Here's my review of the Canon Power Shot A570IS 7 megapixel 4X optical zoom digital camera. This camera uses Cannon's latest third-generation Digic III processor that is designed to be more power thrifty and faster speed. The content of this camera Kit includes: 1.the camera 2. instruction and owners manual 3. the CD containing software to download pictures to the computer 4. 16 MB multi-media card 5. wrists strap 6. two AA alkaline battery 7. USB cable 8. A TV audio video cable. The connecting port on the left side of the camera is protected from dust by a rubber door. This is my second digital camera and my best one I ever own. It runs on two standard AA alkaline cells or two nickel metal hydride AA rechargeable cells instead of the proprietary variety. You can also use a 3.18 V DC @ 2 amps Canon ACK800 optional AC adapter or a cheaper designed for this camera generic one to power this camera. Because of this, if you ever runs out of charge with the rechargeable and don't have access to a charger or power source to charge your batteries. You can just pick up some alkaline or higher capacity AA more expensive lithium batteries so you can continue shooting at a nearby store. For optimum performance and economy with shorter flash recharge time and the amount of shots, it is best to use high-capacity AA nickel metal hydride batteries. This is also true with most digital cameras as well. This camera uses multimedia, SD or SDHC memory cards up to 8 GB maximum. The supplied 16 MB multimedia memory card is much too small for anything. It is good for only 25 fine quality 1600 x 1200 pixels shots or about one minute of low resolution movie. I've bought two SD memory cards to use on this camera. A 2 GB one and a 1 GB one. With the same setting, the 2 GB one is good for more than 3200 shots. With a new memory card be sure to format the memory card on the camera before use for maximum speed. This camera use a separate (CR1220) button cell for date and time memory retention. It is next to the AA battery and SD memory card.
This camera also takes outstanding pictures and can double as a camcorder with monophonic sound. Bootup takes about a second before you can start to take snapshot without using flash and about 5 seconds with flash.. When used to record video, digital zoom can be used on all mode but the lowest resolution one. There are three frame rates to choose from 15 frps, 30 frps and 60 frps. For resolution there are 168 x 120 pixels at 15 frames a second, 320 by 240 pixels at 60 frames a second, 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames a second, 640 x 480 pixels at 15 frames a second and 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames a second. For still photography, large: 3072 X 2304 pixels Medium 1: 2592 X 1944 pixels Medium 2: 2048 X 1536 pixels Medium 3: 1600 x 1200 pixels Small: 640 x 480 pixels Postcard: 1600 x 1200 pixels and Widescreen: 3072 by 1728 pixels There are also three compression setting as follow: superfine, fine and normal. Postcard setting is the only setting that can be set to allow the date and time to be embedded in the photo. On top of the camera there is a mode wheel typical for Canon cameras for setting Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Night snapshot, Kids and Pets, Indoor, Special Scene, Stitch Assist and Movie. There are also some manual settings such as white balance, aperture control, shutter speed and manual focus as well as adjusting the ISO speed. I have not used any of the manual mode yet. Using the setting other than Auto seems to work better on getting better shots on a specific shooting situation. On the back side of the camera there are five function buttons the center one is surrounded by a directional ring for scrolling and a mode switch. The bottom two buttons are for setting the camera such as for date and time and mode. The top left button is for delete and a top right button is for printing to a printer. The speaker as well as the 2 1/2 inch LCD screen and viewfinder is also on the back. On the front side you would find the microphone, the Iris protected two section telescopic lens and flash. The Iris close on the lens when retracted. The flash is good for approximately 11 feet on average. The battery bulge on the right front side makes it easy to hold the camera. This camera has face detection and image stabilization which can be set either on or off. For an inexpensive camera this camera uses lens shift instead of processor control for image stabilization. The image stabilization works extremely well on this camera The self timer can be set for 10 seconds, two seconds and custom timer. The custom timer can be set for up to 20 seconds of delay. Also, at setting other than Auto you can set this camera to take consecutive shots of up to ten with a single push of the shutter release button. Unlike many cameras, this camera still comes with a viewfinder which comes in handy in bright sunlight or when you want to conserve battery by not using the LCD. Canon sells optional lenses that can be attached right over the existing lens. And they are: Wide Converter WC-DC52, Tele Converter TC-DC52A, Close-up lens 250D (52 mm) and Conversion Lens Adapter LA-DC520. Canon also sells the optional externally mounted flash: high power flash HF-DC1.
Here are the minor shortcomes of this camera as follow: 1. The 2 1/2 inch LCD screen is relatively unprotected and can be damage if not careful. 2. Relatively low resolution of 115,000 pixels 3. Degrading image quality above 400 ISO speed (maximum 1600 ISO) and moderately battery life. Because of the flimsy plastic in front of the LCD screen, I cut a piece of 1/8" thick plexiglass slightly larger than the screen and rubber glued it around the frame applying just a dap on the corners only. With most digital camera they exaggerated the usable ISO speed. Using high ISO speed will produce snowy pictures and flat colors with many cameras. For reasonable battery life and shorter recharge time for the flash, be sure to buy only rechargeable 2.5 AH or larger AA nickel metal hydride cells for this camera. It appears, practically all of the digital cameras at this price range with this size LCD screen would only contain no more than 115,000 pixels. This camera is not the most compact one on the market for its price range I think is one of the reason because it uses standard AA rechargeable nickel metal hydride instead of proprietary high density Lithium Ion batteries such as those found on laptop computers. As a result, it doesn't fit comfortably in a shirt pocket. Also, the flash takes about 5 seconds to recharge between shots (With fully charged 2.5 amp hour metal hydride battery). it then gradually takes longer and longer between shots until it finally shuts down and display 'replace battery' on the LCD screen. Prior to this,'low battery warning' would flash on the LCD screen shortly after fully charged batteries were inserted with about 30 shots taken yet would allow many more shots. I think, the low battery warning circuitry is a little on the sensitive side. Other than this, I really liked this feature rich camera very much.
I will update this review as I learn more about the function and features of this camera in the future. Update, July 11, 2007. For pictures taken with this camera, please go to my web site at
http://peterdmar.110.com
Here's a video review on You Tube on the video capabilities of this digital camera, please copy and paste this " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT7qcgN_Vys " to your browser. The file save on the camera is not compressed so a standard video of 30 frames a second and 640 x 480 pixels would consume 2 GB in only 17 minutes so one hour of video would consume 8 GB. .
Specifications
Type of Camera
Compact digital still camera with built-in flash, 4x Optical/4x Digital/16x Combined Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer (IS) System
Image Capture Device
Type
7.1 Megapixel, 1/2.5 inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
Total Pixels
Approx. 7.4 Megapixels
Effective Pixels
Approx. 7.1 Megapixels
Lens
Focal Length
5.8-23.2mm f/2.6-5.5 (35mm film equivalent: 35-140mm)
Digital Zoom
4x
Focusing Range
Normal: 1.5 ft./45cm-infinity
Macro: 2.0 in.-1.5 ft./5-45cm (WIDE), 1.0-1.5 ft./30-45cm (TELE)
Autofocus System
TTL Autofocus
Viewfinder & Monitor
Viewfinder
Real-image optical zoom viewfinder
LCD Monitor
2.5 inch amorphous silicon TFT color LCD
LCD Pixels
Approx. 115,000 pixels
LCD Coverage
100%
Aperture and Shutter
Maximum Aperture
f/2.6 (W) - f/5.5 (T)
Shutter Speed
15-1/2000 sec. (settable in Tv and M)
Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity
Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600 (Standard Output Sensitivity. Recommended Exposure Index)
Light Metering Method
Evaluative*, Center-weighted average, Spot**
* Control to incorporate facial brightness in Face Detection
AF
** Metering frame is fixed to the center
Exposure Control Method
Program AE, Manual
Exposure Compensation
/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
White Balance
White Balance Control
Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Underwater), Custom
Flash
Built-in Flash
Auto, Auto w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash Off
Flash Range
Normal: 1.5-11 ft./45cm-3.5m (W), 1.5-7.2 ft./45cm-2.2m (T)
Macro: 1.0-1.5 ft./30-45cm (W/T) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
Recycling Time
10 sec. or less (battery voltage=3.0V)
Flash Exposure Compensation
/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Shooting Specifications
Shooting Modes
Auto; Creative: P, Av, Tv, M; Image: Portrait, Landscape, Special Scene (Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater), Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Stitch Assist, Movie
Self-Timer
Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom
Wireless Control
N/A
Continuous Shooting
Approx. 1.7 fps
Image Storage
Storage Media
SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard
File Format
Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1
JPEG Compression Mode
Still Image: Exif 2.2 (JPEG)
Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Monaural))
Number of Recording Pixels
Still Image: 640 x 480 (Small), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3), 2,048 x 1,536 (Medium 2), 2,592 x 1,944 (Medium 1), 3,072 x 2,304 (Large), 3,072 x 1,728 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480 / 320 x 240 (30 fps/15 fps) available up to 4GB or 60 minutes, 320 x 240 (1 min. at 60 fps), 160 x 120 (3 min. at 15 fps)
Number of Recordable Images
Small/N Small/F Small/SF Medium3/N Medium3/F Medium3/SF Medium2/N
File Size 84KB 150KB 249KB 278KB 558KB 1,002KB 445KB
MMC-16MB 138 88 56 50 26 14 33
SDC-128M 1,118 711 460 411 217 121 269
SDC-512MSH 4,317 2,747 1,777 1,590 839 471 1,041
Medium2/F Medium2/SF Medium1/N Medium1/F Medium1/SF Large/N Large/F
File Size 893KB 1,602KB 695KB 1,395KB 2,503KB 902KB 1,897KB
MMC-16MB 16 9 21 10 5 16 7
SDC-128M 136 76 173 87 49 134 64
SDC-512MSH 529 295 671 339 190 520 251
Large/SF Widescreen/N Widescreen/F Widescreen/SF
File Size 3,045KB 678KB 1,420KB 2,304KB
MMC-16MB 4 21 10 6
SDC-128M 40 177 86 53
SDC-512MSH 156 686 335 207
Time of Recordable Movies
Movie/Low Movie/Medium Movie/High Fast Frame Rate Movie/Compact
File Size 330KB/sec. 660KB/sec. 1,920KB/sec. 1,320KB/sec. 120KB/sec.
MMC-16MB 43 sec. 22 sec. 7 sec. 11 sec. 1 min. 47 sec.
SDC-128M 5 min. 55 sec. 3 min. 1 sec. 1 min. 4 sec. 1 min. 32 sec. 14 min. 29 sec.
SDC-512MSH 22 min. 53 sec. 11 min. 42 sec. 4 min. 9 sec. 5 min. 59 sec. 55 min. 57 sec.
Note: N=Normal F=Fine SF=SuperFine
Storage Capacity varies depending on camera settings. This data is estimated from Canon's standard shooting conditions. Figures for Movie Mode represent total capacity of the particular media.
Playback Specifications
Playback Modes File
Still Image: Single, Magnification (approx. 2x-10x), Jump, Auto Rotate, Rotate, Resume, Histogram, Index (9 thumbnails), Sound Memos, Auto Play, Red-eye Correction
Movie: Normal Playback, Special Playback
Erasing Specifications
Erase Modes
Still Image: single image, all images
Movie: part of movie, all of movie
Interfaces
Computer Interface
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (mini-B jack)
Video Out
NTSC/PAL
Audio Out
Monaural
Other
Memory card slot; direct connection to Canon CP and SELPHY Compact Photo Printers, PIXMA Photo Printers and PictBridge-compatible printers via camera's USB 2.0 Hi-Speed cable
Power Supply
Power Source
1. AA-size Alkaline Battery (x2)
2. Rechargeable AA-size NiMH Battery (x2)
3. AC Adapter Kit ACK800
Shooting Capacity
Still Image: approx. 120 shots (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 400 shots (AA-size NiMH Battery)*
Playback Time
Approx. 540 min. (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 660 min. (AA-size NiMH Battery)*
* LCD screen on. The above figures comply with CIPA testing standards and apply when fully-charged batteries are used.
Physical Specifications
Operating Temperature
32-104?F/0-40?C
Operating Humidity
10-90%
Dimensions (W x H x D)
3.52 x 2.53 x 1.69 in. / 89.5 x 64.3 x 42.8mm
Weight
Approx. 6.17 oz. / 175g (camera body only)
