Canon Powershot A495

 

The Canon Powershot A495 is one of the best starter cameras you are likely to find. Picture quality is hard to beat for the price. There were no obvious weaknesses in my test shots and the Powershot A495 comfortably outperforms many more expensive digital cameras.

As you would expect the features available are fairly basic, but it you want picture quality you can rely on without paying a fortune then add this camera to your shortlist.

Main Features

10 megapixels
3.3x optical zoom lens
2.5 inch LCD screen
1cm macro mode
AA batteries

Image Quality 

Outdoor Scenic Shots in Good Light
All four of my test shots are of a high quality. Colours are striking while sharpness is surprisingly good. When the lens is zoomed all the way out the Powershot A495 does noticeably well and produces shots that retains a great deal of its sharpness towards the edges. Zooming in is no problem either and the level of detail showing is some way above average.
Portraits
All three of my portrait shots work well. There are no problems with focusing. Once gain the Powershot A495 produces sharp photos. Flash levels are controlled well. This means that colours are retained in shots and a washed out look is avoided. For my indoor portrait shot taken without flash the camera manages to keep noise levels down.
Macro, Colours and Noise
For close up shots the Powershot A495 is able to focus from 1cm away from the subject. Detail levels are very impressive. This is another area where this camera sets the standard for cheaper digital cameras.
I found the colours to be rich and vivid. In my view they add a bit of vitality to the shots. There is a good balance to the colours as well.
Noise levels are in line with my expectations. You should not experience problems unless you are shooting in very challenging lighting conditions or there are very shady areas in your photos.
Summary
As I mentioned in my introduction the Powershot A495 is a hard act to beat when it comes to picture quality at this price.

Shutter Lag and Recycling Times

A single shot timed 0.42 seconds with five taking 15.35 seconds. These times are a little slower than I would like to see. With flash times were 1.17 seconds for a single shot and 22.23 seconds for five shots.
It took me 2.44 seconds to turn on the camera and take the first shot.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

Style

The Powershot A495 has a plain, simple design. It is not really a pocket sized camera at over 30mm wide. It is available in silver, red and blue

Dimensions

93.5 x 61.7 x 30.6 mm

Weight

175g

Batteries

2 AA batteries. Canon estimates battery life to be around 150 shots.

Memory Cards

The Powershot A495 is compatible with SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards. Canon does not include a memory card with the camera and there is no built in memory.