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 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). That way a lower (& less noisy) ISO can be used in dim conditions or when fast shutter speeds are needed to freeze action. 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.

These PowerShot "A" cameras are Canon's attempt to deliver the quality and features of its more expensive PowerShot "G" and PowerShot Pro "S" lines (such as full zoom lenses) at a budget price. The results are pretty good. (How do I know? Because I've actually gotten to use all of these cameras. I earn my living at Walt Disney World writing a travel guide, and nearly every day guests ask me to take photos of them with their own cameras, which most often are Canon PowerShots.)

Here's my opinion of the top-selling "A" series cameras:

7TH PLACE: Featuring Canon's acclaimed Digic III processor, the 2007-model A560 includes the company's face-detection metering system and a decent red-eye removal. It's a nice camera, but a better value is the new A470 (see below). $150 list.

6TH PLACE: The A570IS is the same camera as the A560 but with optical image stabilization and the ability to shoot manually. $200 list.

5TH PLACE: You can do a lot with the sweet little A630. It's a 2007 model, but has a flip-out LCD panel and lots of manual controls. The shots I've seen from this model look great. Keep your ISO under 800 and you won't get any noise. $350 list.

4TH PLACE: The 2008-model A580 is an A590IS (see 1st Place, below) without image stabilization and with semi-automatic instead of manual controls. $150 list.

3RD PLACE: The fully-loaded A710 IS has all the toys, including a full-range zoom (35mm film equivalent of 35-210mm), adjustable flash power and optional second-curtain flash. This last feature means you can make the flash fire at the end of a long exposure, instead of the beginning, so moving subjects streak into focus instead of out. A 2007 model. $500 list.

2ND PLACE: The 2008 entry-level A470 is great for kids or anyone just looking for a good basic camera. But frankly, it's better than basic. It includes Canon's face detection technology and has a zoom lens, 14 shooting modes and the ability to set exposure compensation, ISO and white balance manually. Plus it looks great. Everyone with this little camera always seems to be having fun. $130 list.

1ST PLACE: The A590IS (the camera on this page) is a 2008 upgrade to the A570IS. The face detection system works a little better than the one on its predecessor, and the new model is slightly rounder and easier to grip. I personally like that it has automatic and manual controls, though I haven't seen anyone using the manual set yet. Overall this camera is a fine performer and a great bargain. I bought one for myself. $180 list.

Pros:
The A590IS is the best point and shoot under $200 today (closer to $160 most places). I own an SD600 and my wife, friend, and father (all different people mind you!) own A570IS's. The A590IS is the new version of the A570IS, 2007's best selling camera. Generally, see the rave reviews of the A570IS if you want to know the major pros and cons (in summary: Image Stabilization is amazing, noise is limited, features of all there including manual controls [though no auto-bracketing which no other cameras at this price point have regardless], final picture quality is superior to all other brands at this price point and type, [i.e., point-and-shoot], good size). Rather, here I'll address the main improvements over the A570IS (which is about $30 cheaper):

(1) The A590IS has 8mp vs. 6mp on the A570IS

(2) The A590IS is slightly faster between shots but slightly slower before the first shot can be taken (less than .5 second difference according to CNet)

(3) It's charcoal/gray - minor change from silver, but I like it a lot.

(4) It's "rounder" on the edges but no less stable in your hand, neither camera is too slippery like other overly polished cameras (also, no finger smudges as a result).

(5) There is sometimes increased noise with higher MP cameras, this is NOT the case here - noise levels are similar.

(6) there are some minor additional shooting modes and improvements to other shooting

Cons:
The only change that is not an improvement is the lowering of the frames per second in the video mode.
A570IS: 640x480 = 30fps --- 320x240 = 60fps
A590IS: 640x480 = 20fps --- 320x240 = 30fps

Frankly, this is a bummer and cannon should correct it with firmware ASAP; however, the lower FPS is still quiet good, but this was a pointless change that is not appreciated -- the reality is that most people don't use video often and those who do will see a minimal difference ... if you're paying that much attention to the video you may be more interested in a different camera or a video camera.

Conclusion:
This will be the best selling camera of 2008 and it's a VERY safe purchase you won't regret (unless it gives you such a new found love for photography that suddenly you wish you had a Canon S5 or G7 ... which are more than twice as expensive!).

The Canon 590 takes fantastic photos! I've had trouble in the past with shaky pictures from other digital cameras. But with the built-in image stabilizer, they are clear and beautiful, even up close! I've gotten some great shots. I can even take close up photos of books to show on computer monitor and the text is clear and readable. Love the movie mode, too. I like the ease of point and shoot, but if you want to change manual settings are available too.

There are already great reviews out about Canon's A590is. I'd like to add that I bought this camera just before a 2-week trip to China. Well, it performed like a charm and I couldn't be more happy with my purchase, especially for such an affordable camera that has so many features. On the second day of my trip I was fumbling with the camera and dropped it from a height of 4 feet onto concrete. My heart was in my throat. Everyone stared. For the remainder of the trip the camera was just fine; not even a crack or scratch. I'm amazed. And because I had almost no time to look through the camera manual before I started taking photos, I'll add that this camera is very user-friendly and easy to figure out right out of the box. I especially like the image stabilization and video capture features. I was also pleasantly surprised by the long battery life. I took about 700 pictures on one set of batteries. Overall, a great camera.

Even i ordered this camera by mistake, it came out as a great buy. I like it a lot, it's like having my "mini" XT...

This camera is really nice. I like that you can add external lenses (sold seperately) to the camera. If you are interested in this option, check out the bundle package from 49 St. Photo (sold through Amazon) that includes two lenses and lots of other goodies for only $100 more.

My favorite features of this camera include manual mode (or shutter or aperature priorty), auto rotates pictures, long battery life, great movie quality w/ sound, can turn off digital zoom, has an easy mode, face detection is cool, and you can add an external lens.

Cons to the camera include a little bit bulky, slow recharge time after each picture, and that's about it. I never write reviews but I felt I needed to for this since I liked it so much.

I bought the A590 as a camera to keep with me in the book bag/briefcase that I carry around most every weekday. You may recall the old saying that the camera you have with you (when you see a photo op) is your best camera. The A590 fills that role by virtue of its small size combined with full exposure control. The big problem is that the noise generated by putting 8 mpix on a tiny (1/2.5) sensor chip can overwhelm the image and render detail moot.

I use Imagenomic NoiseWare combined with Photoshop Elements to reduce noise and sharpen the image as best I can. If possible I shoot at the lowest ISO setting, 80, which lowers the noise. I never go over ISO 100 if I can help it, and usually at -2/3 on the exposure control. It's much better to have the photo-editing software brighten up the image than the amplifier boosting the signal (and noise) from the sensor. When you play back the image on the camera's LCD, it should look a little dark -- never overly bright (which can also blow out details).

Here are two other items about the Canon A-series cameras. My 15 year old son uses a Canon A720 for what are essentially snapshots and is very happy with it. If you don't crop substantially and aren't too picky about sharpness and noise, the camera is quite capable. From what I can tell, the A720 uses the same electronics (including the sensor and image stabilization) as the A590. The A720 has greater zoom capabilities (and hence a different lens system) and is a little bit larger and heavier. If I were going to get just one of these, I would go for the A720 because of the zoom.

The second point is that the other camera I frequently use is a Canon A650, and it is far more capable than either the A590 or A720. The A650 has 12 mpix on a larger sensor (1/1.7). Comparing sensor sizes (available at www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=sensor+sizes) and mpix shows that the A650's sensor has 1.75 times the area as those of the A590 and A720 with only 1.5 times the pix -- hence pix density is lower and the noise generated by the A650 is much better controlled. And because there are more pix, the noise gets smoothed over as a result of more little points covering the same area in the image. (FYI: Greater pix density on a sensor chip creates more noise.)

I did a noise and sharpness test with all three of these cameras plus my Nikon D40 DSLR. I set two shoes, one black and one brown (the latter with lots of texture) on a rug, just beside a sunlit spot inside my house. The shoes were well lit but not in direct sun. I shot all of the cameras at 200 ISO (because that is as low as the Nikon would go) and f/5.6, with the exposure control at -2/3 of an f/stop.

The results surprised me. For whatever reason, and despite several tries, I could not get the Nikon to focus adequately on the shoes -- this from a distance of about four feet. I know from experience that the Nikon D40, with 6 mpix on a 2/3 sensor (2/3 the size of a standard 35mm film frame) has extremely well controlled noise and excellent sharpness, but the inability to focus here took it out of the comparison.

The superiority of the A650 to the A590 and A720 was startling. Keep in mind that I "zoomed" in on the images in Photoshop after I had transferred them to my 24" iMac (a great computer for photo editing). This made different sections of the shoes appear much larger (the laces were really telling), and the 12 mpix A650 (vs. 8 mpix of the others) had more pixes to work with for any particular area I looked at. Nonetheless, the other two cameras had so much noise that the details were overwhelmed and no amount of noise reduction and sharpening could change that. The A650's image was far sharper and clearer.

The A650 has one other big advantage so far as I'm concerned and one drawback. The advantage is the articulating LCD, which I find extremely useful for many shots. Yesterday, I had to lay down on the cold, damp ground to get a shot with the A590, but with the A650 I would have put the camera at foot level and looked down into the cocked LCD. That is really nice, almost addicting. However, the A650's drawback is that it's bulky and surprisingly heavy, which is why I don't carry it along all the time.

So you pay your money and take your choice -- or, like me, pay your money twice and have it both ways. Remember, the camera that you have with you is the best camera you own -- so think about what size and type of camera you want to carry plus when and how you will use it. For some people, that means owning more than one camera.

I spent a few weeks researching different cameras, because the flash on my sony cybershot had error coded and stopped working. After the cybershot I wanted a camera that had image stabilization. Then I started seeing this new face detection technology, which I thought was very cool and I wanted it. I found the A590IS because, I decided to go with a brand name that is well know with photography and it had everything I needed and more. The shots are crystal clear, the ration of when you push the button to taking the picture is good, alot better than the cybershot, the face detection is cool also. The motion detection technology is another cool feature, which will come in handy when my son starts crawling and walking/running. I thought I might have a problem with the AA batteries over a battery pack but it actually works out good with the new rechageable batteries that are a commone thing in stores nowadays. I can't wait to start experimenting with some of the more advanced features, like adjusting the shutter speed. My only complaint is that since I'm used to the slimness of the cybershot the Canon A590is is a little more bulky than I would like, but I was willing to sacrifice size for quality. Overall an excellent camera for the price.

++++AAAAA++++ This is one of the easiest and most fun cameras I have ever had. Great pictures. Very fast shipping.

This Camera is the best digital camera I have personally used. It has so many options on how you want to take your pictures, and the 4x Optical Zoom is nice. Pictures are crisp and clear. I recommend it to anyone who loves to take random pictures and photoshop them :D. Just be sure to buy a memory card with this, the one that comes with it is crap.

P.S. I recommend getting the Transcend SDHC Memory Card 4GB, good memory for cheap!

I bought the A590 as our first digital camera. We just came back from a trip to England where we took more than 300 pictures. We haven't printed them yet, but they look great on our computer. We even took some action shots during a soccer/football match, and most of those look great also. We took all our shots in the auto mode.

When we were considering buying this camera, it was a bit confusing to read all the reviews about the more exotic features of this camera. I suppose it's nice to have all those features available on this camera, but I'm not sure those features are relevant to someone like me who is simply looking for a good "point and shoot" camera. I'm glad I bought the A590, and would recommend it to my friends.

I wanted a small camera that took decent photos in available light and had high ISO sensitivity. Image stabilization and a wide range of manual setting were also high on my list. This camera delivers all of that. I was pleased with the quality of the shots even up to ISO 800. ISO 1600 was roughly equivalent to what ISO 400 was on my previous small Canon camera so the A590 IS can cover a lot of range in lighting situations. What caught me almost totally by surprise was the extremely poor battery life. Even without using the flash it seems abysmal. I have taken approximately 60-70 test shots and gone through 2 sets of alkaline and one charge from a pair of NiMH rechargeables. Admittedly this was using the flash about 30% of the time but that's still totally unacceptable. I realize that AA batteries don't have the life of a proprietary lithium ion, but this camera's battery life is so bad it makes it almost unusable to me. Seemed like whenever I turned around it was telling me that the batteries were low and needed replacement. I used a battery tester to check them and found that they still registered pretty good so I'm wondering if the camera's battery level sensitivity is just wrong. Either that or this thing sucks power worse than any camera I have ever owned. Whatever the case, I am truly sorry I purchased this otherwise fine camera. I would much rather have decent battery life than the dubious "convenience" of replacing AA cells all the time.

Update: With freshly charged 2500 mAh Ni-MH cells I am seeing an improvement in battery life, at least initially. So far I've taken 36 pictures and no low battery message yet. My previous usage was more intermittent so we'll see if these higher capacity rechargeable bring the camera up to what I consider reasonable battery life. My experience with alkalines is still totally unacceptable in my opinion.

I've been taking shots and learning to use the functions of this camera for over 3 weeks now. This was a smart buy and I also purchased an additional 4 GB SD memory. Having a good memory space was excellent amazon advise since I can do a lot of experiments to check the results on my computer screen.

Everything worked perfectly. No strange issues. This camera is excellent for people who wants to get near to professional shots without complications but remember: Practice makes one a master.

The Canon Power Shot is a great light weight camera. Good value for the money and many features for the more than novice. It has many features but I like the point and shoot with a decent zoom lens. If I am doing serious photograhy, I use my Nikon but LD but the power shot is great to have in the car or jacket for that quick, unexpected photo. Great buy

This camera is an Awesome Digital. I got this camera as an upgrade from my old HP. I must say I am completely satisfied. It takes brilliant pictures and I print mine on an old HP Photosmart printer and they are awesome. It has a lot of features I don't even use, I keep it on Auto but I like the fact I can set it to take the red eye out as it snaps the picture. If you are on the fence you won't be disappointed. I bought this off pure reviews and I am so glad I did!!! It is even cheaper now than when I bought it 2 months ago. Can't beat it!!!

i bought the cannon powershot A590IS looking for the best camera that I could buy under 200. I am not one bit disappoint with this camera it's flawless so far as I can see so far. I would definitly recomend this porduct

Really debated before purchase. I had decided to purchase A570IS and then heard this one was coming out. Watched for those first reviews as camera was introduced . . . went ahead and bought it and LOVE IT. This was replacement for older Canon Powershot which had finally worn out. A590IS takes those great Canon shots - awesome detail and easy to use. Just took tons of pics of daughter's Junior/Senior Banquet - they all are fantastic - inside, low light, bright light behind the subject, outside in direct sunlight. "Auto" did just fine! Not a blurry shot in the bunch! Glad I stayed with tried and true Canon. My daughers both have Nikon L's and they noticed how much more detail my Canon pics had - and they were looking at them on the 2.5 in screen!

This is my first digital camera, and I am just learning how to use it. The controls are logical and not too tiny. It hooked up beautifully to my imac Leopard 10 so I didn't need to use the Canon software. Because of the Amazon reviews, I have not purchased a camera case yet; I want one with a neck strap. Pat Murray

I just wanted an easy to use point and shoot camera that didn't cost alot.
The A590 is the one. It takes great photos in auto mode, it uses AA type batteries and its not so small size and shape, make it easy to hold steady. I would recommend this product to anyone.

My last Canon PowerShot was wore out. I received this A590IS quickly from Amazon vendor. New camera is lighter than my A70 because it only uses two batteries not four. Smaller card for pictures.

This is an excellent camera for the money! It is small enough to carry in a pocket but still large enough to feel good and have a viewfinder so that you can turn the viewing screen off to save the battery. We have taken several hundred photographs so far and are still on the first set of batteries. The photos are excellent quality and the camera is easy to use but sophisticated enough to allow a wide variety of individual priority's such as aperture or timing. It also has the image stabilizer so that unfamiliar people can take photos without blurring them. I would buy it again without hesitation.

So I was looking for something with slightly more features then a cheap point and shoot camera. I used to have an older Canon and thought I would give them a try again, and I have to say I am rather pleased with my purchase. The camera turns on and is ready to take picutres quickly. The Auto mode is great for most daylight or well lit settings. The 'Night-Scene' Mode works great if you are taking picutres during the night or in a dim room. Colors are vibrant and crisp, and the image stabilization works rather well when using the zoom. I really like all the available customization options for Exposure and and White Balance, that helps if you know a bit about what you are doing and want to take some specialized shots, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I only have one thing that I don't like so far about the camera. I would have liked something more then just a 4x Optical Zoom. A 6x or 8x would have been a lot nicer, although you can purchase additional lenses for this, which is a great option. However, this seems to be more of an issue with all point and shoot type digital cameras, not something specific to this camera.

Overall a great value for what you get.

I am not a guy who knows all the mumbo jumbo stuff about cameras. What I do know is value and quality and this camera has both. It is light weight and can easly fit in your breast shirt pocket. It only takes 2 AA bateries to operate and is really easy to use. When I take a picture I use the automatic mode (I'm to busy taking pictures to worry about all the different kinds of modes and stuff), just point and click, real easy. The pictures come out great and even though you my be moving a little there is no blur. The video aspect is great also, the only limit is the ammount of memory you have in the camera. They say this is an entry level camera, but I disagree. It for sure is a mid level entry digital camera. Maybe one day I'll learn what all this camera can do and really be astonished. All in all a great buy.

This is by far the best camera that I have ever owned. As someone who mostly takes pictures of dogs and other things of the sort it is perfect for me. It is easy to use and the quality is great. I love this camera and would recommend it to anyone.

definitely not as sleek and sexy as some of the more expensive canon cameras, but I suspect the quality of the images is exactly the same and it's very easy to use but still has a lot of great manual controls. The manual focus isn't that refined but it's nice that at least it's an option. Low light and long exposure images are pretty noisy, but that's to be expected.

Simple to use. Has good zoom for the money. Not real great
in the dark, but wouldn't expect it to be. Good all around
camera for family use.

I read reviews on quite a few cameras before purchasing this one, so I had high hopes that it would live up to my expectations. My usual camera of choice is a Canon digital SLR, but I wanted a small point-and-shoot digital for times when I can't carry my big camera around.

This camera is okay. The photos taken indoors with flash are often dark and a bit grainy, especially if the zoom is used at all. I'm rarely happy with the way my indoor shots turn out. It does best outdoors - those photos have much better color and brightness. However, in auto mode it does a poor job with moving objects - they always blur. I have to play around a bit with the other modes to see if I can get better action shots with it.

In summary, this camera isn't as good as I hoped, but it's better that having no camera at all.

Camera seemed nice enough, but I was looking for something significantly smaller. I only turned it on once, but I noticed a significant delay between shots when using the flash. Not a great feature when you are trying to take pictures of kids. I returned it for the Canon SD1100is, which I love.

Argh, can't believe a new camera with 8M pixels cannot support date stamp! All other cameras can do date stamp. Yes, it does at 1600x1200 resolution mode only but then why buy a 8M pixel camera to shoot in 2M mode?!? Geez...

Also, the canon software will not upload to a network drive (like my NAS so I have to manually transfer them after it uploads to the local disk).

Other than those 2 easy but critical features, it's a good camera. Well built. I bought a nikon 8M and it was flimsy (but it did the above 2 features fine). The nikon broke in 6 months so I bought this canon on it's good reviews. So much for reviews.

like how it downloads NEW images, but not happy with progress. miss the 2.0 version; but i'm a luddite

camera is simple, but has plenty of options for more advanced users. takes really nice pictures on auto mode, and doesn't eat up batteries as fast as i thought it would. is a little bulky (awkward to carry around in your pocket), but otherwise perfect. nice price too

Let me start by saying I returned this camera already. The main reason was because the wife wanted to go back to something smaller aka a subcompact camera. I had to agree with her there after a few days of using the camera.

Second, she did not like the recharge time between flash pictures. I didn't time it, but it seemed like at least 5 or 6 seconds. I guess that's fairly typical of cameras with 2 AA batteries, but I could be wrong.

The subcompact we had before (Canon SD600) seemed alot better in this regard. It used a proprietary lithium rechargeable battery though.

My beef with the camera was the video wasn't as good as our previous SD600 camera. And I guess the specs don't like because they state 20 fps for 640x480 video instead of 30 fps with most other Canon digital cameras. The IS seemed like it made the video more stable, but it also made panning with the camera more choppy. It wasn't a huge beef as I don't take alot of video with a digital camera, but it was annoying they made the video worse.

I also thought the construction was a bit cheap with the shell of the camera being plastic instead of metal. The zoom lever seemed a bit cheap too.

Now the good. Well I like the dial on the camera. It lets you quickly select a shooting mode. That feature was much nicer than our previous camera (albeit it was a subcompact.) The pictures seem fairly nice. I wouldn't say they were better than our previous camera, but certainly I didn't notice they were that much worse either. The fact it uses AA batteries is nice and because it's compact camera the access to the batteries, memory card and ports are easier to work with. And the camera has lots of manual settings. I guess a plus is that you attach other lenses to this thing too, but I most likely would never have used this capability.

ULtimately though the camera is a bit too big for me and for my wife. I would probably recommend to most people to get a subcompact. The only advantage to this one over a $200 CAnon subcompact would seem to be the convenience of AA batteries and perhaps a slightly greater zoom. So I would pay a little more and get a subcompact.

Actually my next camera is the HP M737 which should arrive in a few days. I have it pegged a sleeper value buy from the latest batch of cameras Consumer Reports reviewed. If it doesn't pan out then I will resell it and get a Canon subcompact again - most likely the SD1100.

I bought this camera as a gift for my girlfriend because it satisfied my two main requirements: 1) it could be operated by someone who is not interested in learning the basics of camera design and features, and still produce reliable, quality photographs and 2) be capable of doing much more if one should so desire.

Apparently, the model one step down (the 580, I believe) is void of manual override controls, so for a small amount more one can get that capability in the 590. After using the camera for a few weeks I have determined that it actually does produce very sharp, nicely color toned pictures if you simply put it on AUTO or P, point, remember to hold the shutter half way down for a second to focus, and shoot. Perhaps learning when to force the flash to provide fill would be a handy, not too complicated step to learn, one which would greatly improve most backlit shots. I'm still trying to teach that :-) (it's only one button, hey!!)but I think I will eventually succeed. All in all, you can carry it anywhere and use it quickly and easily and without any real knowledge or skill manage to eke out a decent (if not really lovely) exposure.

If you understand something about how modern cameras are programmed, the manual controllability of this little demon will delight you. In bright light situations, it's a good thing to be able to use the traditional viewfinder which is not always provided these days in many other point and shoots. And if you wanted a quality shot, understanding how to use the many features intelligently, I think you will be amazed that the file produces such a high quality photograph. Five years ago it would have cost many hundreds more to achieve this quality, and now it's available for a pittance. Progress.

I haven't delved into the technical aspects of this camera here because I am assuming that most people who are looking for this kind of one would not be that interested. Suffice to say, this little camera does lots of stuff and it does it all with ease and grace and for a low price. Sounded good to me, and I'm glad I bought it. You could do different for the price, but not, I don't think, better. Highly recommended.

Great camera, takes beautiful pictures it has lots of features, 4X zoom (most compact and ultracompact cameras have a 3X zoom), for those who want to step away from the auto mode it has manual controls to take even better pictures, it may seem a little bulky for some, it is not certainly the kind of camera you would carry in your shirt pocket without it looking a little droopy, if you are looking for something really small try the SD1100 IS, but if you are looking for a great compact camera this is the one. Rememeber it runs on AA batteries,(you can buy AA in any drugstore when your on vacation), so it can't be as small as the ultra compact models that run on Li-ion battery packs.

This camera is excellent. I have been using a Kodak Easyshot for almost 6 years, which my family and I have loved. However, six years later, the Canon is proving to be an amazing upgrade.

The A590 is a perfect "grab-n-go" camera. While it is not small, it is also not too bulky to fit into my wife's pocket book, or for me to carry around for a few hours.

I really enjoy the image stabilization and both my wife and I have found the camera very easy to use. The "easy" feature is nice, but almost unnecessary as the other options for picture taking are pretty self explanatory.

Overall, I highly recommend this camera for people who aren't looking to be photographers, but need a camera that performs well and takes pictures that, for me, almost pass as photographer quality.

I have had this camera a little less than a month and have already taken 1200 pictures on it! 1089 of these were on on a trip to Alaska, while the rest were "practice" shots to become familiar with the camera. I am very impressed with the results as the beauty of our trip comes through perfectly in the photos.

I bought this camera as a backup to my aging Canon S2IS with its 12X zoom, just in case it decided to quit during the trip. The S2 survived and was used almost as much as the 590 - just the opposite of what I expected. The size and convenience of the larger LCD screen on the 590 quickly made it a favorite of mine, and my wife's. Because the Canon controls were very similar on both cameras, it was easy to learn, and switch between cameras. The newer Zoom Browser software is better than the S2's, but similar and was easy to learn.

I have not figured out how to disable the flash on the Auto setting, other than after I turn the camera on. The camera takes great shots inside with some light, and the flash washes some of these out, if used. I feel the default setting should be "Off" for the flash, even in the Auto setting, but can understand why it is "On". I just have to remember to turn the flash off whenever I turn the 590 on.

The only complaint I had of the 590 was the slowness of taking a picture. However, I discovered in my haste to get a new memory card before the trip, I had picked up an SD card, rather than an SDHC card. I feel the new SDHC card I ordered will solve that problem.

I used the Landscape setting for many shots of Mt. McKinley, Denali, glaciers, and others with great results.

Thanks to Amazon and the reviews submitted by other 590 owners, I am really enjoying this PowerShot and the unbelievable beauty of Alaska that it captured!

I replaced a very worn out camera that was slow, splotchy, and used to be fairly high end. The PowerShot takes beautiful pictures. I highly recommend reading the manual before trying to use it. There are a ton of features, but specifically a few that are good for point-and-shoot users like myself (including automatic, kids and pets, night-time, etc). It's not super fast to take the picture and reload, but I understand that is a limitation of a camera powered by AA batteries. The viewscreen on the back is wonderful. I particularly like that the picture is high enough quality to be able to edit to a close-up and still print a pretty large, but still high quality image. Paired with a good photo-editing software, this is a terrific upgrade for us!

My whole family uses PowerShots and love them. We tried a different model and it continues to impress.

ps. I haven't tried the video option...it's not what I bought the camera for.

LOVE this camera! I'd never even held a digital camera in my hand before purchasing the 590IS in April '08 for a May Mediterranean cruise. This wonderful piece of technology produced amazing shots, many postcard-perfect. There are so many settings that I have yet to learn about but in the meantime, the "Auto" setting works just fine for me in any photo situation. No disappointments there. Great price, great product.

I am NOT a electronics person, so when this camera was recommended by several people, I thought, ok..BUT was I surprised!!! It is so easy to use and it doesnt make me "electro phobic". Snap and shoot or if you are electronically inclined, you have a lot of cool features to use and enjoy!Manuel isnt for me, but if you can do it, so can this camera. I would definitely recommend.

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

We got this camera because our A620 failed to work right before my daughter's 5th Birthday. I opted for another Canon because we really liked the ease of use and quality of pictures from the A620. We'd used that camera almost daily with 5 y/o and 2.5y/o kids.
THe A590IS works OK. The pictures are adequate, but seem to be less defined than the A620. My only other real complaint is the recharge time from picture to picture. THe A620 is faster (maybe two extra batteries helps?). The decrease in battery use (two from four) makes the A590IS lighter, but also 'feels cheaper'. We ae overall satisfied, but we went ahead and got the A620 fixed since we really like it's design and functionality.
Mike

Amazon beat the two day shipping by one day. The camera is easy for both my wife and I to use. We've taking over 300 pictures and they came out great. I'd buy it again.

For the price this camera can't be beat ,maybe even for twice the price !!An Excellent all around high quality camera!!! Very Happy with it,as you can tell.

Manual Controls, Image Stabilizer... this is the best point and shoot camera in its price class. I think the new body color is really neat...

Its a good camera for the money, however I find that I receive better quality pitcures from my older model Canon Powershot A80 and the ease of use and speed is not quite as good either.

I have a Canon A570, it has always turned out great results, very consistant, very very pleased with it. Highly recommend it,I used to be into 35mm photography for years ran around all over with a bag full of lenses, becoming a senior citizen changed all that, so, the Canon A 570 arrived, does a beautiful job, allows me to fool around somewhat.
My wife saw a 590, loved it, we bought it, well, its a beautiful thing, from the start up, the photos were not as good as the 570, in fact, just not that good, period. We were unhappy with it and returned it, I firmly believe the 590 we received was defective, yeah, even Canon goofs,, photos were not clear, flash did not work right, lens was bad, other than that it was great, have seen tourists here in Manhattan using the 590, spoke with them, saw their results, gorgeous, soooooooooo,I think we may reorder it from Amazon for my wife, firmly convinced I got one that slipped through, Canon is a great company, but we all goof occassionly

I did a fair amount of homework before buying the Canon Power Shot A590 IS with face recognition technology and image stabilization. Although it received many good reviews, my experience with the camera was very disappointing. Thw first big surprise was that although this is labeled a point and shoot digital camera, it has many features that allow an experienced photographer to modify the settings and make custom modifications. I'm not an experienced photographer and was easily overwhelmed by the choices, especially since the instruction manual jumped right in discussing these things before it even explained the basics of how the camera worked. The book didn't get to the basics until page 40! I have 2 other digital cameras that I've used for several years so I am familiar with how many digital cameras are set up----not that this helped. This model Canon represents some significant design changes in digital cameras which I wasn't prepared for. To make things worse, the instruction manual in many cases was incomplete or inaccurate. I quickly became best friends with Canon's technical support department just to learn how to use the camera! Although the tech reps were pleasant and tried to be helpful, sometimes they didn't know the whole story either. I also had problems with the software that comes with the camera for downloading pictures to my computer and editing them. When I first installed it, it worked fine. Then everytime I used it something went wrong and I had to call tech support for assistance. The problem would get resolved only to reappear a few days later and the prior solution wouldn't work any more. Even the tech reps couldn't explain why While the camera worked OK most of the time, it didn't function correctly all of the time which was really frustrating. Also the picture quality was inconsistent. Some pictures came out good, others (taken the same way) were lousy. I had so many problems with both the camera and software, even though they were brand new, I came to the conclusion that maybe I got a defective model so I returned it. After everything the camera put me through, I didn't want to waste my time trying another one so I am looking for a different digital camera to replace my older ones. If you are considering buying this camera, I wish you luck. You'll need it!

Setup is easy, pictures are clear. You'll need to buy a larger memory card, and lithium ion batteries are a real plus over the standard alkelines. Still, this is a great value and should serve you well for many, many, years.

I bought this camera for a pocket, take it anywhere. It takes great
pictures, just the right size for a small camera for my hands. Despite
this, i have dropped it twice, once on pavement, once on concrete. To
my amazement, it survived unscathed both times. Can't guarantee these
results, but I am pleased. Only drawback I see is it is mediocre on
battery life. Highly recommended.

If there's a better digital camera in the Canon PowerShot A590IS price range, well ... I don't think that's possible.

This camera produces nothing but great photos, is very easy to use and definitely is one of the best purchases I've made in years.

I'm far from being an electronics wizard, but learning how to use this sweet camera and all of its functions was easy for me.

If you're contemplating buying a digital camera, I definitely recommend considering this fine Canon product. Believe me, you won't regret it once you start taking photos.

Purchased this camera for my Daughter and she wanted something that was not really hard to operate. She has related back to me that she loves the camera and having a great time with it. From what she has said would be a great camera for anyone just starting with a digital camera.

this camera is the best!!! it is so clear, it actually brings the person or what you want to takeout in the foreground while it casts everything else into the background.. it is really nice and i have it with a 4GB memeory card so i'm getting full use of its video recording ablities which are superb@@@ i love this cam!!! (tears run down cheeks)

Considering what I paid and what I expected, this was a fantastic camera. I've been playing with the settings, as well as using "auto", and have had some great pictures all around. I will probably end up getting a small portable tripod because I have a hard time holding my hands still, so I can't blame the camera. It fits nicely in my hands (a big plus for me), and is not something I'm going to readily lose (another big plus for me). I've posted 2 pictures I took with this little camera, and am extremely pleased with my camera, especially when I considering how little I paid compared to much fancier cameras within this range/style.

Most products I buy match my expectations. This is due to the fact that I usually only purchase what I have researched and am well aware of what I am getting, for the price. This camera, not only exceeded all expectations, but totally surpassed them.

Knowing the quality of Canon, I was expecting good quality photos for a point-and-shoot camera. I wasn't expecting it to take photos that have matched, in quality, to much more expensive digital SLR's. The optical quality of the A590IS is as clean and sharp as anything on the market. It is very friendly and easy to use ( something I don't think most camera's are ).

Canon has blown me away and made me a believer in their cameras. This camera has left me with nothing to say, but WOW! If you are looking to purchase an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera, this is the one.

I have owned cameras of Sony Kodak and Canon brands. I bought the 12mb Kodac camera and it was a biggggg dud. It took ages to capture any image. Then I got the Canon 570is and it was just wonderful. I upgraded with the 590IS for myself and gave the 570 for business use. The pictures are crisp and sharp. The camera works pretty fast. Uses AA battery hence no worry of loosing power in midst of action.

Cons-- I cannot imprint the date on the fotos. May be this should be added as an added feature for newer upgrades.

Don't you just love it when you spend the time to shop around and really go after something that does what you want and you find it? at a great price?? I love this camera!! I just recently purchased it so I have a long way to go on trying all the settings and options this camera offers... BUT! so far I am very much "wowed".

The ability to "play" with the settings and experiment was what drew me to photography when I was younger. Those options, the versitility that goes with 8MP, along with ability to change lenses (I got the 3.2x telephoto and .45x wide angle) plus filters? It's what drew me to this camera and setup.

Real easy to use and I've already gotten compliments on the photos I've taken. And when they do mention the pics they get an earful of praise directed to the reason the photos are so good with a quick demonstration of my new toy! ;) Love that nice big crystal clear LCD!! and easy to read and understand menu. With a brand new grand daughter I will be trying real hard to wear the buttons off this one! :P Did the research and I found a real winner.
and the price! 5 stars, 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up! Sweet little camera with big results! Can't be beat IMO! Did I mention I love this camera?

This an excellent product. it has a lot of features and it's very easy to use.

This is a nice camera, the thing I like the most is that batteries last a long time. The camera is easy to use, fairly compact, and takes good pictures. For the money you can't go wrong.

Considering its price, it takes great quality and vivid pictures. Flash is well balanced and camera size is not too big even when compared to compact cameras. Also, manual controls are really easy to use. I recommend this camera.

The AS590IS is a great camera for me. I have had a number of 35 mm cameras and one digital camera. This camera is easy to use especially for those that are not really high tech. There are functions that a person can do manually if they understand the camera and how to use the functions. There are a number of settings that are easy to select and use. I would recommend this camera it is a good value.

Pros: small enough for one hand, good picture quality especially for the indoors if you choose the indoor mode, big LCD display give me better idea whether to save or delete a picture.

Cons: you need to wait for longer time than you expect between two shots for a canon product. However, you can choose the triple shots in one time.

I bought this for myself to take more and better pictures of all Nothh American Big Game Animals after they have been measured and entered into the Boone & Crockett Club, Pope & Young Club, Longhunters Club, Norht American Shed Hunters Club.In taking a few practice shots, the pictures turned out very good. I'm Happy!!!!!!!

This camera is very user friendly. It comes with 2GB of memory which really is not enough, however, the ease of use and great features make up for the memory shortage. It is so easy to upgrade the memory card. The pictures are crisp and clean.

I've only had this camera for a month, but I find myself using it more than I did my last one. I love the convenience of being able to use regular AA batteries. Another reviewer said it uses up the batteries fast and he was right! Luckily, I was expecting it and carried extras around while on vacation. I am not the best person with a camera and still take blurry shots, but I do manage to take some good pictures. Overall, I am very happy with it.

Buyer beware! The A590IS requires two alkaline batteries; however the batteries last approximately one to two weeks or less than approx. 75 photos. The low battery indicator appears way too often.
The A590IS has 8MP packed into a small sensor chip which causes the photo details/sharpness to be less than say a 5MP on the same size chip (it's called "noise" in a photo). Advice when buying a digital camera; more MP is not necessarily better. Look at the ratio of MP to chip size/capacity. The lower the ratio of MP to chip capacity = more noise, because the MP take too much space on the chip thus blurring the photo with more pixels. If you buy the A590IS, Canon packs 8MP on a small chip thus creating noise. I had a Canon A610 for two years; 5MP on a small chip but alot less noise than the A590. My A610's sensor chip died after two years (black LCD screen). Bottom line, digital camera technology is not reliable; the life expectancy is not long. At least film cameras lasted more than two years . . .

This canon digital camera is the most versitial and fun camera to use I have purchased so far. The ability to shoot manual and full auto plus all of the options in between are fantastic. I highly recommend this camera and the price is amazing.

It's not slim enough to fit in your back pocket, but it is extremely simple to use and runs on AA batteries. Good for traveling.

Many reviews on the great aspects of the camera here, just one thing to add. The flash is OK for a point and shoot compact camera, but does take a few seconds to recharge between shots and uses batteries quickly. This is not unique to this camera and my guess is that it just takes power to make a good flash, no matter what camera you use. For those people that need better and faster flash performance, the add on flash unit is the trick. Save batteries and take better indoor flash pictures faster for around $90...

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-HF-DC1-Powershot-Digital-Cameras/dp/B0007MGFI2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1214926744&sr=8-1

There's several incredibly detailed reviews that already break it down nicely so I'm not going to reinvent any wheels here. I'm just another person that bought one of these babies and am extremely happy with it. It was a bargain for the size and quality and the pics are beautiful.

I am EXTREMELY impressed with this camera. Best purchase I've made in a long time. The image quality is terrific. HIGHLY recommended to anyone looking for a new camera.

I love this camera! Bought it before going to Alaska and am SO impressed with the quality of the images it captures! It is, by far, the best camera for an average photographer as well as a handy one for the more advanced! Love it!

I am the owner of a Canon A80 but thought I'd look at another Canon digital camera. Although the Canon A590IS had many of the features I was looking for in a digital camera of its size,I was rather disappointed with the results of the pictures I took with it. Colors were not as brilliant or faithful as I had expected. The pictures didn't have crisp, sharp images - and for these, I took outdoor as well as indoor photos using the different feature adjustments in the manual. Lastly, the camera itself seemed chinsy for me - too light that I felt like I was using a disposable camera.

This camera is not a top tier unit for sure, but it is easy to operate, and takes good photos. For the price it is excellent.

This is a great camera in this price range. It takes great photos and I was surprised at the quality of the video.

When it came time to buy a digital camera I wavered between the Cannon and the Sony CyberShot. I bought the Cannon for three reasons:
1. more megapixals
2. 4x zoom
3. price was right

And make no mistake, this is a nice camera. BUT...for what I was wanting, just a basic, personal use camera, it's not ideal. It has a lot of nice features on it that I will never use. It's not the easiest camera to figure out and use. The dials/menus take some studying.

My mother bought the Sony Cybershot and after seeing her camera, I wish that I had too.

If you are looking for just a good basic camera, shy away from this model. Don't get pulled in by the extra features...unless you have some training in photography and know how to use the manual settings, most of the extra features you won't use. And the basic features are not as "user friendly" as you would expect.

If you are looking for a simple, low-price, reliable digical camera, I would recommend this camera for you. Two AA batteries, SD card, very fast power-on, face-detected focus, and very useful macro focus mode. If there is a weakness in this camera, I will say, the zoom range can be wider and deeper. Although the size of the camera is bigger than other fancy compact cameras, it is not too bad for a big hand to hold the camera well.

This is one fantastic camera for the money. Takes excellent pictures (added to the picture gallery). I'm very amateur, but some of the pictures are beautiful. The color is so exact and the clarity is absolutely fantastic. Before I bought this camera, I checked out all the reviews and pictures, and that's what sold me. Especially the close ups of flowers. I've never gotten that before with any other camera, and now I am almost achieving that. Thank you for the reviews and pictures. That's what sold me. As I mentioned this is the best price I've found. Amazon has even beat Walmart's price by $30. Love it!!!

training from Apple classes,& own use ,will determine results.it's not that simple to use both the camera & computer.

I've owned at least 3 digital cameras of progressive MP technology over the years. I think this Canon Powershot is a great value for what you get, whether your a snap-shotter or a more advanced user of digital cameras. This camera has just enough features to make people like me dangerous, but not too many that you are overwhelmed. The modes/settings are easy to configure and with a little practice, you will be taking some great pictures.
A lot of people think that the greater the MP, the better the quality of the picture. This is not true. I was looking for a camera that I can take quality photos with and share them over the internet; I do not need a professional camera that will produce poster-sized shots. And for my purposes, this camera is perfect!

Hi. I just bought a low price Olympus camera but it was very bad, so I just bought this Cannon and I love it. Very easy to use, excellent photos. Very professional for a low price camera.

I recomend it for sure. Great quality photos and very proffesional.

regards.

So far, I'm very happy with my Canon A590IS Digital Camera. I've taken a couple of hundred photos, good quality on automatic settings. I was most delighted to learn I can record up to a hour video (with my 4 GB card), though the sound quality is not so good, it's fun to experiment with. Much yet to learn about its other features.

This is a very good camera and i like it a lot but it does use up batteries kinda fast otherwise i really like it. This camera has the video setting which i use sometimes. The video setting i really like because you can zoom ,it has sound, and you can take fairly long videos unlike other cameras my family has. It also takes really nice photos.

If you want to learn how to use manual camera exposure controls, it's a good place to start. (Tiger Direct has a good video) Auto exposure works great as well. Slightly bulkier than a SD750 but still very compact. A great alternative to the heavy DSLR, when there's no room. The cable and download software work great, no glitches on Win XP, not sure about Linux. Download *Gimp(freeware GNU advanced image processing)for what the Canon(works well)software can't do. I want an XSi or a D80 (DSLR) but I'm keeping my money right now. Also, I used Super Saver shipping and I live in Massachusetts, I got the thing in two days !

This is the first digital camera I have owned. I purchased it a few days before a trip to California, which means I didn't have all that much time to get acquainted with the device.

I had absolutely no problems learning how to use the camera and taking good pictures with it. To my amateurish eyes, the pictures came out just fine and the camera was quite easy to use. There are a variety of settings you can use depending on what is being photographed and when: People, landscapes, action shots, nighttime shots, the "easy mode" etc. These are all nicely indicated using a graphic that appears on the LCD screen. For example, the portrait feature is indicated by a small graphic of a person's profile. There's also a video mode that can be fun.

The camera is pretty compact--not as small as some models out there, but I had no problems. One feature the camera includes that I think is quite important is a view finder in addition to the LCD screen. In bright sunlight it is difficult to take a photo using the LCD screen. I found myself using the viewfinder most of the time. I would caution anyone purchasing a camera with only an LCD screen. This was actually pointed out to me by a colleague who is experienced with digital cameras.


The camera also comes equipped with "image stabilizer" and "face recognition" features; from what I understand, these are two important features you should look for in a digital camera.


For basic photography (vacation pictures, family events, etc.) this is a fine camera at a reasonable price. Part of my research consisted of using Consumer Reports, and the magazine gave Canon products (not sure if this particular model was reviewed) a "Best Buy " rating.

About the only caveat I have is that the program included to load your picture on your computer is not particularly user-friendly. I wound up using iPhotos instead since I have a Mac. But on the other hand, I had no experience with loading photos on a computer--what seemed a bit clunky to me might be just fine for someone else.

Purchased this to replace another Canon Powershot which was stolen. We've been very impressed with this camera. Excellent images, good stability control, plenty of detail allowing for cropping of pictures for scrapbooking. Highly recommend this camera!

I bought this camera to take with me when my DLSR or my super zoom is just too heavy or too bulky to take along. The old saying is that the best camera for the job, is the camera you have!! I did not wish to spend a lot of money but wanted to still have image stablization, control over exposure and aperture, and decent image quality, all while using SD memory cards since I have many. This camera is a reasonable compromise. The images are acceptably crisp and can be made even sharper in post processing, the manual controls work great, and the size certainly allows me to put it into my pocket. If you are looking for a snapshot camera the Canon A590 can certainly produce the goods. I haven't found the slow recycle time of the flash to be a problem and and the rechargeable NiMH batteries I'm using are still going strong after a couple of hundred pictures with about a third being taken with flash. You can adjust the vividness of the color along with the sharpness and the contrast to taste. The exposures seem accurate and exposure conpensation can be used to help with "blown" skies, a problem with many digital cameras, it seems.

Having the memory card located with the batteries certainly saves in manufacturing cost (only a single door) but when I remove the card, sometimes the batteries also fall out, but this isn't really a serious issue - I just have to be careful.


I do wish that this camera had a wider angle lens (maybe 24 mm equivalent in 35 mm camera terms) since there are times I want effects that these wide angle lenses produce. Of course I knew that the camera did not do this when I bought it and many casual users would probably not miss this feature unless they previously had a camera that a lens of this type.

In summary, given this camera's price point, it's an excellent value.

The A590IS is the 8-MP sibling of the 7-Megapixel 570IS. I've played with both, and at an almost equal price, the 590 is the way to go.

- "Automatic" mode makes it easy as pie for point-and-shoot. Photo novices will find the Automatic -- and above that, Easy -- modes a welcome way to "just take the picture already!". The auto-focus, facial recognition, and adjustment features all respond quickly at half-depress... lining up a great shot is simple and quick.
- "Manual" mode gives you reign over everything about the photo, from the white balance, to the aperture, flash output, and even the part of the screen it uses to calculate gamma compensation. When you've got time to make the picture turn out just right, this little camera won't disappoint.
- The lens isn't half bad either, giving you focus-adjustment down to 2 inches from the end of the lens, and incremental up to 10 feet.

As with most new Digital Cameras, the viewfinder has been long-since replaced by the back LCD, which provides a helpful and adjustable HUD. The color spectral graphs are especially nice to have on-hand if you're worried about balancing multiple shots against each other.

The only cons are inherent in the design: the viewfinder and flash are almost useless when the camera is fitted with an optional lens hood / adapter. The buttons and dial adjustments are also small, so it pays to familiarize yourself with the user interface.

All in all, a fantastic camera for the price. Image stabilization, a 4x zoom, optional attachments, and a trim pricetag make this a great deal for anyone looking to upgrade to a non-SLR picture snapper.

I purchased this camera after doing quite a bit of research. I really wanted something that would allow me to learn a bit and do more then just point and shoot. well, I'm learning alot and having a great time with it! Have taken some absolutely awesome shots! Caught a bumbly bee in flight! I'm sure there are some features that will never be used, but look forward to trying out some others. Was warned about the AA battery annoyance, but purchased the rechargeable batteries and pack so have been just switching them. Also purchased a card reader ($9.00) which saves your batteries from downloading. Am very glad that i decided against the other Canon model that did not have a viewfinder, even though that one seemed like it would also be an awesome choice. this camera comes with a computer disc that has great options for organizing and editing your photos. Overall, I am thrilled with this camera and think it was well worth the price.

I will never use anywhere near the number of settings .., but nice to have them available for the once a month usage. Menu setup very intuitive. Controls clearly marked. Screen so-so in bright light but you have a viewfinder (hooray) and a good lens and good value..Nice feel in the hand.

Just a short note to let you know that I had some reservations about this item because of the claims of short battery life. I looked at a lot of other cameras and was hoping for some great features without having to go to the fancy schmancy cameras. For the price, I think it's a great buy. It is easy to use, it has a lot of great features and you can use manual functions but I haven't needed to yet because of all of the options including "night scene", "kids and pets", "foliage" and so on. The camera came with two basic alkaline batteries and I've literally taken a couple hundred pictures and they're still working. I don't use the flash very often, so this may contribute to the longer battery life, but I generally use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, so I'm not too worried about the future battery life once these freebies wear out.

This camera is portable but gives you the Face Recognition and other features you only find in SLR's! Cannon technology is the finest on the market. I would highly recommend this camera.

Best product for the price. I have sony-cybershot for 3 times this price and dont like it much. Photo quality is really good. Useful for all kinds of users.

This camera takes very good pictures. I did have some problems with the lense and I had to return it for a new one.

This is a real nice unit. Watch the internet videos. It has features that will appeal to a photographer, or to grandma. Then check out its movie mode. Read your owners manual, to get the most out of this excellent camera.

Nice camera, especially for the price. It could do a little better capturing movement without being blurry, but it has done a fine job for me and is pretty easy to operate.

I got this camera on sale for $148 + free memory card, and it's possibly the best digital camera I've ever dealt with. It may be bulky, but this allows it to have the capability and options to customize and take so many great shots, more than ultra-compa