Best Canon PowerShot A495 Digital Camera – Silver (10MP, 3.3x Optical Zoom) 2.5 Inch TFT Screen – On Sale
List Price: £139.00
22
Jan 2012
UK Sell Canon PowerShot A495 Digital Camera – Silver (10MP, 3.3x Optical Zoom) 2.5 Inch TFT Screen Lowest Price
An affordable high quality compact from Canon,
The Canon Powershot A495 is probably one of the most affordable compact digital cameras out there. A little bit bulky and encased in a full plastic body, including a plastic lens barrel, its design may not catch your eyes at first, but this pocket-sized, AA-battery powered digital compact will surprise you in many ways once you take it out of the box.
With a high-quality 2.5″ LCD screen, composing shots are easy, and the auto scene detection function makes taking pictures a breeze. With the DIGIC III processor, the camera’s software is able to detect up to 9 faces within a single frame quickly and adjusts the exposure accordingly so the subjects don’t turn out overexposed or underexposed. Recovery time is amanzingly fast, again thanks to the DIGIC III processor normally only found in the more expensive IXUS models and Canon’s DSLRs, so you can go on to shoot the next picture almost immmediately. The DIGIC III processor also makes sure that the pictures come out as clean and as noise free as possible. The A495 shoots from ISO 80 all the way up to ISO 1600, and with a small 1/2.3 inch sensor, keeping the images clean and noise free is no easy feat. The white balance adjustment is nearly perfect, with the camera producing almost natural colors even under flourescent lights. Test images have been uploaded under the customer’s images section showing the color reproduction and noise performance of the camera.
Of course, the A495 is by no means a perfect little camera, with a few disappointing features here and there, and they are 1) a slow continuous burst, at a sluggish 0.95 frame per second 2) the night mode, which shoots at 2 megapixels only, and 3) a somewhat imperfect software which always keeps the camera’s shutter speed just slow enough indoors to cause just a little blur to the images, even with the flash on. Therefore, it’ll wise for you to keep the camera as steady as possible or use a tripod when you’re shooting indoors.
Compared to the very closely priced Sony DSC-S930 and S950 released last year, the Canon is able to produce much cleaner and sharper pictures at any given ISO (even though there is no ISO 3200), and the quality of the images closely matches those of the very expensive Sony DSC-WX1 with EXMOR-R sensor, which comes as a surprise to me.
With its low price point and high quality images, the Canon Powershot A495 makes a perfect gift for any casual photographer, and for someone who’s just getting into photography, it has enough features to become a back-up camera with its ability to use AA batteries straight out of a convenient store.
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|Great…until the batteries fell out.,
Bought for my daughter’s Christmas present, this camera was an absolute gem for the first six weeks. She took it everywhere, getting some brilliant and amazing shots that only a teen can dream up! Given her interest in art, it also provided her with some great photos for her current projects. The quality of shot, from extreme close-up to panoramic, was excellent. I bought her two sets of rechargeables, knowing how these cameras consume them, and a case to protect it.
Yesterday the batteries popped out, and the plastic cover no longer resists the spring-loaded batteries within, no matter how much we jiggle it about. Not good enough, Canon. Don’t you expect owners to change the batteries regularly? Why should I resort to taping up a six-week-old camera? It’s going back.
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|Great camera for the price,
This a great camera. It does what it says on the tin and is very easy to use. The price is competitive. Minor niggles: Once a picture has been taken, it takes quite a while to be ready for the next picture (2-3s). Even so, I would buy one again if I needed to.
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