Отзывы о Цифровой Фотоаппарат Canon PowerShot SX160 IS

Let me preface this by saying I come from the "old school" of photography. I've use good-quality film SLR cameras for years, and have always hated digitals because of all the cumbersome controls and lack of good manual control of the camera (yes, even on digital SLRs).

This camera is quite an improvement. If you are just a point-and-shooter, you can take it out of the box, throw batteries and an SD card in it and just click away. But if you know what you are doing with a camera, there are good manual controls in here for you, too, and that's what I want to focus on.

If you need to take close-up shots of small models, insects, flowers, etc this is the camera for you. If you want something tiny and slim just for snapping pics on vacation, this is NOT the camera for you. It will do a superb job, but it's more than you need and therefore bulkier than you probably want.

It has shutter and aperture priority - the latter being the most important. You can manually stop down the lens anywhere from 2.6 to 8.0. It wish it would stop all the way down to, like f/22, but that's a lot to ask for a $200 digicam. In macro mode, it really truly can focus on things only 1 cm away from the lens, and the focus is still crisp - very impressive.

Put this thing on a tripod, put a good light on your subject, turn the flash OFF, use the built-in timer to avoid shaking the camera, and you'll get magazine-publishable photos, and that's no lie.

White balance is superb. You can take shots under flourescent, incandescent, tungsten (photofloods) and the color rendition is terrific, even if you use the "auto" white balance. But you can manually calibrate it if you really want to. There are also several preset white balance settings (flourescent, incandescent, tungsten, and about 4 others).

It runs on 4 AA batteries, so you can shoot a long time before the batteries are dead, but definitely invest in 4 NiMH AA's and a charger.

It uses standard SD cards, not like those morons at Sony who insist on using a proprietary memory card in their cameras.

The best thing about it is that all the real controls you need if you are used to using a real camera are easily accessible right at the top level buttons - exposure compenstation, macro mode, flash on/off, f/stop.

There is also a full manual mode, so you can set f/stop, exposure, shutter speed and focus all completely manually. I fooled with some of the DSLRs, and those "mid-range" hybrid models like the S3 (sort of in between the things like this A630 and a DSLR). Frankly, they are agony to use. If I spend $800-$1000 on a DSLR, I do not expect it to punish me to find how to change the *(&#$@_)&* f/stop!

A 4x true optical zoom is a pretty darn good range in a small cam, as well.

The door where the USB hooks up is kind of cheap feeling, but I won't know for a long time whether it will hold up or not. Video shoots a smooth, crisp, non-grainy 30 frames per second in normal room light. Nice.

The LCD is large, bright, and clear, and it flips out to the side of the camera (if you like that sort of thing). I don't know why a few people complained about it.

Hooking to a computer - If you've got a Mac with OS/X, don't bother installing ANYTHING that comes with the camera. Just plug the camera into your USB port, and use the Mac's built in camera application. It will pull the photos off neatly in to a folder, and even delete them from the camera for you if you want. This is another nice plus. Who needs those silly bloated custom applications that come with these cameras? (And BTW, I am a computer software engineer by trade.)

I first tried an A550 (also a nice cam) and exchanged it at the store for this A630, because the 550 doesn't have the manual exposure controls I needed. For the extra $30 in price, the A630 is an enormous step up in quality and controls, well worth $30 more.

This battery is just like the one that came with the Canon VIXIA HF R10A. My only problem is I tried to order 2 batteries but they only sent one. They also only charged me for one. I would have liked to have two replacement with this order.

I've had my SX10 for about a week and am very impressed with it's versatility. I tend to read all the user reviews I can before making a purchase and did that with the SX10. I also tested the camera with my own card in a local store and compared video and stills on the same card to the Pany TZ28. I am very interested in video and was attracted to the Pany because of its HD video. However, in testing, the SX10 was overall very superior. It has excellent color, unbelievable IS, smooth zoom, very nice stereo sound, and fool proof autofocus. I found the Pany to be weak in all those areas. I prefer the better "all around" video to the HD of the Pany.

Initially, I was spooked by the reports of a slow lens during medium to max zoom, 5.6 to be exact. I read enough reports to be convinced that the slow lens would not be especially restrictive for me due to compensation in ISO and speed setting, made possible by the excellent image stabilization. I have found the lens to be just fine, even at max zoom. I also found that the lens is fast enough for indoor non flash photography. I even tested the "ISO 3200" setting, which requires a lower mp setting. I printed these out at 3x5 and the pictures were very good.

At first, the LCD seemed dark. After I turned up the setting to bright, it was better. After using it awhile, it seems fine. The EVF is large and bright, the best I've seen.

When the professional reviews come out, there will certainly be knocks on the slow lens. In my opinion, this is more of a theoretical limitation than a practical one. If you like the camera, don't be spooked by the slow lens comments. If you're not sure, buy from Amazon with their excellent return policy.

One really solid feature is the wide angle of the lens. This was not a feature I thought I wanted or needed. Now that I've seen the wide angle, I'll never have another camera without it.

There are many other features that most will enjoy, including the dedicated video button, AA batteries, custom settings etc. I think average and very serious photographers alike will be happy with the SX10.

After one month and over 3000 pictures later, I can happily say I love this camera.

The fun part is figuring out what it can do. With all the available settings, it can be a bit intimidating at first. My first photos - especially of my 19-month-old son - turned out a bit blurry.

However, with some practice I'm now catching the little guy more consistently.

Playing with the macro has been the most fun. I've caught some amazing photos of insects and flowers. As for the zoom, I've taken pictures of high-flying birds and planes, many of which turn out surprisingly clear.

My only gripe is I can't get closer to my macro subjects. However, with the purchase of a macro lens -- which I plan on purchasing soon -- will fix that.

It's also fairly easy to upgrade. With the purchase of an adapter from lensmate, I can now use filters, and of course with the hotshoe I can add an external flash.

If you're looking for a versatile camera, but don't have the cash for a DSLR, this is the camera for you.

Have had it about a year. First the minor quibbles:

1) flash-recycle time is a little slow
2) you cannot change zoom when shooting video
3) menu navigation is not idiot-proof
4) low-light level results are fair.

The auto-focus, especially the face-finder feature, works flawlessly, and the 10x zoom capability is great. The LCD is big and bright, and I have not missed having a viewfinder yet.

I use Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable AA NiMH batteries (2000 maH) in it and can typically shoot at least a couple of hundred pictures without flash or shoot a half-hour or so before having to swap to the backup set of batteries.

The image stabilization works very well, although photo quality in very low light is not great.

For normal picture taking the results are very good. The photos have good contrast and colors, and the auto-focus and face detection work well and don't get in the way of taking pictures.

An interesting thing about face detection is that it detects eyes, human or not! So when doing a macro photo of some colorful leaf-hopper with the camera, the face detection is able to pick out the tiny insect eyes and focus on the insect face correctly.

Photos using the flash tend to come out very well, and it takes a second to learn that you need to manually pop up the flash to make it work.

I purchased this camera to replace my 6MP Nikon Coolpix L1 compact. The screen on that camera had become damaged, though it still took good pictures. I gave that camera away to a friend in a 3rd world country.

I researched this new camera online quite a bit before purchasing it.

The main thing that attracted me to this camera was that it had an optical viewfinder. That feature was lacking on the Nikon L1, and I will never again make the mistake of purchasing a camera without an optical viewfinder, since it's very hard to take pictures outdoors without one.

Another very important feature to me was AA battery support. Also nice was SDHC card support (so I could share the same card as in my DSLR). And of course the camera has a good number of megapixels.

Once I got the camera in my hands unfortunately, I was disappointed. The optical viewfinder is very small. And its optics are very bad - you don't actually get a clear view of what you are shooting through it.

The colors that you see at shooting time on the LCD screen are severely lacking and in no way match the final result of the pictures.

But the worst part about this camera without question is the image quality. Every single shot I took was grainy. Even at ISO 80 the noise is pronounced. Also, the pictures are not sharp. Even though they seem to be in focus, small text is unreadable even when magnifying the picture 1:1 on screen. This was completely unexpected. The image quality is worse than my first digital camera, a 3MP Olympus C3000 from 2001. And it is noticeably worse than the Nikon L1. I played with all the settings on the camera to try to make it better but to no avail - I was very frustrated.

Unfortunately, this is a fatal flaw, and none of the nice features of the camera like IS, or the excellent software, can make up for it.

Pros: Great shots; Long battery life

Cons: A bit bulky, unintuitive learning curve for some features. Lens flaps tend to stick over time on power up.

Summary: I bought one of the sexy, tiny, waterproof, shockproof, does-your-laundry Olympus's at about the same time as this one...and must say that this camera outdoes it and a lot of its competition in picture quality. That goes double in sunlit conditions.

I hadn't replaced my digital camera for years, and being able to interchange lenses on a sub-$400 camera is mindblowing to me...way to go, Canon!

The fact that it takes 4 standard "AA" batteries is a double-edged sword, with generic rechargeables and cheap alkalines readily available, as well as unbelievable battery life. Almost two months and I haven't changed them yet. Still, it makes it a bit less travel worthy from bulk, as does the protruding power lens which is always a danger of extending in my ever packed briefcase where I'm forced to carry it on business. Still, the flush set power button is well designed to help eliminate that problem.

I'd say my only serious beef with this otherwise fine piece of equipment is the fact that a few features that should be quickly and intuitively available are not. Thumbnails in review mode involves zooming out, which took me a while to figure out--yes, I figure this out on business travel wihtout benefit of the admittedly ample documentation manuals. Flash on/off, macro functions and timer are not that hard to get to, but when you're new to this camera and need to toggle through menus onscreen that have little or no symbolism on the camera's body to guide you, you're going to lose some prime photo opportunities.

Still, if you like Canons and want very good value for money, this one is a winner. AND YES, YOU CAN SAFELY IGNORE THE OUTDATED PRICE...NOT SURE IF AMAZON IS STILL A LEGITIMATE WAY TO GET THIS OLDER MODEL.

First off, I cannot express enough how awesome the quality is on this camera! :) Everytime I pick it up to use it, I can almost always expect the best quality from any camera I've ever used, even in the video feature! :)

To be honest, I spent 500$ on a JVC digital video camera, and the images AND videos would turn out mostly washed out or gritty. However, I only spent 152$ (including shipping) on this Canon Powershot camera, and I think it's the best 150$ I've ever spent! :) I love to film videos as much as I do photos, so I was EXTREMELY amazed and excited when I found out that the video quality was JUST as fantastic as the photo quality! It's my first "more professional, yet amateur" camera, and I'm completely satisfied :)

The only disadvantage is that if you want to take a photo of yourself, you can't see the LCD screen to see where you're aiming. Other than that, NO problems! :) I'd recommend Canon Powershots to anyone, and I can promise that Canon will be the first and only brand I look at when buying another camera product! :)

I have nothing to say about the picture quality of this camera. The photos come out very sharp and good quality. However, the first camera I received had a faulty memory card slot that wasn't ejecting the SD card. Received a replacement from Amazon and after 2 months of usage, now there is a connection problem with the LCD Display. The LCD display just turns itself off at random times and now I have to send it to a repair centre. It is under warranty but camera is surely not the quality I have expected from Canon. Another major annoyance is being unable to watch the HD videos I take on any of my PC's because my PC's are not the latest spec. Especially all the people commenting here about converting the videos to standard resolution etc. Excuse me but I didn't pay over £400 to deal with converting movies. Canon has to make sure it works. Even with Canon's own video codec I can't play these videos. And one more thing; was it really too expensive for Canon to add an HDMI cable to the box? It only costs about £5 online. If you are manufacturing an HD Camera, please add that to the package next time and reflect this to the price if you have to. Camera is still shipped with a crappy analog video cable.

Purchased this camera about 4 months ago. Have had previous experience with Canon powershot cameras which took very sharp photo's. Was very interested in the image stabilization. Thought this would help even more photos turn out. In 4 months of use most photos are lacking in sharpness and I am ready to give up on this camera. Yes, still under warranty and perhaps this one is just a bad one off the line. Warranty repair is kind of a pain and given I got this cheap it might just end up under the tires of my car.

10/1/2010 A followup to the original review. I contacted Canon via their website. It was fairly easy to set up an RMA. Went to UPS local store and paid for packaging and shipping. Everything went pretty quick. Canon turn around on the repair was less than a week. They adjusted the focusing mechanism. Repaired camera is working quite fine. I am now really enjoying this camera.

Wow, what a piece of equipment! I am still getting used to all the settings on this camera! There is so much more capability than a point & shoot style digital camera I just graduated from. One thing I do not care for is the fact that this camera does not accept filters, I am a big fan of polarizers. But, as Canon has explained to me, you correct your exposures with the editing software included with this camera. I love the zoom range, the lens is perfect for all photo opportunities & situations. This is a great camera if you like to dabble with settings and exposures like you could with the old film SLR's. And the price is way below the digital SLR's. If you just want an easy camera that you can pick up & shoot, this may not be the one for you. It requires some thought about what setting you need to use. But if you are a discriminating photographer, there's probably features that are not available on this camera. It's a good middle of the road camera with SLR body styling.

This is our third Canon camera. The first was stolen and the second got old. We love this camera as it takes great photos, has enough features to please him, is easy enough for her, and the same user interface as the previous models we owned. The zoom is incredible and the image stabilization is really nice. The flash takes a long time to charge, but the batteries last a long time.
The problem is that after less then two months the shutter release button fell off. It continued to work fine so we hesitated to loose it for a couple weeks for service. Then the camera started giving intermittent lens error messages. When we sent it in for warranty service they refused service on the basis there was damage. They also claimed the button "just doesn't fall off". When the camera was returned not repaired because I refused to pay half the purchase price, I had to search very hard to find the damage. It is very small and barely noticeable. In my discussions with Canon they claim quality products with very low product failure rate, but in my experience they do their best to find fault with the customer rather then provide support for the few products that need service. It's still a good product, but we will be wary of Canon in the future.

For its size and price, this camera is packed with features that can help you take great pictures in a variety of settings. The biggest limitation I've noticed is the small, sometimes blurry LCD screen and the limited zoom.

The camera itself works great. In fact the video it takes is surprisingly good quality. The only issue I have after 1.5 years of use is that the battery meter keeps saying the batteries ared dead when they're not. The camera will shut off and I'll have to open the battery compartment and close. Then it works fine for another 5-10 minutes. I will have to keep doing this. This occurs with every type of battery I've tried. Energizer, Duracell, Generic and my Sanyo Enelopes.

Update 9/28/12

I've researched the low battery issue and it has something to do with the metal contact prong on the battery cover. I was able to bend it slightly and the issue appears to have been resolved.

This review is intended for people who, like me, are buying their first digital camera after years of using disposables. I can't comment on whether it would suit the needs of experienced photographers. I bought an A620 a month ago, in anticipation of a vacation, and can offer the following observations:

(1) This camera is quite easy to use as a point-and-shoot. The instruction manual will have you up and shooting within 5 minutes of opening the box. Understanding more of the camera's features will require an evening or two with the manual. The camera has both a variety of automatic settings (an all-purpose "auto" plus settings for indoor, beach, fireworks, pets, etc.) and also allows extensive direct control of various parameters, which will undoubtedly be enjoyable to learn. In short, this is easy to use immediately but offers plenty of room to grow.

(2) Features that are important, or not:

(a) Megapixels: 7 megs appears to be more than a vacation photographer really needs -- photos at this level appear suitable for conversion into poster-size prints. However, both image size and resolution can be set lower; a 1 GB memory card can hold several hundred pictures at the 4x6 snapshot quality. (Note that one absolutely must buy a larger memory card than the very small one included with the camera, which only holds a handful of photos. A 1 GB card will add about $50 to the overall price.)

(b) Heft: This camera is too big to fit in a pocket, but not at all heavy carried in a shoulder pouch. I found the mini cameras I sampled too small to get an easy grip on. The A620 fits very nicely in the hand and can be gripped firmly (important for non-blurry shots) by the side compartment. The battery compartment and cable compartment doors are amazingly flimsy -- especially when you first open the box, be very careful installing the batteries since the door looks like it will break in a moment if moved the wrong way. The door over the cable connections is simply a cheap fold of rubber, which I suspect will have fallen off within a year.

(c) LCD and viewfinder: Not all digital cameras have traditional viewfinders. The A620 does. I think a viewfinder is essential, since the LCD cannot always be viewed, especially in bright outdoor light. Note that the viewfinder on the A620 is slightly offset from the camera lens, so photos taken using the viewfinder will be "off" a bit. This is something one either needs to learn to adjust for, or plan on doing some cropping on the PC later. The LCD on the A620 swivels out, which is very handy. Not only does this protect the LCD (by folding it in when the camera's not in use), but the LCD can be angled in various ways to help take shots aimed low or high, or flipped all the way around for the inevitable self-protraits.

(d) Batteries: This uses 4 AA batteries. I used the same 4 throughout my 2-week vacation and they are still going strong. One should get a set of rechargeable AA's and a good charger (this will add another $40 or so if you don't scrimp). I wanted a camera that uses AA's since my main interest in having a camera is travel photos, and AA's are available everywhere.

(e) Movies: The A620 can shoot nice quality video, although the sound quality suffers from an unavoidable motor-like background sound.

(f) Zoom: Digital cameras advertise both digital and optical zoom. I understand now the difference between the two, and can summarize it in lay terms: Optical zoom is "real" zoom, performed with the lens, and digital zoom is, in effect, an auto-blur feature. I find the digital zoom useful for using the camera in a pinch as a pair of binoculars, but only the optical zoom produces nice photos. This is also where the 7 megs come in useful: photos taken at very high resolution provide amazing detail, so the best way to get a close-up is to combine the optical zoom at high resolution with subsequent PC zooming and cropping. I had hoped for more than a 4X optical zoom, but that turns out to be hard to find on digital cameras without adding more weight than I wanted.

(g) Connections: The camera interacts with your PC and TV through cables plugged in on the side. Downloading the contents of a full 1 GB card to my PC via the USB cable took only a few moments. The bundled software is easy to use for storing photos on your PC; it can tell which photos you've already downloaded from your camera. The software includes only a few editing features. For backing up photos onto CD, the bundled software worked poorly, but this task was easy to accomplish with the CD-burning software that came with my PC's CD-burner (Sonic). Interestingly, lower resolution photos look much nicer on a TV screen than higher resolution ones.

(h) Fun stuff: There are settings for stitching together landscapes, making sepia and B&W photos, and (my favor

The camera is fine... it's got basic features, & it's a good size. We wanted a camera that uses regular batteries. They're more convenient (you can get them anywhere, & it's easy to carry extras)& we NEVER had a problem before with batteries... even with our more expensive Canon. Well, this camera has taken up to 14 seconds to RECHARGE the flash after we take a picture. If you're a regular camera user, that is FOREVER when you're trying to get a shot of just about ANYTHING, especially kids! You've MISSED the MOMENT!!!! It's ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! We sent it back to Canon, SURE that something was wrong. They sent a note back, saying they'd fix it & there WERE defective parts. Sure enough, it came back... NO BETTER! We USE the special camera batteries. It DOESN'T MATTER! You can't tell how long the camera will take to recharge each time. But it is EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING, bcs you MISS every chance at a good photo!! It's a shame. It takes nice photos, & has everything else you could need... except it's gone BACKWARDS in time & quality. Digital cameras have been around long enough... such a LONG delay should NOT be an issue anymore!

This has a huge zoom, loads of megapxels & brilliant low light, photographs & video (way better than expected ) for its price range. Compact , has loads of manual features as well as auto. So can be used by Amateur & pro with ease. Face detection & all easy to use features are there. Just flip up the flash when you need it. Video is very good, so dont need to carry my camcorder with it, as a big 8 gb sd card + this is sufficient as I dont usually shoot more than 15 mns at a time. Has Canons usual awesome picture quality, vivid colours. Great as a point and shoot, or for someone learning photography.I tested alot of zoom cameras n this price range, & this was the best in terms of zoom & quality of pics & flash abilities. Also I've had no red eye in any of the night shots of taken, whch is a problem with the compact cameras without pop up flash. The only other one with simlar quality results was the canon ixus 100 , but the telephoto zoom was only a third of this one , and costs more. I will be using it for hols & as back up to the DSLR. Its easy to get a small belt or neck case for it. Takes 2 x AA's which are available in any country. Very easy to use, very well made & high quality. Pictures comparable to a DSLR & sharp.

I was so excited to receive this camera. With a good sized CMOS censor and full HD video I was certain that it would be a killer upgrade from my 3 year old SD630. I can't articulate how disappointed I was to find that (in my hands) it could not take a single picture that was as good as my hip shots on the SD630. At first I tried comparing old photos (in similar environments) to the new ones taken with the SX1 but after many "failures" I decided to shoot the very same shot with both cameras. What I found is inexplicable. The 6MP CCD camera consistently produced cleaner photos than the SX1. The two most glaring deficits of the SX1 were graininess and noise. I did manage to take some usable shots outside just before sunset with ISO 80 and a tripod, but even those were noticeably lower quality than photos taken on the SD630 the week before.

Needless to say I sent this camera back. I'll be sticking with my SD630 until the G11 is released. I think Canon might need another generation to work out the kinks in this sensor.

The Canon Powershot A1000IS sounded ideal with its optical viewfinder (very rare in low-end digital cameras), small size, convenient handgrip, well-designed controls, 4x optical zoom, many up-to-date features (10 megapixels, auto face detection, etc.) -- and above all, with Canon's great reputation. (I've owned several Canons.) I'm an experienced photobug and, after reviewing the controls, I took my new A1000IS to a child's bowling alley birthday party. What a disappointment! Due to extreme shutter lag that I haven't seen since the earliest digitals, I missed shot after shot as the kids raced around me. The exposures and flash performance weren't great either. I immediately returned the camera. It doesn't begin to compare with my wonderful (and rave-reviewed) Fuji FinePix F30, which has developed a shutter problem after several years of service. My only difficulty with the F30 was lack of an optical viewfinder, so that in bright sunlight I was literally shooting blind, just pointing in the direction of the subject. I thought I would solve that with the Canon Powershot A1000IS -- but no such luck! I'd buy another FinePix F30 if they were still available; however, the newer Fujis haven't received comparable reviews. Think I'll try a Nikon Coolpix S560, since my daughter raves about her S550 (a tiny bit wider angle, 34.8mm vs. 35mm equivalent, and more zoom, 5x vs. 4x).

I owned and loved my PowerShot S3 IS for several years. The S3 IS was a great camera and I really enjoyed it - that is I *liked* using it. I enjoyed taking pictures with it. It was a great camera.

Then I sold it to a friend and "upgraded" to this SX10 IS. Frankly, I generally regret parting with my venerable S3 IS.

In comparison:
* The S3 IS was smaller. Physically, if you measure, the ruler says that the SX10 is not that much bigger -- but the feel of the SX10 is heavy and clunky.
* The controls of the S3 were much easier to manipulate by touch (i.e. I'm looking thought the eye-piece and changing settings by feel) -- this SX10 seems much more difficult to do the same thing, I and find I have to look at the controls more.
* The lens cap on the S3 IS was tethered - attached - and I could flip it off with the flick of one finger and know I'm not going to lose. Whereas, the lens cap of the SX10 is NOT tethered and attaches differently making it hugely inconvenient for the "quick-shot" you might try to capture. In my experience, more often than not, the lens cap falls off as I'm taking the camera out of my camera bag and is prone to fly off and get lost. VERY annoying. My intension is to attach a thin string somehow.
* Frankly, I see almost NO difference in the Digic III processor in this SX10 than I did in the Digic II processor of the S3 IS. IF the SX10 dropped fewer frames when snapping a pic during movie mode, that would be great - but I see no difference.

There are many other small annoyances between the S3 and the SX10 that I won't belabor here.

On the plus side, I will admit that the 20x Zoom is nice.

Summary:
IF you are contemplating upgrading from an S3 IS or an S5 IS, my advice is to give this one a pass and keep your current camera UNLESS you really want the 20x zoom.

This camera has alot of features and settings you can adjust which might seem a little intimidating if your not a pro but it is really easy to use. The menu is clear and I like how you can view everything (settings) on the screen. Speaking of the screen, this camera has a large (3") one and is easily viewable in bright sunlight unlike older lcd displays. The preset picture settings are handy and work well, Sunset and Landscape are great! The 10X optical makes the zoom very clear and the automatic image stabilizer is very helpfull especially when zoomed in on a distant object. I do like how it uses regular batteries (2 AA's) over using a battery pack. It does consume alot of juice but I tried the Energizer Ultimate Lithum batteries and they last much, much longer. Don't bother using the supplied 32mb memory card it holds very little. Just buy the Transcend 8GB HDSC card and this camera will take thousands of pics even on the highest resolution setting.
Overall this camera is a good size, has great zoom, is easy to use, takes excellent pictures, and is a good price for how many features it has.

I got this camera from Amazon about a week ago. Aside from using a simple cheap point and shoot camera, I'm new to photography. I bought this camera because I wants something that took video and pictures. This camera takes very good pictures and very good video (NOT HD). I'm new and I am amazed at some of the shots I can get with this camera. I now look for shot as I drive and go out to take nature photos. I will say that you need to read the manual. Which I did right after getting the camera. There is a lot to learn with this camera. It can be as point and shoot or as manual as you want it. My dad liked my camera so much that he bought a camera based solely on messing around with mine. This is a very good camera. Check out some of the photos I uploaded for this camera. There are some aspects of the camera though that I can see that aren't the best. The higher ISOs gets grainy, I wish it was a little faster, like to have a better flash, and I wish there was a better way to manually focus. The dial wheel that some people complain about isn't that bad as far as I can say. I haven't had that much of a problem using it. All in all this is a veery good camera.

I like this camera a lot. I have taken so many pictures and I am still learning and experimenting. I am new to digital and actually got this with a gift certificate. I would never go back to my 35mm now. I had several people tell me that Canon is an excellent lower end camera and I agree. The Powershot A590IS got great reviews on the tech sites on the internet. I especially like using the night feature. I got some great winter shots when it was snowing. Great pictures. If you are just starting or just want a great lower end camera, I would recommend this one. The Canon website has a lot of instructional information besides what comes with the camera. It has everything but the bag and I purchase that separately. I bought a Tamrac bag which I also highly recommend.

I purchased this camera for my in-laws for Christmas. They are completely non-technical, have never used a digital camera or computer, and my mother-in-law asked me twice "where does the film go". That being said - they can understand and use this camera. It does not have a ton of features, which is good because it would only confuse them. That is not a slam to them, it's just fact. At the same time we purchased one of the small HP portable printers for them. My father-in-law understands it enough to use it when he wants a quick print, but I explained just taking the camera or card to get multiple prints or bring to me and I'll take care of it.

Christmas day we printed out several pictures on the printer, and they came out great - I, as well as my husband and in-laws were thoroughly surprised at the level of detail (says a lot about the camera and the printer).
HP A636 Compact Photo Printer

Shot to shot time is not particularly fast, so be patient, and don't move the camera too fast after taking the picture. I'm used to my higher end digital cameras though, and Canon's are known for their slower response time.

I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. On the one hand, I think I expected the drawbacks of this camera, so with that expectation and based on the low price, and the great picture quality, it should probably be 4 stars. However given Canon's overall reputation as a leader in digital cameras, I think I expect better and a little faster and had to settle on just 3.