That's a good point, Mongo. It's doubtful, Omni, that the old Leica even uses the same kind of memory card as the new Canon, regardless the amount of memory.

I had my camera in Calif in less than a week with the free shipping, something Amazon seems unable to do anymore. Plus no TAX.

Thanks, everybody. Apparently the extra card we have it a 128, but I will check the compatibility issue.

I'll go over to BestBuy and take a look at it and see how it feels in my hand, etc., and then we'll see.

B & H is selling the A610 for $295, including a 512 card.

To make that better than BestBuy, a 512 card has to cost less than $30.

The 512 SD card is $45 on Amazon.

You will also want to get a card reader to transfer the images to the computer. The only less than excellent design feature on the A6x0 is the door to the USB slot.
It's faster to use the card reader anyway and they are cheap.

The A620 is at ChiefValue for a very good price, free 3 day shipping included. I've ordered from them before and have been very satisfied. Chief Value

What's the next shot delay on these Canons?

Very fast compared to other similar cameras.

I'm sensing a Canon in my future. What are the essential accessories and why (cuz I sure don't know)?

The card reader allows you to transfer the images without draining the battery. It's very small and convenient. I wouldn't consider having a digital camera without one. They cost only about $15. You take your pix, remove the card from the camera, put the card in the reader and plug the reader into a USB port to download.

I chose the A610 because it was $100 less and I couldn't be happier, but the extra megapixels on the A620 allow even tighter cropping without loss of quality. Both cameras have the same processor and are equally fast. The A620 has a remote capture feature that allows the camera to be controlled by the computer. I don't even know what that means, really, so it was of no importance to me. You can't go wrong with either camera.

I went for mine because I don't want to buy another camera for five years and because of my work, I thought it would be better to offer really hi-res shots in case some magazine or publisher wanted to use one of my bean shots. (Don't laugh at me- I see you snickering and pointing your digits in my direction!)

My previous camera had 2 mega-pixels.

The battery life is astounding. They just keep going and going. I have rechargeables now after the initial batteries and they haven't pooped out yet so I can't tell you how long they last. But I've taken movies, played them back and even downloaded to my laptop on the batteries.

I like having a table tripod (it takes great no flash lo light shots) and my 1 gig memory card for about $55.

tana, do you know if the lenses included in that package are Canon lenses? It was hard to tell from the description, but I suspect they're not. Something to consider, since the quality might not be up to par.

Okay! I ordered the Canon A610 from Circuit City on line, using a 10% off coupon I got from a friend, plus it's on sale. So including express shipping and tax, it was $274. I'll buy a 512 card from BestBuy or some such in the next day or two. Camera will arrive on Thursday.

Thanks for all the help.

so, i stopped by a brick and mortar today to see the a610 up close. they were out but had the a620. megapixels aside, are these identical? if so, it isn't an unattractive camera at all. and the swivel screen is pretty nifty.

Yep - they look the same.

The A610 has all the modes that the 620 does. Aside from the number of pixels, the two cameras are identical except for the remote capture feature that the 620 has and the 610 does not. I think that allows time-lapse photography controlled by the computer rather than the camera, but don't hold me to it. The A 620 is a darker color than the A610.

Most important, the two cameras use the same processor.

Some users at dpreview feel that there is slightly less noise, (i.e. the digital equivalent of graininess) in low-light situations with the A610 when the photo is printed at the larger sizes, but only so-called "pixel-peepers" would notice.

I got a 512 card on sale for $39 (and a $10 mail-in rebate) at BestBuy! Waiting for the camera to arrive...

I would have gotten the A620, but it was $100 more than the A610 for features I would be unlikely to use. I rarely make prints larger than 4 x 6 and 5 mp gives me more than enough leeway for cropping. Other users' needs may be different. Once again, I recommend careful perusal of dpreview for thorough professional reviews as well as comments by camera owners. It's still important to hold the camera in your hands to see if it's comfortable for you to use. No on-line discussion can tell you that.

The A610 arrived, I put in the 512 card I bought....and all is well! We played with it quite a bit already...and it's great. Thanks very much everybody.

[deleted because i was offering some memory to the first taker, and it's taken]

Mongo, have you bought a camera?

I love the A610 still. Do you really need the 620 for some reason?

Since this thread is back at the top, anyone have an opinion on the Nikon D50?

i did my walk 11 1/2 months after getting my degree -- my parents wanted to go for some odd reason. weird.

I used to love to go to Yale commencement just to hear Bart Giammatti speak Latin.

I'm looking for a very small, very light, sleek-looking, at least 6 megapixel, works-well-in-very-low-light camera. Price doesn't matter. I've been using Canons, but the 550 seems kind of heavy.

Maurice has a very chic Nikon. Maybe if you ask nicely, he'll give you the details.