Canon PowerShot A570 IS

Why do I want image stabilization and face detection if my indoor pictures are going to be noisy and grainy? I tried nearly all the possible settings in the camera and I could not get a satisfying picture. I finally decided to return it when a comparison of indoor pictures taken with my old Kodak Easyshare showed less grainy and noisy pictures. Not what I expected from Canon.

I selected this camera after loosing my lovely Fuji E550 on an Easyjet flight (if we are reviewing airlines EJ gets 0/10 for their lost and found). As it's a fairly new model I bought it without seeing many reviews but was confident as it seems to blend many features of Canon's A540 and A710 and both of these cameras have had good reviews. There are lots of really good compacts around the £150 mark and so one of the key factors in deciding on the A570 was that it is one of the few digital compact cameras that has an optical view finder as well as the 2.5" LCD display. This is a life saver on those bright sunny days when it is impossible to frame the shot with the LCD. I have taken a range of indoor and outdoor shots and have been very pleased with the colours and sharpness.

The two new features of this camera that I have never used before are: 1. Automatic face recognition which makes sure you get the people in focus and not the background. 2. Image stabiliser, which helps to minimise the fuzzy photos. Both of these features seem to work really well.

Auto mode will allow anyone to get good results and the range of manual options will keep the keen amateurs happy for hours. The software that comes with the camera is Canon's standard ware which has been honed over the years. Of particular note is the image stitching capability which can be great if you want a picture of a wide vista but wide angle won't get it all in. When you select stitching mode on the camera it changes the display to assist you in framing the sequence of shots correctly. The easy to use stitching software then joins the sequence together to make one (almost) seamless shot.

From my first experiences with this camera I would say that Canon have produced a real stunner.