Ratings: Ease of Use, Performance: 18/25, Look & Feel: 20/25, Features & Software 20/25, How much I enjoy 22/25
Total: 80/100
The Canon PowerShot A560 is a great digital camera with plenty of features making digital photography easier and more fun. The PowerShot A560 has a good variety of preset modes as well as automatic mode for point and click ease.
Canon has been making digital cameras for a long time and I know the PowerShot line of digital cameras is a good one, I have purchased two other models myself. The PowerShot A560 continues this great tradition of fine craftsmanship and quality in digital cameras.
The Canon PowerShot A560 is a 7.1 MegaPixel digital camera that uses a Secure Digital memory card for storing its digital images. The camera also comes with a good movie function that is pretty good for a budget camera but nothing to brag about.
Here are the PowerShot A560 features straight from Canon:
Feature-packed compact digital camera with 7.1 Megapixel resolution and high-quality Canon 4x Optical Zoom lens for freedom at your fingertips
DIGIC III Image Processor with improved Face Detection Technology and Red-eye Correction for sharper images and improved functionality
Clear, high-resolution 2.5-inch LCD for easy on-camera viewing
ISO 1600 and High ISO Auto to reduce image blur and expand low-light shooting capability
Four movie modes including 30 fps VGA and 60 fps Fast Frame Rate
I received the PowerShot A560 to review from Canon and am very happy with this budget priced digital camera. The A560 takes pictures up to ISO 1600 which means the light sensitivity is better than the previous Canon A550. The other main changes from the previous model of this series of camera comes from its newer processor chip. Another nice feature is a higher speed camera mode in the form of a QVGA high speed mode at 320 X 240 resolution.
The PowerShot A560 takes very good pictures up to 3072 X 2304 image resolution and can take pictures in low light as well as bright areas well. The new Face Detection offers even better portrait picture taking and family moments that create a great set of features for the price. The A560 has a good set of modes for a very full series of preset scenes using its mode dial.
The A560 has not only the automatic shooting mode for easy picture taking but has several preset modes; Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, and special scenes. The special scenes offer even more preset modes; Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and Aquarium. Each mode and special scene mode is preset for the optimum digital picture in each generic setting.
The camera also comes with its automatic mode and a manual mode for either very simple point and shoot or for complete control over things like exposure, white balance, colors and ISO speed. The manual mode is great for getting particular effects or for the pictures you know need more adjustment to make it right for you.
The Canon A560 uses two “AA” batteries that plug into the same small door that your SD digital card and the date battery goes into. The camera also comes with a smaller 16 Mega byte SD card but you will want to get a larger card as this small card will not hold very many pictures. But it is nice that Canon does include at least this card and batteries with your new camera purchase so you can get to snapping pictures when you open the box.
The camera also comes with three manuals; the Basic Camera User Guide, the Advanced Camera User Guide and a Direct Print User Guide. The guides go from simple settings and what each button and switch does to direct printing from your camera to a printer using the PictBridge. They cover all the basics as well as the more complex settings such as what ISO speed is and how it effects your picture.
In the guides the first sentence under the topic will be what the setting does and what effect this has on a particular scene or picture and why you would want to change it. The guides show the buttons and screens on your camera so you know exactly what they are showing you and what you see on the camera itself to change. The guides are a handy and convenient way to learn more about your camera and taking better pictures.
PictBridge is a solution for printing directly from the camera to a printer with the enclosed cable and a PictBridge ready printer. Not only Canon but other brands of printers have PictBridge and can print directly from the camera to a printer without the need for a computer. To print using this technology you simply plug the camera into a PictBridge USB connection and the camera goes into edit mode where you choose the pictures you want to print, edit them if you want and then print them.
The Canon PowerShot A560 comes with all kinds of settings and adjustments to make on the camera itself in order to directly print to a printer using the PictBridge. You can adjust things like crop a picture, brighten a face and red eye correction in two modes. Using the PictBridge you can also choose to print movie frames directly from the movie to a printer. Using the available menus on the camera you can pick various types of paper and printer setups like printing several photos on the same page or the same picture multiple times.
The A560 also uses date printing right on the pictures if you wish as well as adding some preset borders in various styles to any pictures you print directly from the camera. The A560 comes with the USB cable to print directly to a printer or to connect to your PC and edit or print pictures there. You can use the enclosed CD to load the Canon Digital Camera Solutions programs to your computer and edit your photos. The CD contains ZoomBrowser which is a photo organizer and editor for digital photos which contains everything you need to learn how to turn an ordinary photo into a true portrait.
The A560 also takes pretty good movies that have a good resolution and frame rate using a normal rate of 30 frames per second for some good quality camcorder footage. The Canon A560 also boasts a 60 frames per second rate to catch all that fast paced action such as those fast moving kids. The movie mode is very easy to use and the camera comes with an AV cable to connect your camera to a TV to watch the movies right on your television.
I have used the Canon A560 for a few weeks and I really like the ease of use and how well the camera handles all the preset conditions with the modes. The A560 is easy to quickly change settings to enhance any picture and the printing using the PictBridge is easy and fun. I think the Canon A560 is a very good affordable solution for anyone who wants an easy to use and good quality digital camera.
The A560 will introduce you to various camera terms and how to take better pictures as well as the simple point and shoot setting for those times when you don’t want to fuss with anything. You can learn how to take better pictures using the various modes and experiment with the manual settings to learn more about digital photography. The enclosed software also lets you download and edit photos and learn how to create those great photos that you will want to share with family and friends.
Overall I like the Canon PowerShot A560 and recommend it for anyone who wants an easy to use budget camera.
