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.

Never thought i'd be so happy having this camera. With $100 tag, i was never expect this such of quality, features and ability. I was actually waiting for my decision whether getting G10, LX3, or SD990 (more compact) .. all of those has manuals to control. Then i heard that Fuji has new sensor coming, and so the waiting process extended (cos i need camera good for concert : low light, and i'm curious of what fuji would bring to the table this time). I know that i'm not gonna make any decision in this few months and so i purchased this hundred bucks camera cos it has manuals. And i was very happy i bought this one as a tweener as i need to have smaller camera at the moment (i have sony dsc-h5 which i love so much but cannot slip to my pocket), and believe it or not it fits my skinny jeans pocket, just need a little extra slip then it's good (though it will make a little bump on your pocket more than smaller compact, but still fits comfortably as long as you don't sit with it inside your pocket). The manual control is amazing in this camera. You can control aperture shutter, exposure, flash level (i love this one!), and manual focus (and this one also). Amazingly, the pics i took with this camera looks really great .. not great great but .. REALLY GREAT! I've had SD1000 before and the pics looked horrible! Noise and unacceptable noise in every inch of the pictures when i crop it 100%, grainy and it doesn't have ability of taking pic indoor (at least that's my experience .. on lots of occasions, enough for me to give conclusion that it's more like a toy, anyway i loved the shape a lot!). Never liked the shape of A series until now, it feels more secure in my hand, and it's not as big as i was expected (in a good way), i still consider it small (look at G9 or A650, now that's big! .. for pocket) and some people complains about battery life, i don't have that problem since i charge my eneloop batteries right. Cos : - Constructions, plastic all around. I bet that's why canon made this very affordable, yet the quality of the camera exceeds other compacts in it's class (our advantage in my opinion, to fight the price), though i'd prefer rugged material for me i have no problem, since i found the plastic body is quite cute and pretty as long as you don't let it fall. Not a problem. - Video quality is to be honest .. ugly (20fps)! Mic is pretty good except the picture .. even only play it on my computer. Then when i plug it to my hdtv and tube tv .. DISASTER! don't expect any quality video out of this camera. But since i'm not into video anyway so .. Not a problem - Slow flash recycle when you set it on full/strongest level. But i'm using manual setting, and set the flash output to the lowest most of the time, so the recycle time is not that slow (about 2 or 3 seconds total after each snaps, and remember .. that after each snap we will have a preview of what we just took, so for me, i didn't feel like i was waiting). But if you're into action picture with flash, don't complain .. just don't buy this camera cos this camera is fully loaded for it's price! I see the reason people had a it very very slow because most of them are using Auto mode, which is using the max flash output most of the time, causing the flash recycle to be very slow, i mean REALLY SLOW like about 10 seconds total including preview. While the medium takes about 5 seconds total (hey i just counted it by my sense, didn't do the exact timing with stop watch, sorry if i'm not that accurate, that's why i typed : ..about) - Auto mode is horrible! get ready to be washed out by the flash and very often set to high ISO automatically. But i found out that the easy mode works way better for this purpose. So take easy mode instead i you need to take a quick snap. - I wish this one has the famous canon's color accent, but it's doesn't ! Now this one is a problem for me cos i loved it, shoot! - LCD resolution is a little low. Not that good. It's become a problem for me sometimes since i use manual focus very often, so it's a bit difficult to see whether it's focused or not cos the pic on LCD isn't sharp and that clear (doesn't affect the result at all if you got it right, it's just the LCD). A little bugger on this one. Well overall i am very very happy to have this camera. Heck ! for 100 bucks i buried all the cons far away of my thoughts cos the pros outweighs everything. Glad i didn't get other budget class camera, cos though it's the same price range (under $200) it's gonna be lower class instead of this one. Oh yeah, i've always put something in front of the flash as a diffuser so i don't have a harsh flash light (but this camera has great flash anyway, you'll be okay without anything, just set the level and watch for the distance) i even stick the toilet paper (this one was the best) on the clear tape and stick it on the flash. But now i have a better and dedicated flash diffuser for point and shoot camera that spreads out the light evenly and nicely without giving a harsh spot flash light causing the washed out picture. Especially for portrait pics. I have attached some pictures of it, so check it out! Now i can see what's the hype about canon's. But as long as you able to control your camera of what it could brings to the picture and not the other way around, any camera with a decent quality would be fine. Depends on what your needs, any brands has their good and bad ones (i love my SONY DSC-H5, but i hate my nikon P5100's pic quality). Don't let biased people become a judge to your decision. Give this cute little camera a chance, i bet you're gonna love of what you spend! Good luck!