Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Digital camera Review: A Wonderful Product
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a really great product and is really easy to use. You can take several pictures on a set of batteries without worrying about losing a moment because of batteries. The centering feature when taking pictures is wonderful and helps center the complete picture on the main focal point. It can be used by all even if you don't know much about cameras.Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized ZoomDigital camera Review: A bit complicated
Summary: 5 Stars
This camera is a replacement for a 5 year old Kodak 2.0 megapixel that recently started becoming unreliable. The controls on the Kodak were few and simple to use and understand. While the Canon takes wonderful pictures, it has multiple features and controls and a rather difficult-to-understand menu. If I were a professional photographer I probably could make use of all these things, however, I'm just a vacation shooter and am overwhelmed by all the bling. Thankfully there is an "auto" mode that can be chosen that turns this equipment into a simple point-and-shoot device. The instruction manual is fairly easy to understand but some of the symbols used in the menu don't seem to make sense to me. For example, if you want to turn on the date stamp you have to scroll down to a letter L and then scroll left or right to chose date alone or date and time. Overall I like the camera and the way it fits my hand. It's just a little more complicated than what I'm used to.Digital camera Review: A camera that's powerful and a great value
Summary: 5 Stars
I own a DSLR and consider myself a photography enthusiast. I wanted a small compact camera with me when I don't want to lug around my DSLR + lenses and equipment. After a previous good experience with the Canon A720 IS, the new A590 IS seemed like a good choice. Since I'm an advanced photographer, I'll focus on the advanced features of this camera. The auto modes work as well as any other camera in its class, but the extensive manual features is what sets apart the Canon A series. What I like about the camera:
+ Compact, stylish. It's smaller than older A Powershots, and the dark grey color gives it a seriousness compared to the typical bright silver finish.
+ Image stabilization works very well, it allows me to take blur-free photos 2-3 stops below the recommended shutter speed, that means at 35-50mm f2.8 1/10 sec shots are CONSISTENTLY possible indoors without using flash.
+ Good image quality. Expected from Canon, but even better is adjustable contrast, saturation, and sharpness settings, along with the typical JPG compression and resolution sizes.
+ Fast and responsive. I was surprised how responsive this camera is even compared with my DSLR. Shutter lag is very low for a compact digicam, and when I pre-focus with manual focus, it's even faster.
+ Manual modes. Aperture priority and shutter priority are great, the M mode is even better than other A Powershots such as the A720 because now there's a light meter on the right side that adjusts live based on what the camera thinks is the optimal exposure setting. And you can adjust aperture/shutter speed and see how it affects the final exposure. Ideally a live histogram would be even better, but this is very handy.
+ Manual focus. Although the LCD resolution is not good enough, even with the point zoom option, manual focus helps in close-up work and pre-focusing for action or creative photography.
+ Manual flash modes. In addition to automatic flash. The manual flash allows me to adjust the flash power in 3 levels, and prevents a pre-flash. This last part is important for using a remote optical slave flash. I can basically take professional looking studio pictures with this camera with my external flash equipment.
+ Optical viewfinder. I don't use this much yet, but can come in handy in bright sunlight conditions, or when battery conservation is needed.
+ Battery performance seems improved over previous A powershots too. The official specs give it 220 shots on regular alkalines and 500 on rechargeable NiMHs. Good news is they use common AA batteries that you can buy anywhere instead of proprietary models with specific chargers.
Now the negatives. I hope Canon can improve these aspects in their future models.
- Slow flash recycle times. This is to be expected from a camera that takes AA batteries. Would be nice if the LCD didn't blank out after a full flash discharge. Not a big deal since I use an external flash anyway, and the camera's flash is manually set to medium output as trigger (so recharge is faster). I would not want to give up the AA battery convenience for a faster flash recycle time though.
- Higher resolution LCD. The 2.5" 115k resolution LCD is ok for framing and casual browsing, but higher resolution would be nice.
-Live histogram while shooting. This feature is available when reviewing a photo, but not live. Other manufacturers have implemented this, and Canon should also, especially since the unofficial CHDK software mod allows such a feature.
- Larger aperture would be nice. Such as f/2.0 (instead of f/2.6) at the wide end, and f/4.0 (instead of f/5.5) at the telephoto end. That way a lower (& less noisy) ISO can be used in dim conditions or when fast shutter speeds are needed to freeze action. All the electronics in the world can't replace a good large lens. Also allows more creative depth of field control.
- A wider wideangle would be nice, 28mm instead of 35mm (35mm equiv). I'd rather see a wider wideangle than a longer zoom.
- Video feature is not ideal. Optical zoom is not available during recording of video. And the more efficient MPEG4 compression is not used, so video files tend to be large. Also noticed at 640x480 resolution, the highest fps is now 20 instead of 30 from other A models. A definite step backwards.
- Noise at higher ISOs. This is due to the smaller sensor on compact cameras. But 8 MP is probably the most pixels that can be crammed into a small 1/2.5" sensor. I'd rather have a cleaner picture at 6-7 MP than a noisy 8 MP picture. And if in-camera noise reduction is used, I'd like to see an adjustable setting for how much is being applied.
- And if I were to be really critical: There's no indicator of what optical zoom level I'm at. Slight image noise is noticeable even at ISO 80 when I zoom in really close on a monitor view. When at the widest angle & aperture, there's slight barrel distortion and blurriness on the corners. Not many compact cameras can do better in terms of image quality, but I'm pointing them out here because even though this camera beats most of the competition, it still has room for improvement.
So overall it's a great camera for the price. Offering great image quality with the auto settings for the casual user, but also a powerful set of features for the more advanced photographer.
Digital camera Review: A camera you won't regret
Summary: 4 Stars
Gives you high quality photos and at the same time at a fare price. Really good for entry-level people like me. I even posted some amateur photos for you to view. Just play around with the settings and you'll get good pics and you'll get better shots than me. The only thing that's not good is the battery life. I suggest you buy rechargeable batteries. Overall excellent camera for everyone!Digital camera Review: A good Camera
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first digital camera I have owned and it has provided excellent snapshots and with a 4gb or 8gb memory card (not included) it's able to store more pictures than I need. This is a far more affordable way to have pictures than disposable cameras and I get to choose what to keep without developing costs.