Hello all, this camera is the real deal for its price. It is very easy to use and since I’m new with all this camera stuff, I love the fact you get detail info on the little icons indicating what they do. This helps my learning process for this camera. Also when the time is right, and you understand the camera, you can shut this option off. The picture quality is next to amazing. Especially at night, all my other cameras could never take pictures like this does. The detail is so crisp and clear. I’m truly impressed with this HD camera. If you are on the fence jump off and get this camera.

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 2006 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. (Canon offers a 2007 version of this camera that I haven’t had much experience with yet, the A650 IS. It also lists for $350.)

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 A720 IS has all the toys, including a 6x zoom (35mm film equivalent of 35-210mm), image stabilization, 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. $200 list.

2ND PLACE: The 2008 entry-level A470 (the camera on this page) 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 with the color inserts. Everyone with this little camera always seems to be having fun. $130 list.

1ST PLACE: The A590IS is the A580 (see 4th Place, above) with image stabilization and with the option of full manual controls. For an extra $30 those features are well worth it. I bought this model for myself. $180 list.

This camera here is not as compact as your typical slim camera (due to the 10x zoom), but it is small enough to fit in a purse or even a jacket/pants pocket if need be.

This camera has a burst mode so you can hold down the shutter and the camera will take numerous pictures, thus making it ideal for action shots. I took it to a Volleyball tournament and got unbelievable shots of my daughter serving and hitting! I cought her in mid air more then a few times…just what I had hoped for. I also took pictures at a track meet and got kids jumping hurdles…the pictures look almost like magazine shots!

This camera is extremely easy to use in the easy and auto adjust mode! It tells you everything on the screen. You can start shooting pretty much right away…it’s that easy! The manual is good to have for reference and questions and if you really want to get to know your camera.

The zoom is great and plenty! I took pictures from the mezzanine onto the Volleyball courts and could get nice close up shots! 10x is plenty for me!

The battery life is also impressive, as long as you keep your screen on a regular bright setting. First I had it set to “bright” and the battery didn’t do well. Then I set it to normal and it lasts a long time. I took about 150 shots and not a single bar was missing from the battery!

It has a rechargebale battery so you don’t have to keep buying regular batteries. Also, it does say that you can get a international charger so the battery charger can be plugged in anywhere in the world. (Still have to get that myself). What a nice option.

The quality of the pictures is also great! I took a team photo and my daughter took it to a practice to show the others. They choose the picture to use in a frame as a gift to the coaches. It turned out so good and all I did was push a button!

When shooting pictures, it has a option for the file size you select. If you know you want to email pictures, or for example if you sell on eBay and want to download pictures onto the ebay site, you select the small file size and shoot pictures that way for working with them online. For pictures that you use for portraits for example, you choose a larger file (pixels I guess), and that way it does not distort the picture when you enlarge it. That is also extremely easy to figure out!

Last but not least…I plugged it into my pc with the supplied USB cord and retrieved the photos the same way I always did in the past. I have not yet added the picture cd that came with it, but my guess is that it will work very good. I also took the 2GB SD card to Wal mart and made nice prints (you have to purchase the pro duo stick seperate…look for the “Sony pro-Duo Stick” cost about $13-$15). The 2 GB is plenty for me, I think it holds about 400 pictures).

Great camera…I have not found a flaw yet!

I would consider this camera a step up from a lot of others in the price range. Along with the scene modes (which is pretty standard on most point and shoots anyway) it has a manual setting, which is fun to play around with and really easy to navigate. For someone like me who is still learning all the technical stuff it’s a good first camera. You can customize a fair amount but its not overwhelming and hard to learn. At my job we are trained on what are the best selling points, features, etc, and whereas I take that into mind I also know that everyone is picky in their own way and some people care about certain features more than others. Personally I just wanted something to use on vacations, to take pictures of friends and I, my cats, etc. If you want something for fast action scenarios, sporting events and the like, you might want to skip this camera. It’s only got the standard 3.4 optical zoom, which really is not that far, and even though it zooms farther digitally…it will get more blurry the further in you go. That is one thing Canon needs to improve upon– a lot of their lower end models like this one have poor image stabilizing.

Canon’s face detection technology is pretty cool though. In Auto mode (and probably manual too, I’m not positive though) it actually locks onto a person’s face and almost highlights it…like zooms just their face in so you can see if it’s clearly focused before taking the pic. This is a feature you can turn on or off in the Menu settings. It throws you off a bit in relation to the rest of the photo, but once you get the hang of it it’s really helpful (in group shots especially.)

Bottom line – great deal for the price! You see a lot of Nikon’s (Coolpix series) in the $89-129 price range, but in my experience this newer Canon definitely surpasses them. I had a Nikon Coolpix 5600 (probably about 2 yrs old now), and whereas it took beautifully sharp photos, the lag time was incredibly slow and that’s what made me like this Canon better. Faster shutter times make all the difference! Canon’s photo software is easier to navigate as well, with more custom settings to play around with when you want to edit/share your pictures on your computer. Most people are surprised to learn what kind of camera I have after they’ve seen the photos it takes. I just think its really nice that you can get something of this quality for such a low price.

OH- And a note about the AA batteries for this Canon: Obviously if you use standard alkaline AA’s your response time is going to be a lot slower. Investing in good quality rechargeables is more than worth the money, it makes all the difference. I myself prefer Energizer’s Lithium batteries, the blue and silver ones, as oppose to the rechargeables…just because they are specially designed for high powered devices like digital cameras, and you don’t have to mess around with a charger, or the whole rotating batteries in and out. I got a good couple months of use out of a set of two, while taking pictures frequently…on a trip, and even just in everyday daily use. It’s about $5 for a two pack and $9 for 4.

(1) The A590IS has 8mp vs. 7mp on the A570IS (negligible difference)

(2) The A590IS is slightly faster between non-flash shots BUT slightly SLOWER before the first shot can be taken and slower between shots where flash is used (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: 640×480 = 30fps — 320×240 = 60fps
A590IS: 640×480 = 20fps — 320×240 = 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!).