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Excellent camera, but not quite perfect
Date of Review: Jul 7, 2009
Canon has a few lines of cameras that it upgrades every so often and the A570 IS is one of the more worthwhile upgrades. It features image stabilisation which works by shifting a lens element to counter any shake. This is the single best feature and can help sharpen up images far more than more megapixels. Shots in low light are resolved particularly well.
At 7MP it is a bit low but don't be fooled, it is more than enough and because all compact digital cameras use a small CCD, fewer pixels makes for better pictures.
The lens provides 3x optical zoom and this is ok, but there will inevitably be times where it isn't enough. Also bear in mind there is a degree of barrel distortion that'll show up at the wide end, kind of like a mild fish eye effect. Not too distracting and you can always zoom a touch to reduce it but it can be bothersome under some conditions.
The cameras shape makes it a little untidy for most cases and it's too bulky for pockets but it does mean it is more stable in use and the controls are well spaced.
It takes two AA batteries, but be warned regular alkaline batteries will give you perhaps 100 shots, but a good set of rechargeables or lithiums will work better.
This is a fully featured compact, so there is manual control of aperture, shutter and ISO, but don't expect this to do things the way an SLR does - the features are there but some can be a little awkward.
