Canon Powershot A580 review

Does a cheap price tag equal cheap results? We hope not...

If price is high on your list of priorities, then read this. The Canon PowerShot A580 is an absolute bargain of a camera, with quite a lot going for it too. At just £100, you can nab yourself a very happy snapper indeed, with great grip and even the bonus of a separate optical viewfinder, which is so often lacking in modern digital compacts.

The most appealing part of the camera is its ergonomics, plied with a generous hand grip around the front, which doubles up as the battery compartment. Granted, this may add bulk, but for the first-time user it offers that much-appreciated added touch of stability. On top of the hand grip sits a shutter button and zoom lever combo, both of which are easy to operate and wrap your fingers round. It’s dressed in a chrome trim to match the lens surround, making it an attractive little shooter.

Staying within the looks department, the PowerShot A580 does have one issue that will not be to everybody’s taste. This being the extensive plastic shell, which both looks and feels a touch on the cheap side. Obviously, at a price like this compromises have to be made, and to be honest it’s far better to compromise on style than image quality in our view.

Around the back, things are kept simple with just a few buttons. At the top is a slide button, which is for choosing whether you’d like to play back your pictures or opt for the shooting mode. It has a good-sized ridge on the button, making it extremely easy to operate. Further down sits the D-pad, which is the gateway to often-used functions such as Macro, Flash, ISO and continuous shooting. This is generously proportioned, which means it’s very easy to operate. Below this sits the main menu for altering settings such as date and time and other fiddly bits and pieces. While directly opposite is a button marked DISP., short for display. This is handy if you want to use the viewfinder without the distraction of the LCD.

On the camera’s topside sits a rather large cog, which provides access to a manner of settings including scene modes, Manual mode and Face Detection. It is rather clunky and operates with a rather loud click for each turn, but the upside of this is that you’re always certain which mode you are in. In Manual mode, do not expect a great degree of control and creativity like more advanced cameras. However, there is plenty of control over the exposure of a shot within this mode, as well as white balance control too.

Turn to the underbelly of the camera and you will find the large door, which holds the batteries and memory card. There’s a bit of a knack required for opening the door (slide and push at the same time), but this is easily mastered and offers piece of mind over the security of the camera’s vital organs.

As far as performance goes, this camera is very commendable for the price. Granted, the start-up times are a little sluggish, averaging about three seconds, but for the casual user this is unlikely to be a problem.

We tested this camera in a whole host of locations and on a wealth of subjects too, and the camera did a sterling job in every one. One of the scenes we were most dubious about was an indoor shot of a church. However, the Indoor scene mode did a great job at reproducing the colours spot on and even captured the flicker of candles. The window was partially blown out in the highlights, but for a low-end camera the results are truly impressive.

In other areas of image quality, the A580 is a versatile camera indeed. Tough tasks like shooting through glass are handled impeccably, as where pet portraits too. We did find the Macro mode a little hit and miss, with a tendency to overdo it with the shallow depth of field though. In the great outdoors the camera is a decent performer, especially when producing lifelike colours. It manages to hang onto shadow details well, but is a little flamboyant when it comes to highlights.

Our main image concern takes place in high contrast images, such as dark branches photographed against a bright white sky. This tends to bring up the issue of chromatic aberration, resulting in purple fringing that traces the branches and other areas, which hits that bright sky. It’s certainly not the worst case we’ve ever witnessed, but it is there.

The PowerShot A580 is a fantastic camera for a beginner, especially when you consider the price. There are a few issues regarding the intuitiveness of the scene mode functions, but a little bit of practice and this will be ingrained in your head for when it’s required.

For the great grip, separate viewfinder and commendable image reproduction, we salute this little camera, and think it’s a very decent buy indeed.