottom of the selector. A bar appears on the top of the LCD to show where users are on the focus range. When the lens is at its widest, users can focus as close as 0.4 inches. The A620 can focus as close as 9.8 inches in telephoto.
When the MF-Point Zoom option is selected in the recording menu, users can get a magnified view of the center of the frame. This is only useful if the subject is in the center of the frame, of course. Unfortunately, the LCD’s screen resolution isn’t good enough to really support the manual focus. It is hard to tell how crisp the lines are when they’re in a stair-step pattern from the screen resolution.
Metering (8.0)
Found in the Func./Set menu, the metering mode can be switched from the default Evaluative setting to Center-Weighted Average or Spot. The evaluative setting measures light throughout the frame and averages it, so it doesn’t work well for backlit subjects. In those situations, the center-weighted or spot metering setting is better. Brackets in the viewing screen show the center-weighted and spot metering areas, but the spot area isn’t much smaller than the center-weighted option. Still, the spot metering mode has its advantages. It can link up to the FlexiZone auto focus mode and meter wherever users manually direct the AF zone. This is perfect for backlit subjects who are also off-center. There are live views offered when users scroll through the metering options.
Exposure (7.5)
The Canon PowerShot A620 has plenty of exposure modes: Auto, Program, Shutter Speed Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, Custom, several scene presets (Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene; Special Scenes such as night snapshot, kids & pets, indoor, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks and underwater); My Colors, Stitch Assist and Movie. The traditional shutter speed and aperture exposure controls can be manually adjusted on this camera – in the proper modes of course. In the more automatically oriented modes, there is a standard +/- 2 exposure compensation setting available in 1/3 steps. It can be selected with the designated exposure compensation button and the multi-selector. As with many other options on this PowerShot, the exposure compensation also offers a live view.
White Balance (7.5)
The white balance options are in the Func./Set menu as well. TTL Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Underwater and Custom settings are available with live views. The automatic setting seemed to work well most of the time. The custom setting is nice for mixed lighting situations, which are more common than people think. The custom setting provides onscreen directions that tell users which buttons to push and such. It’s easy to manually set the white balance; users need only to frame something white in the provided box. The only option missing from the white balance menu is a flash preset option. After taking lots of portraits with the flash and seeing plenty of pasty faces, a white balance flash mode would have been nice to help keep some skin tone in the picture.
ISO (6.0)
The top item in the Func./Set menu is the ISO, which provides live views of the following settings: auto, 50, 100, 200 and 400. This is a standard range and is even becoming below average. Many of this year’s models are including high sensitivity settings of 800 or 1000; this is a 2005 model though.
Shutter Speed (7.0)
No need to dig through menus to adjust the shutter speed. It can be manually adjusted with external buttons. When in the manual or shutter speed priority (Tv) modes, the shutter speeds can be adjusted by pressing right or left on the multi-selector. The Canon PowerShot A620 uses a mechanical and electronic shutter that flips as fast as 1/2500th of a second. At its slowest, it can stay open for 15 seconds. Any shutter speed slower than 1.3 seconds automatically uses the camera’s noise reduction system. The 15-1/2500 shutter speed range shortens by a few steps when the aperture is set at its widest f/2.8 setting. In that case, the shutter speed only goes as fast as 1/1250th of a second. Still, the range is decent and should suffice for most if not all A620 users.
Aperture (7.0)
The aperture option can be found next to the shutter speed in the manual or shutter speed priority modes. In manual, pushing the exposure compensation button toggles between the shutter speed and aperture settings; users push the same right and left portions of the multi-selector to adjust the aperture. Several aperture options are available with a maximum of f/2.8 in wide and f/4.1 in telephoto. Throughout the zoom range, an f/8 minimum aperture is available. Live views are once again on hand for shutter speed and aperture adjustments.
