Canon PowerShot A590 IS Digital Camera

I am not an expert on cameras, and if you're looking for a review full of technical jargon and specifications, there are several very good ones for this camera so you should check them out. This review is written for people like me who usually like to point and shoot but sometimes get the urge to meddle just a little bit into the manual world.

I previously used the Kodak Easyshare, a camera easily found for around $99 and it's a good little point and shoot camera. Mine finally died a year or two after heavy usage, and I decided I could splurge a little on a better camera. There was nothing wrong with the Kodak Easyshare, except it never really produced pictures with any spectacular depth like shots I'd seen online. I thought I could get that depth with a higher MB number, but that just seems to increase the file size and the amount you can shrink or grow a picture without losing quality. There, that's a layman's explanation for you.

After reading up on all the cameras in my price range, I settled on the Canon PowerShot A590 IS based on all the manual features it provides for a price I could afford - $179 at the time, though now you can find it around $130. What really nabbed me was that you can actually fit a telephoto or macro lens on this thing - to take really close up shots, or from really far away. With my Kodak, I couldn't zoom more than 3x without getting into "digital zoom" which is basically the same as using my photo editor to make the shot bigger. You lose quality. On the Canon, I can get 4x. But I notice even more how close I can get to objects without losing focus. If you ever take pictures of auction items for Ebay, you'll know what I mean. On my old camera, if I got close to an object at all, the picture was too fuzzy to be effective. On the Canon PowerShot A590 IS, I can get very close - close enough for serial numbers and texture - without losing any quality at all.

There are a ton of features on this camera, more than I could find on any other comparably priced camera, and if you want the specifics, like I said, there are better reviews out there for you. But for you basic camera lovers, you can go total point and shoot or you can incrementally control your own f-speed, focus, ISO, and more. You can experiment, which I have done lots of.

The kinds of pictures I've managed to produce on the Canon PowerShot A590 IS are high-quality close-ups where the eyelashes seem to poke out at you and the skin has natural texture to night shots where you can actually see lights, to freeze-frame action shots I could never have captured on my Kodak Easy Share. All with little to no expertise.

The "heart" setting on the camera is my point-and-shoot and almost every picture I take on this setting is of high quality and better than I ever experienced on another camera. But with a little reading of the manual and some books on the market about this particular camera, I have been able to dabble into the manual settings which work better particulary in dark settings.

This camera does seem to need more of a light source than my Kodak EasyShare. Shots taken indoors tend to need some manual settings, at least setting the ISO. Photos with not enough light are grainy and out of focus. Also, in poor light conditions when the flash is required, the shutter lag is very long, easily 2-3 seconds. This does drive my husband nuts.

Besides "Easy" and "Manual", there are preconfigured modes that take the guess work out of shots you need to take on the run, like those of action (named Kids and Pets) where the camera is already set for high-speed movement. I love taking shots of my kids on amusement park rides in this mode.

Some physical notes
This camera is compact, but the feature that makes it easier to hold in your hand without slipping also makes it too bulky for some camera pockets. There is not an included camera bag in the box, so I bought one at Best Buy for $40 that fits quite nicely. The camera is too tight a fit in some of the side pockets of purses built for more svelte point-and-shoots.

The picture review feature is a snap to use, and the display is large and bright. An up-and-down switch toggles you between shoot mode and review mode, so if the picture you just took disappears too quickly, you just toggle the switch and your last picture is right there for review. Click the navigator buttons right and left to move through all the pictures. There is a zoom feature for reviewing pictures that is easy to use.

I've had my camera for about a year now, and I have two small children so it has suffered some bumps and bruises with no discernable problems. It has been dropped onto concrete a few times and the casing is still sturdy. I like that the shutter closes when the camera is off so the lens stays clean.

This camera takes two AA batteries. Word to the wise, use digital batteries for longer life and limit the amount of time you spend reviewing pictures. If you conserve, you can get a day's worth of intense picture -taking (imagine a day at the beach or amusement park) out of one set of batteries.

All in all, this is a camera with more potential than my own skills make use of, and it allows me to point and shoot or to experiment with great results. My photos look like they were taken by someone with more experience than I have, and they look great blown up or online. That's what I wanted, and that's what I got.