This is my alternative to a DSLR and I love it. I got it for $108 because I had a Best Buy points coupon, and I am extremely satisfied. The battery life is the one downside, but I've found shutting off the LCD screen and just using the viewfinder helps when I'm going to shoot a lot of pics, and doing this also minimizes the problem of shutter lag. I have an 8gb card, and it will hold an infinite number of pictures, esp when you set it to shoot on 5mp. You can set the color settings for vivid color or neutral color, which I enjoy experimenting with, you can also set it to Sepia or B&W. Another drawback is the wheel. I have started taking pictures thinking it was in Aperture Priority mode, which is my preferred mode, and the wheel had been bumped and it made my pictures all funky, so you need to make sure you have the mode set correctly before shooting. Otherwise, its a great camera for its price.

I love this camera. I bought it last year before Christmas at a great price. It takes really nice pictures, but sometimes does not focus on the things I want it to focus on. I have taken some great pictures with it and will continue to do so. It has so many functions, and most of them are great. I use the manual function sometimes, but it is a little tricky to work. Sometimes the pictures do come out a bit dull, but it's easy to adjust the finished product on the computer. I find the computer program really easy to use and fairly fast. You can also download the pictures and delete them directly off the camera without the use of the program. Altogether, a really great buy for someone who wants something good quality, easy to use and at a really affordable price.

I just started photography and am now taking a class. This camera is best for beginners because there is nothing to complex about it. Also, unlike older cameras, has more options and is a bit more complex than your average Auto camera. For beginners I would recommend.

I bought this as a replacement for a ten year old Fuji fine pix that finally died. I'll admit the a590 IS is really simple to use,
but the clarity on outside nature shots is really disappointing.
I live in a cabin in Vermont and I've been trying to get one decent shot of it - no dice. I've taken hundreds of shots on every setting during every type of lighting situation and haven't got one decent shot. Last year I tried to take a shot of a particularly beautiful tree during a glorious foliage season. Again, hundreds of shots in every light you can imagine and not one decent shot. Not one. Last year was the best foliage season in ten years and all my shots are are washed. No sharpness.

I've got off some decent shots of items for ebay. Indoors and close-ups - The camera is good for that. Also, I have yet to get a blurry shot due to hand motion.

My old Fuji was a clunky and had very few features. I did get a fair amount of blurry shots due to hand motion, but when I did get good shots they were GREAT!!! Put that Fuji lens on this camera and you'd have a real winner. I wish fuji would get their stuff together, they are really under achieving on their new cameras. They had technology ten years ago to get fantastic pictures.

I'll keep this camera for easy indoor shots and ebay pictures, but I'm currently looking for another camera for outdoor use.

This camera is adequate. The photos from my Panasonic Lumix point and shoot were consistently clear- this camera takes beautiful shots sometimes, while other shots are not as sharp. It would be nice if there were less time between taking photos. It tends to save each photo pretty slowly and I have it set on a 2 sec. review. I had it without a review, but it took the same amount of time, anyway. It is a decent camera for most people. I will probably upgrade to a nicer camera at some point because I'm really becoming interested in digital photography.

I bought this after reading a number a great reviews. However, I can't say I've really gotten one clear, sharp photo from it. Perhaps there's some way to tweak it that I haven't figured out. or perhaps it's hit or miss with the sensor. Either way, I feel like I've gone back to my old 110 days (rememebr those flimsy little cameras?) Lots of features, but not worth it.

This camera is good for starters. start up rate is fast, slow burst rate,dont depend on the expected frame within a given second. In sunlight the speed is fast. video display is faded and dark during playback.

Yes, the battery door is a bit cheap. We use these cameras at our department and the things never die! I've used them in rain right away from pulling it out of a 120 degree (at least) car. I absolutely love these cameras.

Their picture is excellent for the price and the ability to take a picture without having the thing "boot up or start up" like my Photosmart R927 does, I can take a picture immediately. (especially helpful if you want to catch a moment!)

For the price this is not a bad camera.... Don't get me wrong- I have snapped several remarkable photos, and just as many junk out-of focus photo, with this camera so fudging with the focus is a pain.

I bought this camera to replace an aging A85. It looks like an upgrade to the A85 but the default AF performs nothing like its distant predecessor. I had to turn the AF Sensor to Center and that helped quite a bit. Still has problems focusing on items smaller than a 5" in diameter (Such as flowers). Backing away, 1-2 feet, from the object and refocusing helps- but where is the fun in that—One of the reasons I bought this camera was for the ability to get close to the subject matter (Canon claims it has a 5 cm Min Focal length) .

Battery life is okay (The A85 had longer life) about 100-150 shots from regular Alkaline Batteries. and some of the features like Digital Telephoto and on Display Grid are nice.

Camera is the "right size". It slips easily into a jacket pocket and isn't so small it slips out of your hands. Also has about the right weight to it.

Lag is what is expected from a non-SLR point and shoot camera.

Controls are easy to use. The camera also has a Full Auto "Easy Mode" for first time photographers. It also has full manual mode but the manual focus is to clumsy to be of great use.

Just wish the camera would focus better.

I have had this camera for about a year and one day it just decided to quit working. The display came up "memory error." I tried using a new photo card and the screen was black, but I was able to insert other photo cards that had photos stored on them and view those, but when I switched to the camera mode the screen was black. I will be calling the store I bought it from to see if covered by warranty. It was a good camera while it lasted. I believe nothing lasts forever.

I was using a 35mm canon rebel that I love but
I needed a digi I love the ease of use and the similar format as the rebel. My children love it too. My only challenge is figuring out the software.

I tried it and found wonderful realy good cjoice

This is my second Canon A590. The first one the lens wouldn't open a month after I bought it. Canon replaced the first one. The second one now has the same lens problem. Clearly Canon has a technical problem with the lens mechanical operation.

well its an worth for money camera. Its focusing capability is tremendous . Even If you are amature photographer u can work wonder I spend almost an hour comparing it with the same segment of nikon of near 7 megapixels but canon simply leaves behind all its nearest cameras.It is undisputed champion of the 7-8 megapixel & 4x optical zoom.

I enjoyed the pictures of this camera but only 2 months after purchase from Ebay, I cannot turn it on. The lens is stuck without it falling and the warning "lens error, restart camera' is there. I tried 1000 times restarting but no positive result. I am really disappointed. I cannot return it, and am not able to repair it either.

We recently took this camera as well as a 5-6 year old Nikon 3200 3.1mp "clunker" to Florida. We took many photos - sometime of much the same subject and I have to say that the old Nikon did a much better job as far as clarity, color rendition and lack of fuzziness and 'noise'. I'm hoping that some of this was due to lack of experience and we will get all of the settings right and it will be a good camera. When it was all over, I do regret not taking my pro level Nikon SLR even though it does weigh a short ton:-))

I've rated it average though as our usage level and experience might move it one way or the other positive, hopefully. Now, it's a disappointment to us!!

My wife and I both bought this camera on the same day. We are people that take super good care of our cameras.
My camera still works, hers broke and is garbage now.
The lens started making a horrible noise and then it started going in & out and stopping halfway between the two positions....all pictures would come out as a blinding white overexposure.....
We never did send in our warranty cards - stupid move, in hindsight.....but we trusted that our Canon cameras would be reliable!
I guess we'll have to throw it away, $180.00 in the trash.
I imagine it would cost a lot of money to get fixed.

I purchased the A590 IS camera in April 2008 to replace an excellent point and shoot Fuji 550 which had stopped functioning. I read a lot of good reviews about the Canon 590 IS camera which influenced my decision to purchase. After purchasing, I traveled to Russia. During one month in Russia, I took about 500 photos and some video. The quality of many photos were good, some were not so good. The snapshots were only average. The video feature was acceptable. I was pleased with the ease of use and battery life. Low light photos were better than I had been accustomed to with other point and shoot cameras. However, when I returned to the U.S. and begin to edit the photos, I discovered that the resolution was terrible on most of the photos that were zoomed and cropped. In summary, I was very disappointed in the overall picture quality. I would recommend this camera only for ease of use, video feature, and price. If you are serious about resolution of photos, do not purchase the Canon A590 IS. Presently, I am doing a lot of research to determine what camera to purchase to replace it.

cannon powershot 590 is is my first digital camera.
and i have not seen all the other digital camera manufacturer's image.so i will not hardly tell that cannon 590 is's image quality is the best among all same spcification's built camera.
but it has some feature which is the plus point of it,the image quality naturally will not be same as slr digcam have.
i am quite happy having this digital camera as a first user.
as a message i will advice to take photo in manual made in as low as iso speed possible rather tha easy mode and auto made.

This camera is a good compromise for beginners who don't want full automatic cameras although Canon added a full auto mode on this particular model. It's easy to use yet one can set manual mode to control everything like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance etc. Perfect to learn how to handle a digital camera. I've shot over 1000 photos and videos in Thailand, England, France, indoor and outdoor and I haven't been disappointed so far. IS is quite effective, flash is good. It's got all I wanted, that's standard AA batteries so you never run out of batteries if you carry a couple extra sets in your pocket, a view finder maybe old fashioned but so convenient to either save battery life or use in very sunny places. It's fast, probably one of the fastest cameras for this price range. The solid aspect of this camera makes you feel confortable holding it. That's it, for those who can't afford the new SX1 IS, here's the next best choice ;)

I have owned previous Canon powershot cameras an was so diappointed when I bought this one in August 2008. It broke within the first month! I sent it back to them for repair thinking it was just a fluck & under warranty. 3 months later the camera is broken AGAIN for a different reason...ALL warranty covered problems.

I am so disgusted that I am buying a new camerea to replace this TERRIBLE Canon camera.

Problems: Stopped taking photos, blinded people with the non-working flash's red beam, fuzzy photos, batteries draining every 2 days and not due to 'dirty' contacts, either. Oh, forget taking a picture of kids because the camera takes up to 5-10 seconds to recycle itself for the next shot!!!! Support thougth that was acceptable for this camera! NOT! The list goes on and this is a new camera.
Looking for new camera that will not be a Canon. Do Not buy this camera.

You can't get more features for the money...but I'm returning my camera because I can't get it to take consistently clear photos. I have a 6 year old Olympus Camedia C-4000 (4.0MP), and it takes much sharper images than the A590 I received. My family has had great luck with Canon in the past, so this is very disappointing.

Another reviewer remarked that it was either feast or famine on the reviews for the A590. All people have the same issue: can't focus/fuzzy images. There has to be some substance to that, and it seems like buying this type of camera is a gamble.

I received my camera as a Christmas gift this Christmas, I have owned it for a total of 5 days, and am in love with it. No, seriously, if I could I would marry it. I'm not sure what my husband would think of it, but oh well. This camera takes awesome pictures, the clarity is actually quite amazing. The disk that comes with the camera is no doubt the easiest download I have ever done. My son has an MP3 Player, and it was pure heck to get up and running. This camera and everything with it is quite simple, even for those that arent too sure about cameras. It has a video setting where you can actually take videos, inside and outside settings for the obvious, portrait setting for those upclose pics, and many more. It comes with cables that you hook up to your T.V., and can have the whole family review the pics instead of passing the camera around chancing it being dropped, etc. We have also discovered you can take pictures through your T.V. when the camera is hooked up. Its actually quite entertaining. This camera is, by far, the best I have ever owned. Thank you for reading my review.

I must say, it's my favorite camera in the <$150 price range by far. Plenty of zoom, 8 MP (you really don't need more), Optical Image stabilization (instead of that phony software stuff), a very nice movie mode, and manual and novice modes are all features that make this camera a must have for those who aren't looking to spend a lot but want the best quality that their money can buy. I've taken several thousand pictures already, and I'd say only 1-2% of them have not met my high standard (probably the best result I've found in a camera in this price range). You'll be quite pleased. My only negative is that it's a little tricky to disable the camera's autofocus. However, on the whole, it's a fine machine.

I used 2 cameras previously ( a Canon and a Sony ) and the pictures were always so much better.
Maybe this is a unique problem with my camera- pictures average or below average without using the zoom. I And the batteries are done after 20 or 30 pictures....
Even the video is not very clear...
Very blurry in low light....
But when it came to realy clsoe shots the pictures were very good.

the powershot a590 Is is an excellent camera. This camera takes crystal clear pictures and the videos turned out to be good too.

i have been using the CANON EOS DSLR and tried to purchase a digicam A590 IS and so far i havent been disappointed with this camera..almost all the abilities that a DSLR has is found in this piece of gem!the color and the quality of the pictures are great...when it comes to portrait which i do most, it gave me the best color and lighting effect i just needed. this gem really hit the spot though. i dont understand why some people get such negative impression on this..u should have learned how to operate it. it took me an hour to study and really learn how to use this camera just to get the right image result i desire.sometimes your issues just fall for some technical ignorance or mishandling of this gadgets...canon rocks!

Having very happily used a traditional Canon camera for many years, we recently decided to make the move to digital; can only wish we had done it earlier. The Canon Powershot A590IS is simple to use, has a great range of features and takes the most crisply defined shots I have ever seen. The zoom really does what it says on the box!
Admittedly the camera is sold with a very limited memory card, but given the "budget" price, that is a very minor gripe.
Indeed, the results it produces are far superior to what you might expect in this price range. I would recommend this camera to anyone setting out on the digital photography journey!

I bought this camera to take on my trip to Nicaragua in December. I have taken many pictures with it and tried mainly the auto and landscape modes. Unfortunately, ALL of the pictures are coming out slightly blurry. The color quality is not as good as I expected either. I took it to the park and on some trails to see how it did and wasn't too satisfied. Overall I am disappointed and I am returning it to Circuit City and I may try a Nikon.

.I am a novice in digital photography...this camera has changed the way I shoot.Its a great camera to own.

My A590 IS doesn't focus properly. It also doesn't adjust properly to light levels. No matter how I take the photos - indoor/outdoor day/night flash/no flash - I get the same result, the pictures are out of focus and the colors are washed out.

For example, I took a series of shots with my A590 on a bright, sunny, beautifully clear day. You'd never know it was that kind of day from the photos. The shots look it was a hazy, cloudy day.

I've been looking at scores of reviews of this camera, and the reviewers fall into two camps. Either they love the camera and rave about how clear and sharp the photos are, or they hate the camera, because all their photos are blurry and washed out. There's practically no middle ground between those two extremes.

I think Canon may have had a bad run of these cameras. It seems like a widespread problem from what I've seen. Canon should step up to the plate and issue a recall.

I'm going to send my A590 to Canon to be "evaluated". If they send it back to me like it is now, and tell me it's fine, I won't buy anything else from Canon for at least two years.

(Canon won't necessarily lose me as a customer forever, but the two year moratorium is my way of sending a message, via their sales numbers, that they're doing something wrong.)

I am a professional, but love having a point and shoot for parties and vacations. I always use Canon and purchased this on the fly when I dropped my Powershot A610 while on vacation. This was the 4th time I dropped this thing and it worked great until this last time. I bought the A590 on a whim, trusting that since it was Canon, it would be fine. The pictures that I got off of this thing were washed out, as another reviewer said, and the delay time from the flash is guaranteed to miss the moment your trying to capture. I was terribly disappointed with the images even compared to other comparable cameras and will definitely spend the money for a better point and shoot.

Bought the camera and received a lens error message after no misuse and owning camera only 4 months. Canon told me that it had an "internal dent to the lens" and wants me to pay $100 to fix. Many other users have same problem. Do not buy Canon.

At how HORRIABLE the photos have turned out. I too like others have played with the different formatting options. Taken all different photos and so many of them look like they were taken with a web cam. My kodak that just broke that was 4 years old and a 3MP took much better then this 8MP camera. I am surprised some have had such good luck with it while others of us have had such opposite responses.

Also very dissappointed in the time to record an image, even with setting it to the HI ISO, it still was a good 30 seconds for it to save and then give me the option to take another. That was very upsetting. Felt like I was missing shots. Then when you would half press the shutter in to be ready for a shot most of the time it would take the shot without being pressed further in.

Beware of this ill preforming camera!

I owned many Canon camera Sure Shot zoom, AE-1, T90, 10D, 300D, A70 and now A590.

By far A590 is the worst camera of the lot. Even the Sure Shot Zoom (purchased in 1989) is better than this. Clearly Canon is not longer making camera for consumers but making them for a price and very much with *Profits* in mind.

It's a pity that Canon has taken the eye off the ball. I will be switching to Nikon with my next DSLR and will move away from Canon.

After reading all of the raving reviews of the A590IS, I purchased this camera to replace my Nikon L3 that was dropped on concrete. The features were great. However, I was unable to get the camera to produce hi quality images. I tried every combination of settings possible with the same lighting, distance, etc. Auto, Manual, Program, and on and on. It looks as if the pictures were taken at a lower resolution and then interpolated to a higher resolution. Overall, image quality was terrible. I didn't realize how terrible it was until I compared the A590IS images to the images from the 5.1 MP Nikon L3. I returned the 590 and purchased another Nikon. I love my Pixma printer and my friend's 30D and my brother's older 20D, but the A590IS doesn't even compare to a 3 year old L3.

This little gem has most of the features of my EOS DSLR and then some newer ones. The lens has optical zoom from an equivalent 35mm to 140mm which corresponds nicely to my favorite 35mm to 135 mm EF lens. Little digital cameras certainly need image stabilization and the Canon version worked well during a photo shoot at a recent French Quarter festival. The resulting pictures were sharp and the colors turned out true to life. I have another little digital camera that cost about the same as the Canon and has a six-times optical lens but is usless outdoors because it doesn't have an optical viewfinder. In my experience, an optical viewfinder is a must for outdoor use. In short, this is a great little camera at a good price.

I am extremely disappointed with the picture quality of the A590
the pictures are washed out and soft focus I have tried various combinations of settings but to no improvement. the features and controls are good but it is the image quality that is most important. This was a replacement supplied by my insurance company because my camera was stolen and the type was unatainable. I chose the canon because they have a good name bu it will be a long time before I consider a Canon again

After a long debate and two weeks of studying most of the New Models I decided on the Canon A590,I have a DSLR But wanted a Small Pocket size Camera with all the Features of
my DSLR or at least most of them.And I have not been dissapointed .Where do I start the LCD even in bright Light Is more than exceptable and it also has a View finder another added Bonus,Obviously after only two days this is is,nt a long time as to really judge this Camera but I wanted you to know how pleased I am with this Camera,I have taken Landscapes ,Close ups Ect and Can,t really ask for from this Little Gem ,Image quality is Excellent,
Handling is Fine,and the Price is exceptional when you think that its cost is less than a quater of my DSLR,Batteries ( Life) I cannot comment on after two days but will be updating you soon.