Thumbs Up:

Good manual and semimanual controls, photo quality is great, flexible lens is housed in a compact body.

Thumbs Down:

Shooting performance is slow, design is awkward, LCD is unimpressive.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Canon PowerShot SX210 IS is 4.2 inches wide, 1.3 inches deep, 2.3 inches high and weighs 7.8 oz. Resolution is 14.1 megapixels. Light sensitivity options include ISO auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, and ISO 80. The camera has 4x digital zoom, shooting programs include Night snapshot, Stitch assist, Portrait mode, Kids & pets, Low light, Landscape, Fireworks, Foliage, Indoor, Beach, Snow. Special Effects include Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film, Custom Effect, Black & White, Color Accent, Vivid Green, Vivid Blue, Color Swap, Vivid Red, Miniature, Neutral, Fisheye, Vivid, Sepia. Maximum Shutter Speed is 1/3200 sec, minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds.

Exposure Modes include Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, Automatic, Program, and Manual. White Balance Presets options include Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, Daylight, Cloudy. Video Capture resolution options are H.264 – 1280 x 720, H.264 – 320 x 240, H.264 – 640 x 480. Image Storage options include JPEG 640 x 480, JPEG 1600 x 1200, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 3456 x 2592, JPEG 4320 x 2432, JPEG 4320 x 3240.

Flash Modes include Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode. The camera has Zoom lens – 5 mm – 70 mm – F/3.1-5.9 with focal length is 5 mm – 70 mm. Minimum Focus Range is 2 inches, optical zoom is 14x, lens aperture is F/3.1-5.9, Macro focus range is 5-50cm. Additional Features include I-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, Smile Detection Auto Shutter, Camera orientation detection, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB, Blink Detection technology, Face Detection Self-timer, RGB primary color filter, Digital noise reduction, 720p HD movie recording, Digital tele-converter, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Smart Flash Exposure, PictBridge support, Exif Print support, Resizing an image, Histogram display, Cropping an image, Built-in speaker, Wink Self-timer, AF/AE tracking, Direct print, DPOF support, Safety zoom, AF lock, AE lock.

The display of the camera is three inches big. Connector Types are HDMI, Composite video/audio output, and USB. Bundled software includes Canon ZoomBrowser EX, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ImageBrowser, Canon PhotoStitch.

Razzle Dazzle:

Color options for the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS are gold, purple and black and the device looks like a bit Digital Elph. This would have fit easily in a tight pocket had it not been for the 14x zoom lens on the front. But carrying this camera in a coat pocket or handbag will be quite easy. We will recommend you to get a protective case for this camera since the body is prone to scratches.

Inside Dope:

The new ‘in’ thing for camera manufacturers these days seem to be putting a long zoom in a compact body. Canon PowerShot SX210 IS has a 14 megapixel resolution lens and it the quite compact with 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens. This is the successor to the SX200 IS which we got in 2009, both the zoom range and resolution are upped the body is trimmed down so that it fits in the pocket easily. Controls are improved, as compared to its predecessor but there are a few quirks in the design which frustrated us on some occasions. The shooting speed is disappointing too. We will recommend you this camera if you don’t care much about the design or shooting speeds.

Just like its predecessor, this camera too pops up the flash everytime you turn the camera on but this time, you can push it down if not needed. It is quite awkward to hold the camera if the flash is up because there is no place to put your fingers. The screen is bright enough but the resolution could have been better. The screen size is three inches but you get to use all the real estate only in the wide screen resolution. For all other resolutions, you get just two and half inches on the screen.

Controls of the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS are a mixed bag. Larger hands will find it cramped. On the top, there is the shutter release, zoom control nubbin, and a small power button which is quite flush with the body and it difficult to tell by feel. Your thumb will rest on the shooting mode dial when you grip the device. You might change the modes through your thumb accidentally.

There is a record button beneath the dial for shooting movies but you can program it for other tasks like white balance settings or ISO changing. The playback button is also located close to the record button. Underneath these two, there is the Control dial/directional pad. Touching the dial gives you access to focus settings, self timer, exposure and flash. Our only problem was that it popped up with the slightest of touch and disturbed us while shooting. Navigation is fast because of the dial and we found changing the shutter speed and aperture very easy. The movement is free but you will feel the stops when you rotate it.

In the dial’s center, there is the standard Func. Under this dial, there is the Display button which lets you change the playback and shooting options which show up on the screen. The Menu button takes care of basic settings of operation. Mini HDMI and Mini USB ports on the camera’s right lets you connect the device to a HDTV, monitor or computer. The memory card and battery compartment are located on the bottom.

Canon PowerShot SX210 IS’s shooting options range from simple point and shoot options to the full manual controls. As compared to most megazooms, the options for manual shooting are much better. You get full manual and semimanual control over the aperture and shutter speed and also for manual focus. Apertures include f8, f7.1, f6.3, f5.9, f5.6, f5, f4.5, f4, f3.5, and f3.1. You get only 3 of these when the lens is extended fully. You get options for setting contrast, sharpness, color saturation and strength of flash too can be adjusted. Output of flash is adjusted through flash exposure lock and it keeps the flash away from subject blow out.

If you are a newbie and get easily intimidated by advanced controls, there is the Canon Smart Auto which automatically determines the settings after detecting the shooting environment. The Easy mode too works in a similar way but the settings are heavily limited. You get 5 popular scene selections on the mode dial: Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Landscape and Portrait. There is also a SCN choice to access the scene settings which are not often used like Fireworks, Snow, Foliage, Beach, Indoor and Low Light.

Nitty Gritty:

We will recommend you this device if you are looking for compact camera along with good quality and manual controls.

Well priced; attractive design; tiny

Thumbs Down:

No marked upgrades over its predecessor except high resolution

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS is a 14.1-megapixel point-and-shot-camera. It has CCD optical sensor of 14,500,000 pixels resolution. It features DIGIC 4 image processor, frame movie shooting mode, face detection, Image Sensor Shift Optical image stabilization and 4x digital zoom. The maximum shutter speed is 1/1500sec and minimum is 15sec. The memory card slot supports SD Memory Card and MultiMediaCard for external storage.

The digital camera has inbuilt 2.7-inch color display of 230,000 format and built-in mono microphone. The built-in flash features 1-13 ft. and AF illuminator. The flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, and Auto mode.

The UA lens has 5-20mm focal length and F/2.8-5.9 aperture that features 4x optical zoom. The Canon SD1400 IS has inbuilt lens shield, TTL contrast detection auto-focus and nine zones. The minimum focus range is 1.2 inches and macro is 3-50cm.

The exposure compensation is ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps and exposure modes are: Program and Automatic. The SD1400 IS has three types of exposure metering: Spot, Center-weighted, and Evaluative. The white-balance is of three types: Automatic, Presets, and Custom. Its presets are Tungsten Light, Fluorescent, Daylight, and Cloudy.

The light sensitivity levels are ISO Auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, and ISO 80. The shooting programs are Night snapshot, Stitch assist, Portrait mode, Slow shutter, Kids & Pets, Underwater, Low light, Fireworks, Foliage, Indoor, and Beach. The special effects include Custom Effect, Positive, Black & White, Sepia, Neutral, and Vivid.

The PowerShot SD1400 IS supports JPEG still image format and H.264 video format. The video capture resolution options are: H.264 640×480, H.264 320×240, and H.264 1280×720. The still image storage resolution options are: Normal, Fine JPEG 4320×3240, JPEG 3456×2592, JPEG 2592×1944, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 640×480, and JPEG 4320×2432.

The connector set includes 1×USB, 1×Composite video/audio output, and 1×HDMI output. The SD1400 IS has self-timer delay of 2 and 10 seconds. The additional highlights are Safety Zoom, Direct Print, DPOF support, Wink Self-Timer, AF/AE Tracking, Contrast Control, Sharpness control, Exif Print Support, Histogram Display, Smart Flash Exposure, Saturation Control, PictBridge Support, In-camera red-eye fix, Digital tele-converter, YouTube capture mode, USB 2.0 compatibility, Digital noise reduction, Face Detection Self timer, 720p HD movie recording, RGB primary color filter, Display brightness control, Scene Detection Technology, Blink Detection Technology, Face Detection WB/AF/FE/AE, Motion Detection Technology, I-contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction System, Smile Detection Technology, and Camera Orientation Detection.

Accessories supplied inside the box are a USB cable, one A/V cable, drivers & software disc, battery, power charger, wrist strap, and reference material.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS has similar design like its predecessor the SD490 IS. It is 3.6 inches wide, 2.2 inches long and 0.7 inch deep and weighs 4.7 ounces. The digital camera is compact enough to fit easily in your pocket. It is available in pink, black, orange, and silver colors. The color of lens barrel matches the body color for giving an uniform look.

Inside Dope:

$249.99 priced the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS is a lightweight, attractive and ultra-compact digital camera. It looks quite similar to the previous SD940 IS and shares most of the same features including 28mm equivalent wide-angle lens, digital and optical image stabilization, 2.7 inches LCD display and 4x digital zoom. The PowerShot SD1400 IS has 14.1-megapixel resolution, which is an upgrade over previous 12-megapixel of the SD940 IS. You will find some creative shooting and shutter-release timer options in the SD1400 IS, but there is no other improvement as compared its predecessor. The shooting performance, battery life, and picture quality are average. The SD1400 IS remains one of the best ultra-compact point-and-shot cameras in sub-$250 range. It easily retains the first choice for the casual users looking for a basic camera.

We like that the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS is very easy to use even with large hands. The controls are flat and flash within the surface, which gives a smooth appearance to the digital camera. On the downside, it is a bit difficult to use the four-way directional pad with center Set/Func button. You can use this pad to adjusting pick timer settings, flash and focus modes, and exposure. The zoom rocker, shooting mode switch and other buttons are small in size, but still remain easy to use. The menu interface is straightforward and simple. You have to use the Set/Function button for mode specific shooting options and Menu button for standard menus. We like that you can also turn on the onscreen explanation for shooting options.

The mini-HDMI output and mini-USB/AV ports are located behind a small road on top right corner at the back. The memory card slot and battery is also located behind another door.

The shooting mode switch located on the back has three options: one for Auto, second for Movie mode to capture up to 720p HD, and third for camera mode. The camera mode gives access to Program Auto Mode and the scene modes such as Stitch Assist, Long Shutter, Fireworks, Snow, Foliage, Underwater, Beach, Low Light, Indoor, Kids & Pets, and Night Snapshot. There is also a Smart Shutter option that has smile-activated shutter release. You will also find Face and Wink Detection self-timer, Color Swap, and Color Accent. The Miniature effect blurs the frame’s top and bottom and boosts the color saturation and contrast, which gives a painted model look to the subjects. The Fish-eye Effect produces the picture as seen by a fish eye lens.

For the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS, the time from power on to first shot is 1.5 second. The average shot-to-shot time is 2.7 second and 4.9 second with flash. The shutter lag is 0.5 second in bright lighting and 0.7 second in dim light. The continuous shooting speed is 0.8fps. The shooting performance of the SD1400 IS is good for still objects, but not good for moving subjects.

The time from power on to first shot is 1.7 second for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8, 1 second for Nikon Coolpix S640, and 1.5 second for Samsung DualView TL225. The shot-to-shot time with flash is 2.4sec for the Panasonic mode, 2.7sec for the Nikon and the Samsung model.

The picture quality for the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS remains the best below ISO 200. The captured images exhibited good details and perfect colors in bright light. We liked that the noise and its reduction was balanced while testing. The color consistency remained good up to ISO 800 and there was yellow blotching and a bit shifting above that. The details looked softer, but barely visible up to ISO 1600. The Low Light mode captured pictures at 3.5-megapixel resolution from ISO 400 to 6400. Its resulting pictures looked grainy and the yellow blotching was visible in some darker areas. Overall, the pictures looked digital and soft while viewing at full screen (100%) regardless of any editing, setting and conditions. If you want to do a lot of cropping and editing to the images, then the SD1400 IS is not for you.

The SD1400 IS provides the accurate color performance and pictures look bright in natural lighting. The auto white balance appears warm in indoor shoots, so you can select the preset as per your requirement. The overall exposure is average, but the highlights appear blown out.

The mild barrel distortion is visible at the widest lens position, especially more at left side. The lens exhibits good sharpness at center, but looks soft on the left side. The pincushion distortion is not visible even at fully extended lens position. The natural amount of purple fringe is noticeable in the high-contrast objects, especially while viewing the pictures at 100%. However, it is normal for a basic point-and-shot camera.

The Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS provides the better video quality as compared to a pocket HD video camera. However, you cannot use the optical zoom while recording.

The PowerShot SD1400 IS runs on the Canon NB-4L lithium ion rechargeable battery that has a life of 230 shots.

Nitty Gritty:

Except higher 14.1-megapixel resolution, there is no improvement in the SD1400 IS as compared to the SD780 IS and the SD940 IS. However, if you need an ultra-compact digital camera with good quality then the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS remains a better choice.

Large touch-screen; nice design.

Thumbs Down:

Slow shooting performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has 14.1-megapixel CCD optical sensor. It is powered with Canon Digic IV Image processor and features 4x digital zoom, Frame movie shooting mode, Optical image stabilization, and face detection. It has memory-card slot that accepts SD memory card and MultiMediaCard for external storage. The maximum shutter speed is 1/3000 second and minimum is 15 second.

The exposure compensation is ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps; while the exposure metering is of three types: Evaluative, Center-weighted, and Spot. The exposure modes are Automatic and Program. The white-balance options are: Automatic, Presets, and Custom. Its presets include: Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, Daylight, and Cloudy.

3.5 inches touch-screen display provides 100% coverage. The Canon UA lens are aspherical in nature and has 4.3-21.5mm focal length with F/2.8-5.9 aperture that features 5x optical zoom. The PowerShot SD3500 IS has TTL contrast detection auto-focus, nine zone auto-focus, and inbuilt lens shield. The macro focus range is 5cm and minimum is 2inch. The zoom adjustment is motorized drive and focus adjustment is automatic.

The shooting programs Night Snapshot, Portrait mode, Slow shutter, Kids & Pets, Low Light, Fireworks, Foliage, Indoor, Beach and Snow. The special effects include Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Creative Light, Positive Film, Custom Effect, Black & White, Color Accent, Vivid Green, Vivid Blue, Vivid Red, Color Swap, Miniature, Neutral, Fish-eye, Vivid, Neutral, and Sepia.

The digital camera supports JPEG image format and H.264 video format. The video capture resolution options are H.264 1280×720, H.264 640×480, and H.264 320×240. The image storage resolution options are Normal, Fine JPEG 4320×3240, JPEG 4320×2432, JPEG 3456×2592, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 1600×1200, and JPEG 640×480.

The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has inbuilt microphone and flash. The flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow-synchro, Fill-in mode, and Auto mode. The flash features AF illuminator and 1.6-11.5 ft flash range. It has self-timer delay of 2 and 10 seconds.

The additional highlights are iContrast system, AE/AF/FE lock; Motion Detection, Smile Detection, Blink Detection, Face Detection WB/FE/AE/AF, Face Detection Self timer, Wink Self-timer, RGB primary color filter, Digital noise reduction, 720p HD movie recording, Digital tele-converter, Digital image rotation, Touch screen control, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Smart Flash exposure, PictBridge support, Resizing an image, Histogram Display, Cropping an image, Inbuilt speaker, AE/AF tracking, DPOF support, and Safety zoom.

The connector set includes 1×HDMI output, 1×USB, and 1×composite audio/video output. The software included on the disc are Canon ZoomBrowser EX, drivers & utilities, Canon ImageBrowser, and Canon PhotoStitch. The supported operating systems are Windows XP SP2/Vista/7 and Apple Mac OS 10.4-10.6 or later.

The SD3500 IS has Canon NB-6L rechargeable lithium ion battery. The maximum operating temperature is 104°F and minimum is 32°F. Accessories supplied inside the box are USB cable, one A/V cable, user manual, drivers & software disc, and battery.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has attractive and compact shape like the Digital Elph Series. It is 3.9 inches wide, 2.2 inches tall and 0.9 inch deep. The digital camera weighs 5.6 ounces with media and battery. It is available in three colors: pink, silver, and black. Our test model had pink color. The metal casing gives sturdy feel while holding in hand. The SD3500 IS fits easily in the small handbag or pants pocket.

Inside Dope:

Exactly, the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS is a follow-up of the SD980 IS. $329.99 priced the SD3500 IS features same ultra wide-angle lens with 5x zoom and touch-screen display. However, its 14.1-megapixel sensor is an upgrade over previous version. It is noteworthy that its shooting performance is slow and suffers from few quality issues. If you are not overcritical about pixels, then the PowerShot SD3500 IS is a good choice.

The SD980 IS has more physical control, while the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has limited controls including shooting mode switch, shutter release button, zoom ring, play and power buttons. All these controls are located on the top.

3.5 inches touch-screen LCD display of the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has 461,000 dots resolution. It features Touch Panel technology and wide-viewing angle. As per Canon, the display covers approximately 100% of the shooting scene. The touch-screen has double resolution and is 0.5 inch bigger than that of the SD980 IS. It is quick responsive and allows calibration with your touch.

However, you have to use drag your finger for scrolling rather than using up and down arrows. It may require more taps to change some mode specific shooting options. The Canon has tried its best to arrange the menu layout in an easy way, but still it remains a bit difficult. We are disappointed that you cannot tap the subject on the touch-screen to focus on it. Canon has also removed the virtual shutter release that appeared on the SD980 IS on turning it vertically.

You can use the touch-screen in Playback mode for flipping and scrolling between the pictures, magnifying a photo section with taps, starting slide show, and selecting picture to mark as favorites or to delete them. The Canon has also included the Active Display Technology that allows moving forth and back between images and checking focus on still picture by tilting the digital camera to right or left. In addition, you can tap right or left side for moving one frame at a time. The PowerShot SD3500 IS also allows tagging the pictures and categorizing them for easy filtering.

You will find the mini-HDMI port and mini-USB ports on the right side of the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS. The memory-card slot and the battery are located behind a door on bottom.

The shooting mode button on the top has three options: camera mode, Movie Mode, and Auto mode. The camera mode provides access to Program Auto mode and other scene modes such as Long Shutter, Fireworks, Snow, Foliage, Beach, Indoor, Low Light, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, and Portrait. There is a new addition – Smart Shutter option by Canon that contains smile-activated shutter release button, Face and Wink Detection self-timers. Wink Detection lets you to turn off shutter on winking at the camera.

The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS has some creative shooting options like Color Swap and Color Accent. There is a Miniature Effect that blurs the bottom and top and boosts color saturation with contrast for making object like painted miniature models. The Fish-eye effect is an approximation by software that transforms images like fish’s eye lens. The Creative Light Effect mode changes the shape of twinkling lights in pictures to crosses, music notes, butterflies, stars, hearts, and so forth. All these modes just add a bit more fun; whereas the company does not include a Panorama mode.

The shooting performance the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS is slow. The time from power on to first shoot is 1.5 seconds; which is good for a touch-screen digital camera. The shutter lag is 1sec in low lighting and 0.6sec in bright light. The average shot-to-shot time is 2.5 seconds and 4.2 seconds without flash. The continuous shooting rate is 0.8 fps (frames per second).

Like most of the compact digital camera, the Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS provides the best image quality below ISO 200. The pictures have enough sharpness, excellent colors and perfect fine details in the bright light. The details appear softer due to noise and noise reduction up to ISO 1600 and the images remain good for small print only. The SD3500 IS capture 3.5-megapixel pictures in Low Light mode from ISO 400 to 6400. The resulting pictures look grainy with yellow blotching in dark areas.

As expected, the barrel distortion was noticeable at widest lens position. However, there was pin-cushioning distortion even on fully zoomed out. The central sharpness was good, but drops off to the right and left making objects blurry and soft, especially in corners. We will advise you to keep the required sharp frame in center. There is visible fringing and blooming in the high-contrast objects at large sized prints, but not at small size.

The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS performs excellently for exposure and colors. However, the highlights tend to blow out as expected from a digital camera. The white-balance is good, but its Auto preset is a bit warm in indoor shots. The video quality of the SD3500 IS surpasses that of high-def pocket video camera. The microphone is placed on the top and is prone to cover with your finger while using the camera. The optical zoom cannot be used while video recording.

The PowerShot SD3500 IS has a battery life of 220 shots.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need a touch-screen digital camera with ultra wide-angle lens and average picture quality, then buy – Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS. Please remember that it has slower shooting performance than its competitors.

Reliable Smart Auto mode; good pictures as per its price tag.

Thumbs Down:

Slow shooting performance; low resolution LCD; average battery life.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The PowerShot A495 is a 10-megapixel digital camera that has 10,300,000 pixels CCD optical sensor. The effective sensor resolution is 10,000,000 pixels. Light sensitivity levels are ISO Auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, and ISO 80. The camera features DIGIC III image processor, 4x digital zoom, frame movie shooting mode, and face detection.

2.5 inches LCD display has 115,000 pixels resolution. Canon PowerShot A495 has inbuilt mono microphone and lens shield. Its built-in flash features AF illuminator and 1-10ft. flash range. The flash modes are red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow Synchro, Fill-in mode, and Auto mode. The camera has memory card slot that accepts MultiMedia Card and SD cards.

Aspherical lens has focal length of 6.6-21.6mm with F/3.0-5.8 aperture that features 3.3x optical zoom. Minimum focus range is 2 inches, whereas macro is 1-50cm. Canon PowerShot A495 has TTL contrast detection auto focus and nine auto focus zones.

The PowerShot A495 supports JPEG still image format as well as MJPEG and AVI video formats. Video capture resolution options are AVI 320×240 and AVI 640×480.The image storage resolution selections are JPEG 3648×2048, JPEG 640×480, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 2272×1704, JPEG 2816×2112, JPEG 3648×2736, and Large 367.

Canon PowerShot A495 has three types of white-balance: Automatic, Presets and Custom. White-balance presets are Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, Daylight, and Cloudy. The shooting programs of the A495 are Night snapshot, Poster Effect, Portrait Mode, Slow Shutter, Super Vivid, Kids & Pets, Low Light, Landscape, Fireworks, Foliage, Indoor, Beach, and Snow. In addition, the special effect options include Custom, Black & White, Neutral, Vivid, and Sepia.

Minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds, whereas the maximum is 1/2000 second. Canon PowerShot A495 has three types of exposure metering: Center-weights, Evaluative and Spot. Exposure modes are Automatic and Programs. The exposure compensation of the digital camera is ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps.

Canon PowerShot A495 has self timer delay of 2 seconds and 10 seconds. The additional features are i-Contrast system, Camera orientation detection, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Face Detection WB/FE/AE/AF, RGB primary filter, USB compatibility, Exif print support, In-camera red-eye fix, PictBridge support, Cropping and Resizing an image, Audio recording, Direct print, DPOF support and AE lock.

The connector set includes 1×composite audio/video output, and 1×USB. Software included inside the supplied disc are Canon ZoomBrowser EX, drivers & utilities, Canon Image Browser, and Canon PhotoStitch. Supported operating systems are Apple Mac OS X 10.4 – 10.6 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Vista/7.

Canon PowerShot A495 runs two AA batteries. Accessories included inside the box are A/V cable, drivers & software disc, USB cable, wrist strap, and user manual.

Razzle Dazzle:

Canon PowerShot A495 is 2.4 inches tall, 3.7 inches wide, and 1.2 inches deep and weighs 6.2 ounces. It is available in silver, blue, and red colors. The camera looks stylish due its rounded corners. Our test model had red color.

Inside Dope:

Canon has updated its PowerShot A480 (a 2009 model) by splitting it into two different models: A495 and A490. Canon PowerShot A495 has 9-point Face AiAF auto-focus system, two latest shooting modes: Poster Effect and Super Vivid; Face Self Timer, and uses 18 scenes for Smart Auto mode. On the contrary, the A490 has only 13 scene settings, 5-point AiAF system, and does not feature Face Self Timer. The PowerShot A495 costs $129.99 that is $20 more than that of the A490 for above mentioned advantages. Both above digital camera deliver excellent and similar picture quality irrespective of their differences. The major drawback is that they provide slow shooting performance due to their long shot-to-shot timings. If you need a basic digital camera in limited budget, then you can go for the PowerShot A490.

We appreciate the Canon to revamp the buttons so that they feel good instead of feeling cheap. In addition, the company has included straightforward controls and uncomplicated menu system. Shutter release and power buttons are located on the right side of display the back. You will find Menu button, shooting mode, four-way pad with center select button, playback button and zoom rocker on the top. Menu button will show two tabs for general settings, whereas select button displays shooting mode options.

The LCD display is bright and clear, still looks washed out in sunlight. We do not like that the lens is narrow with 37mm focal length equivalent to 35mm camera. Canon PowerShot A495 has average number of shooting options. Program mode allows the options for color effects, ISO, metering, focus, and white balance. There is a Canon Smart Auto mode that disables all the annoying settings and picks one scene mode out of available 18 options. You can manually select one of scene modes such as Kids&Pets, Foliage, Long Shutter, and Fireworks.

It is confusing that Canon has renamed the High ISO mode to “Low Light”. This option captures 2-megapixel shots from ISO 500 to ISO 3200. The newly added shooting options are Poster Effect and Super Vivid. In addition, Face Self Timer captures the shot on detecting additional face in picture frame. Noteworthy that Canon PowerShot A495 is the best to take close-up macro shots. It allows focusing closely up to 0.4 inch and its auto-focus is improved as compared to that of the A480. Movie mode records VGA-only videos without using optical zoom. The overall video quality is good for a pocket video camera and remains suitable for online sharing.

The time from turn on to capture first shot is 2 seconds. The shutter lag is 1 second in dim light and 0.6sec in bright lighting. The shot-to-shot time is 2.9-second and 6.7-second with flash. The continuous shooting speed is 0.6fps (frames per second). The shooting performance Casio Exilim EX-Z33, Nikon Coolpix S220, and Pentax Optio E70 is much better than the A495 with 1 second, 1.3 seconds and 1.2 seconds shutter lag in bright light.

The photo quality of Canon PowerShot A495 is better than other expensive digital cameras. It provides the best quality below ISO 200 and remains a lot of fine details. However, the noise and its suppression are fine up to ISO 800 and picture remains good for small prints and Web usage. As usual, the noise will be visible while viewing the photos at full screen. Unlike other digital cameras, you can use all the ISO levels to capture good photographs.

There is a bit barrel distortion at the widest lens position and does not have evident pin-cushioning distortion even at fully extended lens. The central sharpness is good, stll there is visible softness on the corners. Average purple fringe is noticeable while viewing the pictures at full size. Canon PowerShot A495 remains excellent colors except blues that looks lighter. The exposure is good, but clipped highlights looks awkward.

Canon PowerShot A495 runs on two AA-size alkaline batteries that have a life of 150 shots. We will recommend you to buy additional NiMH batteries for continuous shooting.

The PowerShot A495 delivers comparable photo quality and shooting performance to that of Canon PowerShot A3000 IS.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need basic point and shoot digital camera with AA batteries and can compromise slow shooting performance, then you can buy – Canon PowerShot A495. However, we will recommend you to go for $20 more priced Canon PowerShot A3000 IS that delivers better shooting performance and runs on rechargeable lithium ion batteries.