Canon Powershot A95 Digital Camera [5Mp, 3x Optical]

If your looking for something very basic, just point and shoot, this is your camera. If your looking for a camera with advanced functions something that you can adjust every possible thing, this is also a camera for you. The Canon powershot A95 blends a perfect mixture of simplicity and advanced functions.

The price of this camera may seem costly at first however other retailers sell the exact same camera for over £300! Amazon has the beast deal yet that i have found.

I like everything of this camera, the high quality pictures, the flip out screen, the movie mode, the simple yet advanced functions. Its all great.

I seriously recommend this camera to anyone looking for high quality images and tons of good functions

p.s. get a larger memory card 128mb (take around 90 photos) 256mb (take around 180 photos)

When I ordered this camera, I also ordered an extra Fuji Compact Flash 512MB card because the supplied 32MB CF card is not large enough to store a reasonable amount of photos. This combination is excellent. The lens is slower than that of the G3 but this does not generally affect the overall quality of photographs. The camera has a good-sized LCD screen that can be turned and moved to suit the user. This is a new addition to the A## range and is very welcome. The quality of results from the camera is always excellent. All images have come out superbly from the 5 Mega Pixel camera.

The software provided on a CD with the camera works well to provide you with many possibilities. Software includes:
Photo Stitch and other image editing software.
Video Impression - which is a decent video editing package similar to windows movie maker 2.
Photo Record - a virtual photo album with many tools for customising photo frames and adding captions.
ZoomBrowser EX - the software used to download images which works well and also organises your photos into libraries.

Altogether, the Canon Powershot A95 is a tremendous digital camera with enough features to satisfy even a professional photographer.

The Price. The A series is great value for money in terms of features per £. If you want cute and dinky as well - e.g. Ixus series - you're going to pay more.

Image quality. Canon Lens. Say no more. Detail and colour rendition is excellent. Auto white balance works well.

Uses ordinary AA NiMh rechargables or alkaline batteries - not some expensive proprietory battery pack.

The ergonomics. I have big fingers. many digital cameras I find just too small and fiddly. The Powershot is just the right size for me and still pocketable (jacket pocket, not tight jeans!) . The 4x AA battery compartment on the right side of the camera makes a good grip and is especially useful for single handed operation - if you're right handed!

The flip out and rotate view screen, which is larger and brighter than the fixed view screen in earlier models. Great for composing high angle (overhead) shots, low angle and hand held self portraiture

All the control and shooting modes (total 14!) that most people will ever want, including the 4 important ones - full auto, aperture priority auto, shutter priority auto and full manual (including manual focus).

What I dont like:

Very poor optical viewfinder. Cuts off what is is actually shot by a huge ammount. This is a shame as in some lighting conditions it is easier to use the viewfinder rather than the screen.

Flimsy compartment covers. The Smartmedia card cover seems flimsy and a slightly loose fit. The battery compartment hinge is also not so strong. You can break the hinge if you're heavy handed about closing it when batteries are loaded. Ive seen a couple of earlier A series cameras with broken battery covers - being held together with tape or elastic bands. Be careful - if it feels like you're having to force the battery compartment cover shut- Stop! You're not doing it right and something will break!

For some reason the video performance has got worse in this new model! My old A40 (sadly lost) would shoot 320x240 video with sound at 20 frames per second, which was fine for smooth realistic motion. The A95 can only manage 15 frames per second. which is slightly jerky. This drops to real jerk-o-vision of 10 fps at the high resolution setting of 640x480px

overall: highly recommended at the price point. Top of the pops for still photos, but check out the alternatives if video performance is also important to you.