Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (OLD MODEL)

I had a Nokia digital camera for a couple of years. I don't have much knowledge and wanted a camera where I could easily use the auto mode. Well, the pictures always came out too dark even when a flash was used. Luckily I dropped the camera and broke the lens for it made me do in depth research before I purchased this little gem of a camera.I needed a workable camera for a New York City trip and I heard good things about Canon as well as this camera in particular. I am thrilled with my purchase. It is a small camera that is also very sturdy and an excellent piece of equipment. Many electronic items now come with cds to read the manual. This one actually came with many manuals and they were lenghthy and definitely user friendly. Everything is described in full detail from first set up of the camera to the great enhancement features this camera possesses.But luckily for me I was able to go to New York and use the camera in the auto mode and it took amazing puctures whether it be day or night, cloudy or sunny. The detail is amazing and color is crisp. Whem I the pictures to mt computer again there were easy to follow instructions provided. Everything about this camera is A+ and I can't wait to explore the more advanced enhacements it has. No item is perfect and people are complaining about the battery life with the camera. I have had no such problem. I own a 4 AA battery rechargeable kit and I put freshly charged batteries into the camera and went 5 days, taking over 200 pictures without the batteries needing to be changed. Now 2 more weeks have gone by and those same batteries are running strong.With so many oprtions out there with electronics it is very important to go by others experience using the item and really read their opinions to see what applies to you. For me this camera receives the highest grade. I can use the auto mode as I desire for perfect pictures and there are many great additional features to utilize as I progress as a photographer. I now also trust Canon and learned my lesson about Nokia. Canon is reliable and this product comes well packaged with all the instructions you need.Highly recommend this superb digital camera.

i bought this camera after seeing a piece on dpreview.com comparing 9 budget cameras. this one had the best overall image quality in the tests.it really is amazing what $120 can buy you these days. photography enthusiasts on a budget will love the features. the camera has fully manual capability and a really nice layout and menu design. it shows you the shutter and aperture settings its using when you depress the shutter. in program mode you can just shoot, or you can adjust exposure, ISO, white balance, flash exposure as you like. its clearly produced by a company thats always refining its products to be more flexible without being unecessarily complicated.the camera is well designed and responsive. if it could only shoot raw and had live histogram id give it an A+ for features.the bad news is its still a cheap camera. the sensor is small and fairly noisy. frankly im a bit disappointed in that regard. the pictures look good in general terms but when you zoom in to 100% they are noisy and compressed looking in general, with high ISO pictures being really bad (mind you i usually shoot RAW images with a larger camera).the only consolation is knowing that other cameras at this price are the same if not worse. but you really dont want to shoot in low light with this thing, it looks like a damn snowstorm.if your camera budget is $150, i absolutely recommend this camera. if image quality is important and you can spend more, its may be worth it to do so... but you may have to spend considerably more to see any improvement.

I read a lot of reviews while selecting this camera. Kudos to RLSd, F. Gillett, & Molly P., among others. Forget the stars - it was their accurate realistic detail that really helped. Lacking their expertise, I'll confine myself to a few areas that concerned me until I actually used the A590IS. This was partly due to other reviews that weren't as well done.First is the size and "chunkiness" issue. It's chunkier than some of its peers, but only a bit. It slides into a jacket or jeans pocket very nicely. In exchange for the chunkiness you get a camera you can grip securely and hold steady. You also get a shape you are far less likely to drop, even holding it in one hand while scrambling over the rocks. Finally, you get a view finder, not just a screen. During a recent two weeks in Greece, that was a Godsend, as the bright Aegean sun totally wiped out the electronic image.Second there is the battery issue. I read complaints from folks who said the camera ate batteries and died after too few shots. I'm not sure what was going on there, but you need to research the batteries the way you did your camera. The new Energizer lithium batteries got off about 400 shots, half with flash, before I had to replace them. And because it was a new toy, I was constantly using the camera to show my shots to my wife, which burned still more power. Hard to beat that. Are they the right choice for everyone? Maybe not. They are not rechargeable, so there's an ecological price to pay. Around the house I may switch to something greener, but for overseas trips, I'll stick with them.Another issue is the lag time between flash shots. Let's be real. If you want instant turn-around time, you shouldn't be looking at a $130 camera that uses a pair of AAs. If you want a camera for fast-breaking sports and photo-journalism, don't get an A590IS. That said, I didn't think it took insufferably long. I can't think of any shots I failed to get due to recycle time.Some folks had tales of woe about taking all these wonderful shots, only to have them disappear from the chip. When the camera arrives, read the little book, esp. the part on formatting your chip. That should prevent such sorrow from striking.Incidentally, one little discussed but really cool feature is the zoom capability when examining photos already in the can. You can zoom in to an incredible degree and find things in pix you've already taken that you didn't even know was there. (Honestly, honey, I had no idea she was topless.) I was stunned by the clarity.Do I have any complaints? A few. The manual is good but it has one of the worst indexes I've ever seen. Don't assume it omits a topic just because it isn't in the index. Flip through the pages and you'll find what you need. On occasion, I was disappointed in the inability of the camera to handle sharp lighting contrasts. Granted, Greek sunlight and shadow can create some extreme challenges, but it's still a limiting factor. The flash is useful but don't ask too much of it. You have to be quite close to your subject, esp. at night. If you are outdoors, it's easy to be too far away without realizing it.I guess that's about it. My bottom line is that I love this camera and I'm pleased and amazed with the shots I brought back from my recent trip. It's a great transitional camera for someone like myself who finally decided to leave his old 35mm gear and give in to digital. The auto setting is really good, but it permits manual control as well. Am still experimenting with that but am encouraged by what I see. I would buy this camera again in a heartbeat.