eddybe's Full Review: Canon PowerShot A95 Digital Camera
The A95 is the top of the line Canon Powershot A series camera until its replacement is announced mid 2005. There are 2 models below this in the A series camera line which are good cameras as well. The A95 boasts some features that are not common in the basic P+S (point and shoot) class cameras, such as swivel LCD, histogram (playback only), full manual overrides, a lens adapter mount, and manual focus.
Megapixels, the common misconception is that people think the higher the number the better the photos. This is far from the truth. In terms of film this could be considered the size of your negative. If your camera cannot produce good colors or clear photos your only going to end up with larger photos that don't look as good. The 3MP Canon cameras can easily produce better quality photos than some of the other cameras on the market with higher MP outputs. In the case of the A95 you get a 5MP output which is large enough for printing 8x10 photos with good quality.
Canon cameras are known for producing great image quality with brilliant colors. Without getting into specifics of sensors and chip sets all I can say is go to some of the serious photography sites and look for some Canon photos. It might be harder to find A series shots because these are considered P+S cameras vs the pro-sumer G series or even the DSLRs but they all share high image quality with each other.
Back to the camera, this camera is in the P+S class with a number of custom settings like, sports, landscape, pets and kids etc... There are something like 22 of them. This allows the novice to try to experiment with various settings for their settings. The camera also has full manual controls from manual focus, to flash output, to long exposures for special effect shots. There are also color modes that can be shot with the camera such as Sepia, Vivid, B+W, Neutral. The camera has a decent burst mode which allows you to take sequential shots. The camera also supports 2 size (37mm or 52mm) lens tubes which allow you to add on extra lenses and or filters. Optical View Finder or Swivel LCD the choice is yours which way you'll want to shoot with the camera. With my previous cam I only used the VF, now I find that I can take a number of shots from angles I never thought of before with the swivel LCD. The addition of this and the manual settings allows the shutterbug to grow into learning more about photography. The filters and add on lenses are somewhat standard so you can move them over to your next digital if you want.
Sounds like the perfect camera, well its not. I don't think anyone can produce the perfect camera in a sub $800 price range let alone in the $300-400 range. What's not perfect about it? For the most part images are clean until you go to higher ISOs like 200 and 400, these higher speeds have a bit of noise (grain) in the photos and at times makes the photos difficult to use with out post processing via software. The camera's auto focus system might be a bit slow for capturing the little ones but there are work around like setting up a manual focus with a wide range (called Hyper focal). Red eye is a problem even at times when using the no-red eye flash setting, this is common with smaller cameras because the flash is so close to the lens. Lastly PF or Purple Fringing, this is an optical effect that causes blue-ish to purple hues at the edges of dark objects in high contrast areas, this isn't as bad as it sounds and when your printing standard size prints its hard to notice.
This camera is a bargain in that it gives you so many features found on higher costing cameras and the camera produces excellent photos. It may not be the ideal camera if your only going to take indoor photos of kids, there are others that will auto focus in low light better. But as an overall camera it will produce some excellent photos in various situations better than some of those that perform better in low light. Remember at this price range there is no such thing as perfect, you can find a flaws in anything.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 350 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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