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 focus. Although the LCD resolution is not good enough, even with the point zoom option, manual focus helps in close-up work and pre-focusing for action or creative photography.

+ 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) at the wide end, and f/4.0 (instead of f/5.5) at the telephoto end. That way a lower (& less noisy) ISO can be used in dim conditions or when fast shutter speeds are needed to freeze action. All the electronics in the world can't replace a good large lens. 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:

A580. This 2008 model is an A590IS (see below) without image stabilization and with semi-automatic instead of manual controls. I'd spend the extra bucks for the A590IS, because those two features can make quite a difference.

A650 IS. You can do a lot with this sweet little camera, though it may be more than you need. It has a flip-out LCD panel and the option 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.

A720 IS. This fully-loaded 2007 model 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.

A470. This 2008 camera is great for kids or anyone just looking for a good basic camera. 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, and is a good bargain.

Finally, the A590IS (the camera on this page) is a 2008 upgrade to an older model, 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, a great bargain and I think the best buy of the bunch. I bought one for myself.

Pros:
The A590IS is the best point and shoot under $200 today (closer to $155 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. 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: 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!).

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 focus. Although the LCD resolution is not good enough, even with the point zoom option, manual focus helps in close-up work and pre-focusing for action or creative photography.

+ 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) at the wide end, and f/4.0 (instead of f/5.5) at the telephoto end. That way a lower (& less noisy) ISO can be used in dim conditions or when fast shutter speeds are needed to freeze action. All the electronics in the world can't replace a good large lens. 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:

A580. This 2008 model is an A590IS (see below) without image stabilization and with semi-automatic instead of manual controls. I'd spend the extra bucks for the A590IS, because those two features can make quite a difference.

A650 IS. You can do a lot with this sweet little camera, though it may be more than you need. It has a flip-out LCD panel and the option 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.

A720 IS. This fully-loaded 2007 model 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.

A470. This 2008 camera is great for kids or anyone just looking for a good basic camera. 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, and is a good bargain.

Finally, the A590IS (the camera on this page) is a 2008 upgrade to an older model, 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, a great bargain and I think the best buy of the bunch. I bought one for myself.

Pros:
The A590IS is the best point and shoot under $200 today (closer to $155 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. 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: 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!).