The Canon Powershot A570 IS is a seven megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. Taking its price into account (a little under £150), the Powershot A570 IS has a surprising amount of features. These include manual exposure controls, image stabilisation, face detection software, red eye correction, plus a viewfinder. As you can see there are a few extras packed into the camera that you will find hard to beat for the price.
You can also pick up wide, telephoto and close up conversion lenses to further increase the capabilities of the camera.
Image Quality Canon Powershot A570 IS test shots
Outdoor 1
The first outdoor shot gets my tests off to a good start. What I like to see in this picture is a high degree of sharpness, natural colours and the ability to handle sun glare. The Powershot A570 IS does well on all counts. The sharpness levels are particularly impressive and there is just a small loss of detail from the boats where the sun falls directly on them.
Outdoor 2
My main comment for this photo is how sharp it is. Many digital cameras struggle to produce sharp landscape style shots when the scene gets a bit distant. The Powershot A570 IS is someway ahead of most of its rivals.
Outdoor 3
With the lens zoomed into its maximum focusing is strong once again. I like the colours in this photo as well.
Outdoor Portrait
Face detection has been turned on and I have used the cloudy white balance setting to boost the colours. It seems to have worked well with the face in sharp focus and just the right level of colour for my taste.
Indoor Portrait
I'm pretty pleased with this shot. Focusing, colour and brightness are all impressive. There was a degree of red eye in the shot. I was able to correct this satisfactorily using the built in red eye correction tool.
Lowlight
The extreme lowlight test keeps up the run of very good photos. Sharpness is very good once again and the photo is very bright considering the conditions.
Colours
The colours produced by the camera have been consistently good throughout my tests. In all the tests they show a fair reflection of how the scene was at the time each photo was taken.
Macro
Another Canon digital camera, another sharp macro shot. The numbers on the watch really stand out and there is a good level of clarity to the shot.
ISO 400
As with any digital camera there is a loss of quality when taking photos at ISO 400. The Powershot A570 IS makes a fair attempt at this level without being one of the very best.
ISO 1600
ISO 1600 is a bit of a blot to be honest. Luckily it is very rare that you will need to use this setting, if at all.
Overall
I am delighted with the results of the tests. In just about every area the Powershot A570 IS has performed very well.
Shutter Lag
I was able to take a single photo in 0.33 seconds and five photos in 8.02 seconds. These are acceptable times. Turning the flash on makes quite a considerable difference. A single photo took 1.23 seconds and five photos 22.25 seconds. As you can see the flash unit recycles slowly.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Style: The Powershot A570 IS bears a resemblance to a digital SLR only much smaller. It has a grip on the front for holding steady and even someone with larger hands should be able to get a decent hold.
Dimensions: 89.5 x 64.3 x 42.8mm
Weight: 175g
Batteries: Two AA batteries provide the power. Canon estimates you should be able to take around 120 shots with a pair of standard alkaline batteries.
Memory cards: A 16mb SD card is supplied with the camera. This is enough for roughly nine or ten photos.
Click here to save money on SD cards.
Ease of use rating: Good. It does take a bit of time to get to know this camera with the extra features it has.
Points I like:
Sharpness of photo - viewfinder - red eye correction tool
Where it could improve:
Shutter lag with flash on
Verdict:
With the Canon Powershot A570 IS you get a lot of camera for your money. You will certainly be hard pressed to find this many features on another digital camera for a similar price. When you take into account the picture quality this is a very good camera. Recommended.
Front View
Back View
Top View
Sample Menus
| Canon Powershot A570 IS Summary |
| Description: | 7 megapixels and a 4x zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 7 |
| Features: | 9 |
| Colour: | 9 |
| Macro: | 9 |
| Indoors: | 9 |
| Value for Money: | 9 |
| Style: | 7 |
| Movie Mode: | 8 |
| Image Quality: | 9 |
| Build Quality: | 8 |
| Total: | 84 |
| Verdict: | The Canon Powershot A570 IS scored well in all of my tests. Picture quality is some way above average especially for a camera in this price bracket. It also has a range of features you are unlikely to find in many other cameras for the same price. Recommended. |
| Review Date: | September 2007 |
| Click for: | Specification Sample Images Features |
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