Canon A640 still best choice?

[bat1]

Hey all I am interested in buying a canon a640 so that I can try doing panos with my askman 360 mount in the future. I am going with it because it seems to be the best light option available. They are hard to find right now and my first order never showed so my credit card company is disputing the charges. I am willing to try again but thought I should confirm that this is still the best option and worth the trouble.
based on DJ's thread on the a650 it looks like it got heavier and so did the attachments making it about the same weight as an slr. By the way I am using a stretched flybarless logo 10
Thanks guys
Tommy

[d-bledsoe]

Its still a great choice, but just to be clear it is a far cry away from the same weight as an SLR. Maybe the a640 with the wide angle lens just might weigh as much as the body of an SLR(minus lens) but when you add a 2lbs wide lens to an SLR it gets pretty heavy. My d200 is quite noticeably heavier then the a640 with wide lens.

They did release a new a650 to replace the a640 so maybe that has something to do with the difficulty of finding the a640

-Derek Bledsoe

[Efliernz]

I squashed my A640 + 0.7 lens before Christmas. The cost of replacing both items was only $150 less than a great deal on a Canon 400D (XTi) - with a 18-55 lens. Yes it weighs 770g instead of 450g but the improvent in quality was worth it.
The main reason (apart from port judgement / stupidity) for the loss of the 640 was that I flew too far away to get the shot. The 18mm lens on the SLR helps out there...

The 640 is still a great camera, and I'll probably hang one under the Trex-500 for smaller jobs as they are nice and cheap now.

[bat1]

nice and cheap?

I can barely find one under $400 that isn't a refurb.
Please let me know if you have a good cheap source

also regarding weight I was refering to N74DV's review of the a650. He said the 650 is heavier harder to chack and requires a new adapter and lens for wide angle shooting. all up it is nearly as heavy as his nikon slr if I recall correctly.

[jascamera]

Can't be. I have th G9 which is the same as the A650, but with added feature like raw. G9 is 50G heavier and it's 300G

[bat1]

Here is were I got the information took me a while to figure out I had seen it on rcgroups
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8279684&postcount=23

[Efliernz]

If you add the extra 0.7 lens, the weight climbs... it is a huge chunk of glass.

[bat1]

I do hope to use some type of fisheye and it may even be a .7 lens. The point is for a stretched logo 10 the a640 with atachment and .7 lens was a bit lighter and therefore more reasonable. I think the a650 is only a little heavier but the attachment required by the a650 is bulkier than the attachment for the a640 driving up the whole assembly. Ultimately I am getting the impression that if you are going to add fisheye lenses the a640 is the best in terms of light weight. If there is a new light weight system that beats the a640 that is what I am interested in finding out. otherwise looks like I should go after an a640 even if I have to get a refurbished one.


Efliernz how is your Canon 400D are you using it for 360 panos? Is it light enough to be on a stretched logo10 w askman 360 mount and 10s a123 batteries? Can you get video out for downlink?

my logo is new and as yet has not maidened in my hands, though it flew well for kookboy before he sold it to me. So I really have no bearing on what is too heavy for this ship. Only that others have used the Canon A640 with great results

[Efliernz]

The 400D is awesome. I test-flew the Askman last night and hope to try panos this weekend. I'm still trying to get the gyro on the mount to stop properly. After the mount piros, it back-tracks 20 degrees after releasing the stick. I'm using a 401 with the stock Askman sero setup.

I have a "spycam" mounted on a diy bracket (that pushes into the hotshoe) giving me the view. It has an 18mm fov. My new Sony SuperHAD cam arrive today and will be mounted in the viewfinder :) Lots of playing this weekend. The whole setup weighs 2KG which is 500g more than my diy mount + 400D. I'm not too happy about the weight...

[Tonystott]

The problem with the A650 is that the .7 Canon wide converter weighs an incredible 14.4 oz! This makes even the porky .7 Canon wide converter for the A640 seem like a featherweight! I will stick with my 640 until I have platform capable of taking a DSLR with good lens on...

[j_kookboy]

Tommy,

Go with the 640 and OEM canon WA lens.

It's the best lightweight combo for your Logo. That is what I was using on mine which is identical to yours and was able to successfully auto (barely but doable) with the askman 360 mount running those 550 MS nightblades.

You can take stunning photo's with it as shown by many on these boards.

Jesse

Ultimately I am getting the impression that if you are going to add fisheye lenses the a640 is the best in terms of light weight.

[bat1]

Thanks Jesse,

I'll keep working on tracking down a good source for the a640. I got scammed the first time I tried to buy :(

I've never had ship large enough to auto. I'll practice a ton with the unmounted logo 10 :D

[AZ ChopperCam]

640 with Canon wide lens is perfect. I have both the 640 and 650 with Canon lenses for each and I gotta say the 650 doesn't really bring much more to the table other than being able to shoot a slightly longer shutter speed in lower light conditions. It has Optical Image Stabilization.

I still use my 640 on many jobs and love it!

The 650 with Canon wide lens is as heavy as my Nikon D40X

[Hangerash]

I just finished the software install that gives the A640 Raw capability along with installing the electronic trigger mod. Gotta say the trigger mod is NOT for the faint of heart.

HR

[AZ ChopperCam]

try doing the trigger mod on an A650! the entire camera has to come apart!

[bat1]

Thanks to ebay I should have a new A640 by Thursday :D

[Aerial RC Photog]

I could tell you some hard facts about that one and for mere pennies for Postage I can send the proof. But my advice on E-bay. Be like Elmer Fudd.. Hunting Rabbits
:confused: Be Very very Careful..............................:confused:
I've been waiting for Two years on a $400.00 Loss from Pay Pal. That can't send the Guaranteed Sale refund on a product that was never delivered, because the guy who sold the Camera, Well his account didn't have the funds after I sent it to him.

Ahhh Enough of that,,:smokin:

[bat1]

Thankfuly My A640 arrived yesterday. I bought the Camera late Saturday he shipped Monday arrived Tuesday. New in box with warranty card and everything for $250 A great deal. As for the earlier purchase that went funk my credit card company claims they will deal with that bogus merchant. At this moment I am quite content :)

Sorry to hear about your bum deal Aerial RC Photog, Guess there is always risk when purchasing on the internet. N74dv has us all beat though;)

[Akoni]

Who did you source the 640 from on ebay?

[aramsdell]

Someone in passing mentioned the G9. This camera does do RAW but not under USB control. There are several functions like continuous autofocus that also go away.
This would be a real beaut with a servo setup though.
I have tried it with my blip sw. It is great but needs improvement.

[bat1]

here is the ebay seller
http://myworld.ebay.com/cdavis3250

though he did say that he was selling the a640 on behalf of a friend who never used it

[Lejonlv]

I just bought a Canon A 640 on Ebay and it went very well. I won the bid on Thursday afternoon and paid for it then and there. It shipped on Friday and was in my hands on Monday.

What I have noticed is that there are several pawn shops out there that have taken cameras in and are very effecient at sending out the product. The only caution is when they indicate "as is" to me that is a red flag.

Lejon