Rating: Summary: A20 - First time buyer Review: This is my first Digital Camera. I have found it fairly easy to be up and running (there's a Quick Start Guide). Battery life so far has been reasonable. I'm still running on the original batteries after using the LCD extensively, downloading three times, and taking about 60 pictures. I also bought rechargeable batteries and charger. Also purchased the 128MB SmartCard (it was only $15 more expensive than the 64MB card after rebates). I don't expect to take portraits, but I was able to take pictures of my son's birthday party and send them to my parents a few hours later. They loved it. Wish it came with a case. I like the weight - it feels sturdy. Someone suggested here to buy some of the Palm Pilot screen protectors to apply to the LCD screen. Probably a good idea since I've kept the original on the camera and noticed a few scratches already. Canon should recess it just a bit. Good intermediate camera for the money.
Rating: Summary: One of the most amazing digital cameras Review: This camera is simply amazing! I read up on almost all digital cameras finally deciding on this one because of the price and features.Picture Quality - The picture quality is great! It has surpassed all my expectations as a 2 megapixel digital camera. The skin tones are right and colours are not overly saturated. Chromatic abberation is minimal and overall it takes very good photographs. However, camera shake is an issue so you might want to hold the camera still, but this only happens when you turn off the flash in dark conditions. The photographs might appear a little (only slightly) out of focus but don't worry because they will look fine when printed in 4R sizes! Battery Life - Although this camera does not come with a rechargeable battery, I bought 2 sets of 1600MAH rechargeable (Sony and GP) for use. Don't go for anything less than 1600MAH! The battery life is superb even with the LCD screen on. One of the main functions of a digital camera is the WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) feature, so why compromise by using the optical viewfinder?
Rating: Summary: Beware! Review: This was the 1st digital camera I bought (after looking at reviews for a year!) In the end I just couldn't find the camera that had everything I wanted so I decided to buy a 2MP camera just to get started, and then a higher MP one when the one I wanted came out. It was a huge disappointment, for 3 reasons: (1) it makes skin tones look brown all the time, and pictures need massive desaturation in Photoshop (sometimes up to minus 35!!); (2) the photos seem to be not quite in focus; and (3) when taking macro shots, you never know what's going to be in focus. On the plus side, the Canon interface is a joy to use and the computer software is very easy also. I returned it after a few days and bought an Olympus C-2100UZ, which is giving me exactly the pictures I would expect from a 2MP camera.
Rating: Summary: Wow, what a camera !!!!!!!!!!!!! Review: What a picture taker. Awsome!!!!!! Great battery life, I just returned from a shoot and took over 200 pictures using the flash 90% of the time on one set of batteries. Take professional photo's right out of the box, easy to get started.I can't keep my wife away from it, she has never liked to take picture's untill she tried the A20, she haas become a photo nut like me. If you are a beginer or a pro this is the only way to go. Thank's Canon for a great camera. I have already saved enough money on film processing to pay for it and I have only had mine for 2 months.
Rating: Summary: great camera, software hell Review: I bought the canon powershot A20 about a month ago after lots of researching and reading reviews about digital cameras. I opened it up and right away shot the whole flash card worth of pictures of my new baby. I was in heaven, after finally finding an easy to use affordable digital camera. However, quickly, I decended into computer hell and am still there more than a month later. I tried the no-brainer software installation and camera interface. After much frustration, called Canon support and was told the camera was bad. So, I sent it in to Canon service, only to have them send it back saying it was functioning fine. I then got on the line with HP support to check out my USB ports. After twenty hours of trouble-shooting (with a screaming baby in the background)I took the whole lot to the computer gurus at the fix-it store. They got on the line with Canon support, who said the camera was bad, send it in.....so Federal Express is loving me at this point, and I sent it to customer care at Canon. They called and said they couldn't get it to interface with their computer and sent it to repair. Repair sent it back to me (without contacting me first) and said it works fine and wouldn't be of further assistance. Got my camera back...takes great pictures butI can't load them onto a computer. I bought a compact flash card reader which also does not work on my computer, but does work on my father-in-law's new Mac powerbook...so Merry Christmas Dad-in-law...enjoy your new camera. Great camera-really, really, bad customer service and advice....
Rating: Summary: Pays for itself !!!!! Review: I bought this camera mostly based on reviews here and let me tell you - everyone who rated it high is right ! I'm very pleased with the ease of use and all the extras it has (ex. viewing pictures on your TV by a simple hook up). As most others have stated you need to buy a battery charger and some extra memory (at least 64mb). It doesn't eat batteries as bad as I thought it would. The key is to use the "non-digital" mode when possible and view / edit your pictures at one time. I took 75 pictures of my son for our christmas card and was able to pick one to save. I can't imagine how much that would have cost with regular film. Just buy it !!! You won't be sorry !!!!!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Hard to Take a Bad Picture with the A20 Review: I've owned the A20 for about six months now. I have no complaints. It has taken excellent photos both outdoors and indoors with just the push of a button. I haven't seen a need to use any of the manual settings. The LCD screen is very crisp and gives me a good indication of the quality of the stored image. Battery life is somewhat of an issue, but this is offset by the fact that the A20 uses easily available AA batteries. I use rechargeable NiMH batteries. Turning off the LCD display greatly extends the battery life. Considering the high pixel resolution and zoom capabilities, I think the A20 is and excellent value.
Rating: Summary: Winning Budget Digital Camera Review: I looked for a digital camera primarily to use for emailing photos, taking photos to post to a web site, and for use in taking photos for online auctions. The last thing I was thinking of when I purchased this camera was just how exceptional a job it does of taking excellent photos that can be printed out as 4x6 photos. It does all of this better than I expected for the price. I had looked at the similar Sony, Olympus, Nikon, and even the Canon Elph cameras, but came away with this one. Aside from MPEGs, video or shots with sound, this camera does everything I have asked it to do. The extra bells and whistles of some of the other models were not required for the applications I am using. The camera is small, very close to my compact 35mm camera, also very close in price. It has a good feel to it. It's built, as are all the Canons I am aware of with a plastic body. It is certainly durable enough. One comment left a star off because of durability. My thought on that is try dropping any digital camera and see what's left of it. The Canon A20 incorporates an excellent flash, simple straight forward menu...yes, you will have to read the manual...,excellent download time, bare minimum photo editing software, as most of the others do. The viewfinder, again, as with other brands does not capture the full picture results, but that is a minor point. It fits great in the hands and acts like some of the compact 35mm I have owned, except that it takes better photos than any of my 35mm cameras. That was the surprise. If you want a digital camera at what is very possibly the best price and value, and you want one for printing photos, general web usage, along with a Macro feature, and good zoom range, I have not seen a better camera. While you cannot control the shutter speed on this model, it does take superior photos in low light conditions without using the flash. This camera is sensitive, so...depending on what you plan to photograph and the conditions you will be taking pictures in, I recommend getting a decent tripod. While this camera does go through alkaline batteries very quickly, it certainly does not do so as fast as other models I have used, but you will want to get the NiMh batteries (two sets), along with the charger, also a larger memory card. Toss in your choice of photo editing software and you are off to the races. I have not used all of the cameras in the 2.1 megapixel range, but for the price, the funtions, and the quality of the photos, I don't think that for my use there would be any point to look further. This is truly an outstanding product.
Rating: Summary: Firsttime buyer Review: I am pretty pleased with this camera. The pictures are fantastic! The Menu is fairly easy to get the hang of (I was pretty competent after about 1 hour of playing around) The only downside I can think about is the battery life. I was on a trip in Turkey and used countless alkaline batteries. Not only does it eat batteries while taking pictures, downloading from the camera burns batteries up also(unless you do my 2nd recommendation). I think it would have been nice if CANON had included an AC adapter. I suggest getting the following: 1. Rechargeable Batteries at least 3 sets of 4 AA if you are going to be using this for extended shoots. 2. Purchase at least 2 64MB Lexar media 4x/jumpshot/usb/cf memory and 1 USB JumpShot Cable. These allow you to remove the memory from the camera and read strait into the computer using the "jumpshot" cable. Your computer thinks it's another drive. This saves batteries and having 2 64MB cartridges gives you around 400+ pictures! Once again, super pictures, easy operation, just a battery eater.
Rating: Summary: Quality pictures excellent for e-mails Review: I bought the A20 some months ago. The pictures have an outstanding quality, also in a dark environment. The camera is user friendly and the software included with the camera is good. I advice that users buy rechargeable batteries as it consumes lots of batteries when the display is being used.
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