Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PowerShot A590 IS Digital Camera (8.0 MP, 4xOptical Zoom) 2.5" LCD

I studied and read reviews for two months for digi camera.. In the end decided to buy Canon 590 IS. Absouletely happy with it .. " EASY " mode .. what can I say ? works wonder. For £130 can not go wrong. Bought it from Amazon.. instruction manual was in Italian but no problem becasue there is CD in the box which has English instructions. Delivery from Amazon was on time as promised.This camera produce crisp sharp bright photos.

Bought this Canon PowerShot A590 as I wanted a smaller camera for those occasions when I didn't want to lug my big Canon EOS 400 around. the A590 is an excellent camera in every way. Perfect photographs, I feel the quality rivals my EOS (which I also love to bits). The camera measures 9.4cms long x 6.6cm high x 3.8com deep (measurements taken at widest points). I also bought a Canon PowerShot camera case which fits this camera perfectly and has the added advantage of a small zippered front pocket for spare batteries and a pouch inside the lid for a spare SD card. I also bought a Kingston Elite Pro 2Gb SD card. The quality is there to see in my excellent photos, these are more than mere snaps. The camera has won many magazine 'excellent buy' recommends and I couldn't agree more. In everyday and for holiday use I have found its portability invaluable. It is easy to use and for me there is the added advantage of being able to compose the photographs you take with a 'proper' view finder. No need to hold the camera at arms length and wave it around. If you are a 'power' user there are all the menus and settings for you to twiddle and fiddle with to your hearts content, otherwise just go with auto mode and forget about menus and settings. The movie mode is also excellent, with good quality pictures. In fact the camera is just fabulous and I would buy this camera again, even if it cost more money. My OS is Windows XP SP2 (This is a new Dell D830 Notebook, but I ordered it with a Windows XP SP2 retrofit as I didn't fancy Vista) but according to the manual the Canon A590is also is compatible with Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Vista and Mac OSX as well as Windows XP of course. It connects to my computer easy peasy. In fact there's no point wittering on, its great, its petite, its easy to use, it produces excellent photographs and movies, just buy one!!!

Having had the Canon A590IS for 9 months, it has performed perfectly in almost every situation. This is an amazing camera for the price. If you want a very good compact camera that you can easily fit in your pocket and that you can rely upon for great photos and ease of use, this the camera for you.

This camera has survived 6 months in my pocket around the back and beyond in India. It has been smashed, bumped, scratched, smeared with mud and sand, dropped on hard floors many times, and subjected to extremes of temperatures. It still functions perfectly, and wears the scars well! You can be reasonably sure that this camera will survive anything you can, and still take photos like it did on the first day.

Most of the weight seems to come from the batteries (which are two AA batteries), so it is pretty light. It is reasonably slim, and can still fit in a tight pocket along with your wallet/phone/etc. It sits well in the hand, and all the functions can be easily accessed one-handed. It takes less than 2 seconds to turn on and be ready to shoot, and so you will hardly ever miss a shot. The battery life is very good, and most importantly, it uses removable AA batteries - so you don't have to buy expensive spare batteries. You can have as many batteries as you like, or even buy them in a local shop wherever you are if they run down. Also, you never get caught out waiting for you main battery to recharge before you can use the camera!

The picture quality is better than you are ever going to need - it really is remarkably clear and crisp. You can zoom in and out just about as much as you need as well. There is a x4 optical zoom, and x4 digital zoom on the video mode. I think there is an additional digital zoom which kicks in after the optical zoom, but I've never needed to use it. It has all the features to be able to change aperture and shutter speed, in quite a few different modes (which makes it easy to use, as well as providing more detailed custom modes). It is great if you know nothing about setting up a shot, or even if you know all the tricks - you can get the best out of this camera either way.

The video mode is also surprisingly high quality. If you didn't know in advance, you would think the video had been taken by a dedicated video camera. The sound quality is good too. This camera also has a good macro version which won't let you down. Images are saved in jpeg format, so they are easy to load onto most computers.

There are a few small problems I have found, but they are not significant enough to detract from the overall quality of the camera:

1) Occasionally, even though it is very small, you can accidentally press the on button in your pocket, which can run down the battery (but this doesn't happen very often).

2) If you zoom in whilst in video mode, the video seems to loose all quality very fast. So you need to be standing less than 10m away to use video.

3) There is no default mode for turning flash off, so you have to turn it off every time you turn the camera off and on if you don't want a flash.

4) There is a vertical slide button which activates the photo preview function. This displays the photos on the view screen at the back (in a very intuitive and versatile manner), and disables your ability to take photos at the same time. This slide button gets a little bit easier to move after much use, and so can be accidentally activated. This is irritating if you need to whip your camera out and take a photo fast - leading to much frustration!

5) The bulge on the right side, which makes the camera easier to hold and use one-handed, feels a little bulky in your pocket. I felt a slightly uncomfortable and bulky pocket was worth all the other good aspects of this camera - but you may prefer a slimmer camera if you really want a small compact.

If you choose the Canon A590IS you might want to get a high quality 4GB memory card (to keep transfer times high) and some powerful rechargeable batteries (and charger if needed!).

If you are looking for a camera to take on nights out, this one will be more than suitable - but there are thinner, prettier cameras in the same price range which you should probably buy instead. More importantly, this camera produces some fantastic photos for the more discerning photographer, and my friends are often commenting on the great colours I get from my photos.

There are less gimmicky features with this camera than most; it has Sepia and B&W white balance settings but that's about it for 'effects'. It does have a great selection of presets (Night shot, Indoors, Foliage, Kids and Pets etc) that you can switch to depending on the situation. I have tried most of these out and they are very clever (the Kids and Pets one, for example, takes faster shots due to the fact that kids and pets like to move about!) and help you to take better photos.

To summarise, if you want a camera to slip in your pocket or handbag for fun photos, look elsewhere, but if you want a camera which really helps you to take great photos, this is a sound choice.

I bought this to replace my old Powershot A80 which suffered an unfortunate accident!. Have always been a big fan of Canon cameras so decided to try and find one that was as close to the A80 as I could get. The A590 did not dissapoint. It is packed full of features, some of which are easier to use than others, and the picture quality is top notch. The 4x optical zoom produces a really good picture from quite some distance which is great for tricky shots where you can't get to close.
The only criticism I would have is that it doesn't have a dedicated sport shot mode for taking pictures of fast moving objects. You have to use the ISO settings and shutter speeds to achieve this. But that is just a minor fault and one the can be resolved with a quick glance through the manual. The price is good and the delivery and packaging were in perfect order. I would recommend this camera to a first time user or to someone who is a little dissapointed with thier previous camera. Top product and will continue to buy Canon.