Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
The Canon Powershot “A” series was introduced by Canon as a budget version of their Powershot “G” and “S” lines, which are much more expensive. The result is a small, compact camera regarded as one of the best value-for-money digital cameras in the market.
Features include:
- 8.0 megapixels
- 4x optical zoom
- Enhanced Canon Face Detection
- Auto red-eye reduction
- Multiple shooting modes: Auto, easy, portrait, landscape, special (inc. fireworks and sunset)
The Canon PowerShot A50IS also has image stabilization, enabling you to take shots up to 2-3 times below the recommended speed. This means that blur-free shots can be obtained indoors with no flash. The image quality on these shots is, as you would expect from a Canon camera, also very good, but you also get the option to adjust the saturation, contrast and sharpness settings.
The compatibility of this camera is appealing to the seriously-minded photographer – wide-angle and telephoto lenses in the PowerShot range can easily be fitted. For the more casual photographers among us who just want to print that quick shot of Dave falling over at the swimming pool, the camera also has a pretty nifty Print/Share button that instantly sends the shots to a computer (PC or MAC) when connected.
You can also adjust the flash manually – there are 3 different power levels for the flash, on top of the standard automatic flash. In very bright sunlight conditions, the camera is equipped with an optical viewfinder to aid the less experienced photographer.
The battery performance is pretty good too. According to the official Canon specs, you can get 220 shots out of the camera on regular batteries. Most people have found that this is a conservative estimate, and have gotten significantly more.
There are a number of small gripes.. The noise when using the zoom is significantly louder than other cameras in its class, and the zoom, although good, appears to have come at the cost of a diminished wide angle.
These are small criticisms. The features and tools on this camera far outweigh the negatives. The Canon PowerShot A590IS is one of the finest in its price range.
