Picture Quality / Size Options (7.5)
The Canon PowerShot A620 has plenty of size options, as it offers 7.2 effective megapixels. The image size options are as follows: Large (3072 x 2304), Medium 1 (2592 x 1944), Medium 2 (2048 x 1536), Medium 3 (1600 x 1200), and Small (640 x 480). There is also a Postcard Date Imprint Mode that saves the date and time each photo was taken to the file information. This is only available in the 1600 x 1200 pixel size, though. All of the image sizes can be compressed in SuperFine, Fine and Normal JPEG options. Full resolution is recommended for making large prints, however.
Picture Effects Mode (8.5)
This is an area where the Canon PowerShot A620 excels. It has plenty of picture effects to keep creative photographers happy. Firstly, it has a palette of effects that are common in most digital cameras: Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia and Black & White. These effects all look pretty good. The sepia has the right color to it; it isn’t too orange or too brown. The Black & White has the right amount of contrast so everything doesn’t look drab and gray.
Secondly, the A620 offers the My Colors mode. This can be selected directly on the mode dial, although its icon isn’t incredibly intuitive. It is supposed to look like a paint tube but looks like a pile of black and white boxes instead. The My Colors mode offers the following choices: Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Color Accent, Color Swap and Custom Colors. This unique set of choices allows users to tweak photos while recording instead of shooting photos and spending hours in unfamiliar editing software to add effects. The Color Accent mode is interesting; it makes most of the scene black and white and highlights a single selected color. The Color Swap mode lets users select two colors within the frame and trade them; this essentially lets users turn red shirts into blue shirts. This is quite simple with the camera’s onscreen instructions. The custom color mode also lets users tweak red, green, and blue colors as well as skin tones.
