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Canon PowerShot A590 IS Digital Camera

 
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More Performance, More Value, More Fun

The PowerShot A590 IS will astound you with its power-packed performance and impressive value. It’s got 8.0-megapixels, a 4x optical zoom, an Optical Image Stabilizer and a large 2.5-inch LCD. A range of shooting modes - from manual to automatic including Canon’s new Easy Mode - make picture-taking carefree. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Enhanced Canon Face Detection assures natural-looking results, while Motion Detection Technology reduces blur. For added creativity, attach wide or telephoto converter lenses.

Product Features

  • 8.0 Megapixels with 4x Optical Zoom, Optical Image Stabilizer, large bright 2.5-inch LCD for superb performance.
  • New Easy Mode simplifies operation, and shooting modes from Manual to Automatic make picture-taking care-free.
  • DIGIC III Image Processor assures sharper images and better functionality; enhanced Canon Face Detection Technology sets focus, exposure, flash and white balance automatically for greater freedom.
  • Motion Detection Technology automatically reduces blur by calculating subject movement and selecting ideal exposure and ISO settings.
  • Accepts Wide-Angle and Telephoto Converter Lenses for greater creativity; uses convenient AA batteries.
  • Print/Share Button for easy direct printing and downloading, plus ID Photo Print and Movie Print with select PIXMA Photo Printers and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers.


Loaded with Features, Packed with Value

With the PowerShot A590 IS, dramatic, personal pictures have never been easier to shoot and share. The 8.0-megapixel design lets you create impressive high resolution images of family and friends you’ll be proud display. The genuine Canon 4x zoom lens moves you in for powerful close-ups-like a bird in flight or a child’s winning goal-at the touch of a button. Plus, Canon’s highly sophisticated Optical Image Stabilizer keeps every shot absolutely steady even when you’re not.

Productc Spes

MegaPixels

Total Pixels: Approx. 8.3 Megapixels
Effective Pixels: Approx. 8.0 Megapixels

LCD Monitor 2.5-inch amorphous silicon TFT color LCD,
Approx. 115,000 pixels
Power Source/Battery

AA-size Alkaline Battery (x2), Rechargeable AA-size Ni-MH Battery (x2)

Dimensions

6.3”(W) x 6.2”(H) x 3.4”(D)

Weight Approx. 6.17 oz./175g (camera body only)

Image Sensor

1/2.5-inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)

Exposure Modes

Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot
Control to incorporate facial brightness in Face Detection AF Metering frame is fixed to the center

Interface

USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (mini-B jack)

Storage Media

SD/SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card

CANON Powershot A590 IS’s Review

by pcworld.com

08/19/08

For a beginner’s camera, the PowerShot A590IS offers amazing image quality and superb stabilization.
My digital camera expertise begins and ends with this fact: I cannot resist the urge to photograph a couple of fuzzballs named Chuckie and Violet. I’m a classic novice point-and-shooter, and the crème de la crème of my snapshots find their way onto Flickr or Facebook.

Canon Powershot A590IS Test Scores
* Overall 80
* Performance 78
* Features 79
* Design 80

PowerShot A590IS digital camera to see how fully it would meet my list of very basic snapshooting requirements and how well it would compensate fro my lack of technical proficiency. For a bargain-bin price of $150, it has a lot of features: 8-megapixel resolution, 4X optical zoom, optical image stabilization, face detection (which recognizes faces in the frame and optimizes the autofocus accordingly) and a smaller-but-serviceable 2.5-inch LCD screen. And conveniently it runs on two AA batteries.

To orient myself to the camera and gain insight into its features and functions, I ripped the A590IS out of the box and started taking pictures. I had no trouble working my way through various settings, quickly finding and using many of the 19 shooting modes, including portrait, landscape, and auto. Not surprisingly, the A590IS doesn’t support a full range of manual settings (what do you expect for $150?), but it does let you program the shutter speed and aperture settings manually if you want to.

The big news with this point-and-shoot camera is image quality. Despite its rock-bottom price, the A590IS scored significantly higher in our image-quality assessments than point-and-shoots that cost more than twice as much and have higher megapixel counts. In particular, our judges noted superior colors and flash exposures in our subjective tests.

Image quality gets an assist from my favorite A590IS feature: the optical image stabilizer. I tried desperately to take a blurry picture--and I failed. No matter how hard I shook that camera or how much my subjects shimmied, I couldn’t induce a blurry image. (Unfortunately for me, the A590IS does permit photo subject guillotinage if the picture taker frames the shot badly enough.)

Like many other Canon cameras, the PowerShot A590IS has a classic, easy-to-hold ergonomic shape with a fat thumb/hand grip on the right side. Though it’s comfortable to hold, the camera body lacks rubber or textured trim on the plastic surface of its hand grip, which makes the grip a bit slick. I also wished that the camera were smaller: It’s a compact camera, but not exactly pocketable. You’ll need to secure it in a small camera bag before stowing it in your purse or backpack, or you’ll risk scratching it up.

Though the AA batteries are great for convenience, the A590IS produced only 248 shots running on a fresh pair. Many point-and-shoots can take more than 300 shots on a single charge.

Photos from the PowerShot A590IS will never be mistaken for digital SLR output, but this camera is a great choice for anyone seeking an inexpensive, easy-to-use point-and-shoot that produces high-quality images. And don’t be afraid to put its optical image stabilization to the test.

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CANON Powershot A590 IS’s Review

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Summary

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.
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Reviewed by freelance
October 19, 2009
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