Canon has taken a couple of other steps in the right direction. First, you will likely notice, after taking only a few shots, that the perceptible shutter lag (the elapsed time between a press of the shutter button and the actual photo capture) typical until recently in most digital compact cameras has basically disappeared. In other words, this compact works and feels just like a real camera. Press the shutter button halfway to get a focus lock, then press it all the way to fire the camera with little or no lag. Second, the PowerShot A650 IS is equipped with Canon's Vari-angle LCD screen—an articulating LCD. Why the camera makers ever stopped equipping their compact models with articulating LCDs is a conundrum. I mean, consdering the terrible viewfinders found on many compacts and the difficulty of framing shots using a fixed LCD screen, an articulating LCD would seem to be a basic features that should be found in all compacts. Surprisingly though, Canon and all the other makers expect us to use mainly fixed LCD screens, most of which are completely useless at viewing angles greater than 45 degrees. So tell me again, what's the point of having a compact camera if you can't get a properly framed and composed shot of the gorillas at the zoo by holding your camera over your head and tilting the LCD toward you to make it easy to aim, frame and shoot above the crowd of people who got to the gorilla enclosure first? For my money, an articulating LCD was always the best reason to leave the SLR gear at home with the kids in tow on days when I knew there were going to be photo ops amid crowds and so on. Thank you Canon for bringing back the Vari-angle articulating LCD screen on a truly worthwhile camera.

I put the PowerShot A650 IS through its paces during a two week on-again/off-again set of shooting sessions. Cold weather, snow, overcast, blinding sun and reflections, haze, smog and various other things (mainly ridiculously cold temperatures) kept hampering my efforts. But this Canon model is fun to use and offers so many creative possibilites that I was not put off by the goofy and unpredictable weather. After making about 1,500 photos I realized that I had stopped reviewing the camera and was beginning to treat it as my own rather than a review unit which had to be sent back to the supplier. Too bad—the PowerShot A650 IS is almost as good as my prized Canon PowerShot G7, weighs half as much as the G7, has a better grip & hold than the G7 and is literally half the cost of the G7. Image quality is not quite up to the high standard set by the expensive G7, but it rivals that of the Nikon P50, P5000 & P5100, Fuji FinePix F100fd and the Sony DSCH3 (all of which—with the exception of the Nikon P50—are more expensive than the A650 IS). Hmmm.