Mongo, here is a review of the Canon A610. Dpreview provides the most thorough, most professional reviews, but it hasn't gotten around to this model yet, although a review has been promised.

You will definitely need a larger memory card than the one that comes with the camera. You will also need rechargable batteries and a charger, so budget accordingly. The A620 has a remote shooting feature that people on dpreview talk about that the A610 does not have. I have no idea what that is. If that is important to you, or if you plan to make very large prints, then the extra $100 for the 620 is worthwhile. It wasn't worth it for me and I choose the A610.

If you can wait until after the holiday season, I'm sure the prices will drop.

I have a stupid question: Can I use my old memory cards from my Canon Powershot s200? It uses Compact Flash card. And the additional batteries I bought for it?

It's AA, not AAA. The proprietary Li-on batteries are lighter in weight and that is an advantage. People generally use rechargable NiMH (AA) batteries for environmental reasons, but disposable AAs can be used in a pinch if the charge runs out and you are not carrying a spare set. That is an advantage. Take your pick.

The Li-on batteries are much more expensive.

So thank you Lippy and Mongo for adding to my credit card debt! I got caught up in the fever and ordered a camera last night. Tana found a site that gives you the best prices and for $339 and free shipping I got the 7.4 megapixel version. It was the macro issue that sold me as I really need to get up close for some bean shots so I guess it's a real need, not a want and I'm not a self-indulgent brat. Really.

I got this at Buydig last night and I just got an email saying it already shipped!

I'll have photos tomorrow but my initial reaction is WOW. I took a macro by only kitchen light and it's gorgeous. My old camera couldn't have done that. The housing feels a little thin without the batteries but with it feels fine. It's much bigger than my S200, so much so that I think I'm keeping the old one for carrying in my pocket when I don't want the big camera. The interface is so similar that I don't think I'm going to have to refer to the manual at all except with these manual settings.
I was pretty happy to find three 128mb sd cards with my mp3 player that will now be used in the camera.

Which one did you get again?

Power Shot A620. $339 with free shipping.

How about the Canon A610? Is the A620 better and different? And about the batteries - do they take AA batteries (regular and rechargable), or specialized batteries? How long do the batteries last?

Duh. I just read back through this thread a bit.

Any more insight into A610 vs A620 would be appreciated.

It looks to be the same but with 5 megapixels vs 7.4. I just don't want to buy another camera anytime soon and who knows where my fabulous work will end up? A billboard over Times Square? Better to have more pixels.

There may be other differences but I can't tell.

The battery life is astounding. I go the camera on 22Nov and the batteries just died the other day, and that's with me learning and taking more photos than I normally would. I'm now using my rechargables. We'll see how long they last.

The rechargeable batteries last a very long time, for hundreds of shots. The quality of photos for both the A610 and A620 is the same -- excellent. The extra pixels on the A620 allow for closer cropping while retaining quality or for printing at a larger size. The A620 also has the "remote capture" feature, which, from what I can gather, is the ability to control your camera from the computer in order to take time-lapse shots, I think.

I bought the A610 because it was $100 less and 5 megapixels are more than enough for my needs. The quality of the photographs is the same for both cameras. They are not SLRs, but they are just about as good as you can get at this level. Take a look a the user's Canon forum on dpreview. There are some people who feel that the A610 is slightly better under certain conditions for highly technical reasons that will not matter to 99% of users.

How about storage capacity? I see that the A610 comes with less - but how much is that much, in real terms? Do I need to buy an additional card if I buy the 610? Because if the price creeps from the need for accessories, etc - might as well get the 620, right?

BestBuy has the 610 for $269...and there's one nearby.

i'm not sure, but i think the a620 might have a less plasticy body. i still can't decide whether it is the 620 or 610 i want, but in the end i'll probably go for the cheaper one, and buy a 1 gig card etc. with the savings.

omni, neither will come with any meaningful amount of storage. i'm guessing both come with completely inadequate 16 meg cards.

How much does a 1 gig card cost?

610 comes with 16, 620 comes with 32.

dpreview lists a bunch of prices for various online suppliers, and $269 is the cheapest I see there....(I won't order anything on line from a supplier I don't have confidence in, for whatever reason)

I just bought a 1G card at Staples for $55.

I will want to sell my old digital camera on eBay. Is that ridiculous?

It's a Leica. It's old.

You will definitely need to buy a larger card. I have a 256 for my A610, but I rarely shoot at the highest resolution. The larger, the better. You will also need rechargeable batteries and a charger for them.

I paid $299 for my A610 the first weekend it was at B & H at the end of summer. The build on both cameras is the same, but the A6120 is a bit darker in color. The plastic does not feel "plastic-y" and, in fact, my camera survived a fall onto the pavement without harm.

Omni, wouldn't your nephews be interested in your old Leica to learn how to use a digital camera? You're not going to get much for it on eBay.

It's disheartening how young "old" is in digital camera years. That's one reason I didn't want to spend more than necessary.

They have their own already.

I'll probably have to ask them for help.

Plus the shipping of course. And I want a 1gig card I think.

About the batteries - I'm going to take this to Mexico, where we will have no electricity (and therefore cannot plug in a recharger). Does it take regular AA batteries?

It should be noted that no one is going to buy an A6x0 camera for aesthetics. They are among the homeliest available. That being said, my Olympus is a work of art in itself, but the pix it takes can't compare.

You can use regular batteries and they will last a long time. One set (4 batteries) and a spare should take you through your whole trip.

No surprise, given Eyebrow's hoarding disease, but he wants to keep the Leica because of its looks.

Which model is it?

Digilux 4.3 - it must be at least 5 years old.

http://www.jaasstore.com/detail.php?engid=B00004Z4ZB

Ha. Where we are going, there is no electricity.

http://www.mexicoholiday.com/destinations/...hual-facts.html

But but but but. Delayed gratification is not my thing. Plus I'd like to have it for a bit before we leave, so I can practice and stuff. And I think I have a 64 card we got for the Leica, so I can take that along for the moment - so I'll have 2 32s and a 64.

Omni, you will need a larger card if you are shooting at anything but the lowest resolution. And, if you are doing that, why even consider a 5 or 7 megapixel camera?

plus you need a sd card for the 610 or 620--not sure about your leica but my current camera cards are flash cards.