The Canon Powershot A580 is an 8 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. An extra 2x zoom is available when shooting at low resolutions. 4x digital zoom is also available.

The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 35 - 140mm in 35mm format.

The maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.6 - f/5.5.

• Special resolution for widescreen television playback
• Self timer
• Red eye correction available after shot taken
• Colour options - Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Custom Color
• Up to 60 second voice memos per image

The closest focusing distance is 5cm for macro work. Portraits can be enhanced by using Face Detection focusing.

Viewfinder and LCD
One feature the Powershot A580 has that you see less and less is an optical viewfinder. As well as the viewfinder there is a 2.5 inch LCD screen. This consists of 115,000 dots.

The flash system is a bit more advanced than you find on more basic point and shoot cameras. As well as the standard on, off, auto and red eye reduction options you also have access to slow sync speed, flash exposure compensation and flash exposure lock. You can also buy an external flash unit, the Canon High Power Flash HF-DC1.

The range of the built in flash unit is 3.5m when zoom is not in use. This falls to 2.2m when the zoom lens is in use.

There is a fairly typical set of predefined scene modes. These are: Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Sunset, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Night Scene and Aquarium.

Movies of up to an hour or 4gb in size can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The top recording speed is 30 frames per second. Sound can be recorded. Optical zoom can be applied before recording starts, but once recording is in progress only digital zoom can be applied.

There are a few features that give you some extra control over each photo. These are metering (Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame), Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre)), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), ISO (AUTO, High ISO Auto (incorporating Motion Detection Technology), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) and white balance (Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom).

Shutter speeds work in the range 15 seconds to 1/2000 seconds. These are set automatically by the camera. The longer times are not available in all shooting modes.

Another more advanced feature is continuous shooting. This allows you to shoot at a maximum speed of 1.4 shots per second until the memory card is full.

All the necessary cables and software are supplied to attach the Canon Powershot A580 to a computer, television set and compatible printer.

Canon Powershot A580

Description:	8 megapixels and a 4x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	7
Features:	8
Colour:	9
Macro:	8
Indoors:	9
Value for Money:	9
Style:	7
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	9
Build Quality:	8
Total:	82
Verdict:	The Powershot A580 offers both picture quality and value for money. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive digital camera and looks and style are not everything to you then this could be the camera you are looking for.
Review Date:	April 2008
Related Pages:	Canon Powershot A580 Specification Canon Powershot A580 Sample Images Canon Powershot A580 Features

Camera	Rating
Canon Powershot A1100 IS	83
Fuji Finepix J250	82
Fuji Finepix Z35	82
Panasonic DMC LS85	82
Canon Powershot A480	82
Nikon Coolpix L20	81
Nikon Coolpix L19	81
Olympus FE-5020	80

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Canon Powershot A580