Canon PowerShot SD600 Review

[crazzy88ss]

Canon PowerShot SD600

Some quick specs:

6MP (2816x2112 pixels)

3x Optical Zoom

4x Digital Zoom

12x Combined Zoom

ISOs ranging from 80 to 800

2.5” LCD

If you really want pictures of the camera, google it or something lol.

So I finally grew tired of my ancient Canon PowerShot A60 (2MP, 7.5 combined zoom, 4 AA batteries, 1.5”LCD, big in size) and decided to get a new camera. I went looking, and I quickly realized that I wanted to stick with Canon. My price ranged maxed out at around $300, which was around the SD600/SD630. To be honest, I didn’t find any options of the SD630 to be worth the difference they were asking for between the two cameras, so I decided on the SD600. I ordered it from Amazon.com and got a 1gb SD card to go with it.

When the package arrived, I quickly ripped it open and “assembled” everything (put the battery in, the SD card in, and the wristband), and turned it on.

It started up noticeably faster, especially since the A60 you have to hold the power-on button for two seconds before it comes on. The 2.5” LCD was beautiful to look at, even in my dark room, compared to that of the 1.5” LCD on the A60.

So I began to do what every person would naturally do with a brand new camera; take lots and lots of pictures. And videos too.

I was used to the Canon interface already, but the new set up of the controls took about 15 minutes to get used to, as they are VERY simple. There’s only 5 buttons on the backside of the camera, and they make 13 functions out of them, just in shooting mode alone.

So I saved my real tests for my family vacation, to Whislter, in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada. While up there, I took over 260 pictures, which put the memory card about 65% full.

Our first stop was in Seattle, WA. We went up to the top of the Space Needle.

http://crazzy88ss.statichost.co.uk/p/seattle.jpg - full image 2.8mb

In the top right corner, you can just see Mt. Rainier, I think lol.

http://crazzy88ss.statichost.co.uk/p/rainier.jpg - full image 952kb

I used the maximum combined zoom, 12x total, to get Mt. Rainier. I included this image to show you the zoom power, when comparing the image above it.

http://crazzy88ss.statichost.co.uk/p/whistler.jpg - full image 2.7mb

We took a gondola ride to the top of Mt. Whistler. This is a picture of the Whistler Valley from an elevation of 7160 feet/2182 meters.

http://crazzy88ss.statichost.co.uk/p/macro.jpg - full image 2.4mb

This is the leather interior in my car. I felt this could show the amount of detail that could be captured in the macro mode.

http://crazzy88ss.statichost.co.uk/p/night.jpg - full image 1.5mb

Here I used a 6 second exposure to capture a car’s head lights driving by at 10:30 at night. The long shutter speed was one of the things that made me stay with Canon, as not all other brands had that option.

Another thing that I hated about my A60 was the shutter lag. It would sometimes literally take 2-3 seconds before the camera would take the picture, which could be very irritating at times. I’ve yet to have ANY troubles w/ the SD600 having shutter lag.

Movies – I never really played with them too much, other than on the 1100 mile drive home. It has different settings, 640x480 or 320x240, 30 or 15 FPS. You can combine those 4 choices in any way you choose. Then there’s an option to record at 60FPS. However, the maximum video size is 1 minute, and 320x240. There’s also a silly color swap mode in there :p And yes, you can record sound and zoom in all modes.

I just got an 11x14 picture that I printed from shutterfly.com and the picture detail is great. I think it could possibly even go bigger, but I don’t want to spend the $17.99 to find out! :p

Pros:

VERYVERYVERY Small, light weight, and easy to carry.

It starts up very quickly.

Virtually no shutter lag, especially among cameras in its price range.

Big, crystal clear LCD.

Very easy to use, especially if you’re just learning to use a digital camera.

Great movie support.

Produces great pictures, in every manner.

Did I say it was small?

Cons:

In low lighting, the LCD gets VERY grainy and a little laggish. It never really effected me much, but it was still a little annoying.

Battery life isn’t any where close to my A60. The A60 is rated at ~550 pictures w/ LCD on, while the SD600 is only at ~150. On the day of my trip up the gondola to Mt. Whistler, I took about 130-150 pictures. I was turning the camera on and off every 1-10 pictures that day, and I never had any problems. I think as long as you charge the battery, which takes a quick 1.5 hours or less, before you go out, you’ll be fine. Heck, you can even buy an extra one, for about $30 I think, if you need to stay on the safe side.

I REALLY enjoy this camera, and I think it’s easily worth the $297 I paid for it on amazon.com. Canon has once again impressed me.

Over all, I give it a 9.5/10.

Added camera's picture

Pink Floyd

Edited July 7, 2006 by Pink Floyd

[mongoloid]

Very good review. :yes:

Performance wise, its just about the same as my SD450. It also looks just like it. Canon has always had good cameras.

[crazzyyfool]

Any pics of the actual camera? :whistle:

[raider360]

I have an IXUS 40, it's almost same as yours, but 4 mpx & 2" LCD.

Very nice camera for a first time buy & for a every day using.

[SadJoker]

Good review, excellent camera.

I especially loved that picture of the leather interior of your car. :)

[crazzy88ss]

Good review, excellent camera.

I especially loved that picture of the leather interior of your car. :)

ha thanks. I was bored out of my mind :p I think it turned out quite well, actually.

[L3thal Veteran]

Wonderful review. I was actually debating what camera to get my gf for her birthday in August and this one was on the front of the line but I wasn't sure.

Will definitely get this one (Y)

[fAlCoNNiAn]

thanks for the review

[SamNeeds]

Nice review. Your exposure shot is great!

[Detroit]

Nice :) I suppose it came with the new DigicII chip?

[Xeonic]

I have to agree with you 100% on the review. I actually just recently bought the SD630...basically the 3 inch screen is what drew me to it. It has all the same features as the SD600, but I really just dont use a view finder that much, at least for a point and shoot style camera. Now, If I had an SLR...

[Yuxi]

Nice, thanks for the review. Interestingly, I just got back from visiting Whistler. I took more than 1,200 pictures over the 7-day stay in Vancouver with my good ol Powershot A40 :D and I only had to charge the batteries once! :o

[bryceroney]

Those macro photos are great, I really need to get a new camera.

[dropscience]

I set the last pic as my wallpaper

[s0nic69]

crazzy88ss that was a great review, i have the camera and when i was looking for a camera to purchase this review would of really helped me in my decesion. Hope its ok with u if i add my thoughts on this camera.

I bought this camera a few months ago when it was newer. So far i have not had any real problems. The price is great, the camera is great, well worth the money. The pictures are awesome as u can see from the great pics that crazzy88ss took. Movie mode is what i think makes this camera well worth it. Sometimes there are some things that a picture just cant capture, and when u have movie mode on its highest quality the moveis come out so nice. I have easily impressed people with the movie mode. I even had my aunt ask me if it was a digital camera/camcorder. I did a lot of research on this camera and the only bad thing i was able to read on it, was the low battery power, the cheap looking plastic lid for the battery pack/ SD card. First of all, i lowered the brightness of the screen on the first day i got the camera ( wich on the lowest setting the screen still looks great to me), and i have never had a problem with the battery power, and i have gone to weddings were i take 150 pics, with mostly flash on all of them, and some video also. Second, the the plastic lid for the SD card and battery pack does look cheap when u first get it, and i thought it was going to break off by now, but it has really proven me wrong, i dont use the USB cord to transfer imaged, i use a 9 in 1 card reader, so i am constantly opening the lid to get the SD card out, and the lid has been working as great as when i first got it. One thig that i noticed was only mentioned on one review i read was that after a few shots, the camera gets warm. Not extremly hot, but it does get warm enough to feel it. Anyways, hope this helps someone who is looking into buying this camera. i give it a 9.5/10 as crazzy88ss did. PM me if any questions or if u need more sample pics, but crazzy88ss posted some great sample pics.

[crazzy88ss]

Those macro photos are great, I really need to get a new camera.

ha thanks.

I set the last pic as my wallpaper

again, thanks :) I just printed that one from shutterfly.com on a 11x14. I'm gunna get it framed here soon.

crazzy88ss that was a great review, i have the camera and when i was looking for a camera to purchase this review would of really helped me in my decesion. Hope its ok with u if i add my thoughts on this camera.

thanks, and yea, I agreed with everything you said as well.

[l77Il7H]

i love this camera. i really wanted to purchase it. good review.

[dL]

I just bought the Ixus 65 (SD630). It's exactly the same as yours except mine has a 3" LCD which I absolutely love. I love this camera! Canon is the best :D

dL

[L3thal Veteran]

Just got the SD600's little brother, SD450 (difference being notably 5.0MP instead of 6.0MP) and the camera rocks. It is so similar to the SD600, you can pass it by as the SD600. The one thing that I can confirm and is annoying is that at night, the camera becomes laggish when trying to take some pictures. Other than that, I also find it annoying that Canon does not tell you the remaining life on your battery.

On a side note, the SD450 holds an exceptionally good battery life.

P.S. Canon cameras are the best (Y)

[[bear]]

I just bought the SD600 and it is being shipped to me right now. Good to hear some positive reviews from neowinians.. I'm excited

[chconline Veteran]

I have a Canon SD300... I use it for pics in my reviews, it rocks :D

[Achal]

ive got the sd600 and love it too, only problem is the fingerprints that get on the case :(

[Marduk]

Great review! Interesting picture of the leather too, I dunno why just seems that way *shrugs*

I've also been looking for a digicam lately when I go to get one this'll probably be it then.

[[bear]]

well I got my sd600 in the mail last week. It is FREAKING AMAZING. I love it. Digital Macro mode is awesome. The detail at that level is awesome. Overall.. a great purchase.. Amazon has the camera for 260.00 with free shipping guys. It's a steal.

[lime]

i'm really interested in buying this camera but i have one question...

how good is it at taking photos of moving images? we have an old sony digi cam and it's crappy and takes blurry pictures. I run track and all the pictures we have of me are blurry, will this camera do better ? what settings need changed for fast moving objects ????

thanks in advance...