Canon A650 IS Performance

Good to average speed for a consumer camera.

Startup time is above average, but shutdown is only average.

Mode switching times are a bit on the slow side of average.

Shutter response is better than average at both wide angle and telephoto, at 0.58s and 0.50s respectively, and "prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.087 second.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are a bit slower than average, at about 2.3 seconds for large/superfine JPEGs, though the camera does capture frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.) Also a consideration here is the very large 4,000 x 3,000 resolution: That's a lot of data to deal with and write to the memory card for every shot. The PowerShot A650 IS also drags a little in its Continuous modes, capturing four large/superfine frames at 1.16 frames per second before slowing down. This increases slightly to 1.2 frames per second for large/fine JPEGs, but buffer depth improves to over 20 frames. The flash takes 6.8 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is about average.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are pretty good.

Bottom line, the Canon A650 IS won't be a good choice for sporting events or any fast-paced action, but is responsive enough for most family photo opportunities.

Battery
Very good battery life with Alkaline AA's, excellent with NiMH rechargeables.

The Canon PowerShot A650 IS uses four AA-type batteries for power, and ships with a set of ordinary alkalines. Battery life is very good with alkalines, but because it's even better with NiMH rechargeable batteries, we strongly recommend you pick up a couple of sets of good-quality NiMH rechargeable batteries and a good-quality charger, as they'll save you many times their cost over the life of the camera.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Canon PowerShot A650 IS accepts SDHC/SD/MMC memory cards, and comes with a 32MB card.

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity SDHC or SD memory card at least a 1GB card, preferably a 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings and video. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)