Canon’s A-series Powershot range is synonymous with budget-priced, plastic feel digital compacts suitable for beginners. The flagship Powershot A640 bucks that trend, feeling neither cheaply made nor priced, at around £300.

Cramming 10 megapixels onto its chip and featuring a flip-and-twist ‘vari-angle’ 2.5in screen for either high or low angle shooting, plus attractive matt black finish, it’s also more sophisticated than we’ve been led to expect.

Other features include a fast Digic II processor as found in Canon’s more professional SLRs, 9-point auto focus to ensure your subject is sharp wherever it is in the frame, 21 shooting modes, plus light sensitivity up to ISO800, the latter respectable if hardly class leading. Optional accessories include wide (0.7x) and tele (1.7x) converter lenses plus a waterproof case.

A press of the slightly recessed on/off button and the A640 powers up in just over a second, its 4x optical zoom lens extending to maximum wide-angle setting and the viewing screen activating simultaneously. Power comes courtesy of four AA batteries that both lend it some weight and keep replacement simple – however, you have to cup a hand under the base to stop them falling out when swapping memory (a 32MB SD card is supplied).

There’s an auto focus assist light to help out when shooting in low light, though it struggles to find critical focus if your subject’s more than a couple of feet away. Mystifyingly there’s no image stabilisation provided to counteract camera shake under such circumstances. Happily the strength of the flash can be manually adjusted to avoid a bleaching look when it does have to be used.

Canon’s icon-like menu folders are easy to navigate, and the viewing screen's visibility is good under most conditions.

The images the A640 delivers are commendably bright and clear, with warm colours and flattering skin tones, though there’s occasional image softness when shooting at the maximum zoom setting due to the effects of camera shake. The maximum ISO800 is usable, though image noise – grain-like speckles – is visible from ISO400 upwards.

Though not perfect, the A640 still delivers the goods more consistently than your average snapshot.

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