Canon's new PowerShot A570 and A560

Canon sure likes to yuk it up with the "A Series" puns. "A" for affordable, for the AA batteries you can stick in these things, for the "A" Team the cameras represent -- it's a real riot. Luckily, "affordable" doesn't have to mean "boring" anymore, and these two PowerShots include fancy 4x zooms, 7.1 megapixel CCDs, 2.5-inch LCDs and that DIGIC III processor for speedier operation, along with 1600 ISO and Face Detection. Sound familiar? You can have it all for a few more bucks, 1x less zoom and quite a bit more pocketability in the Digital ELPH series. What the A570 adds that the A560 and those ELPH cousins lack is optical image stabilisation. You can pick one up for $280, or if you don't mind the blur, grab an A560 for $230. Both will be out in March.

Gallery: Canon's new PowerShot A570 and A560

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[Brishen @ Feb 22nd 2007 12:27AM]

A lot of canon love going on here, eh?

[Q5VxdU6caUK9GWRp27N @ Feb 22nd 2007 2:34AM]

Yes, the Canon love makes me horny.

[Samuel @ Feb 22nd 2007 3:38AM]

No offense intended, but why the smart-aleck tone and lack of research?

The Canon Elph SD-800 IS, as its name implies, does have image-stabilization.

Also, the A series cameras were never "boring" and, I would add another A: "Awesome".
My A70, from years ago, still takes awesome pictures, and I've printed plenty of beautiful 8x10s (borderless 8.5" x 11"s, to be precise) from its humble 3 megapixel DIGIC I engine.

While not as slim as the SD elph series, they've always been great cameras, and the editors could have simply written that Image-Stabilization has made it to an A series camera. End of story (or, in Engadget fashion, simply go on about how blurry pictures come out without the IS, so check out this Canon...

[Piachan @ Feb 22nd 2007 12:24PM]

The "IS" in SD series camera refers to digital image stabilization, while the "IS" in the A series refers to optical image stabilization. Comparatively speaking, optical is much more effective than digital for image stabilization. IMHO, the A710 IS with 6X optical zoom is the sweetspot in Canon's current line-up.

[Nick @ Feb 22nd 2007 5:45AM]

I have the SD800 IS elph, and I'd rather have this camera. As a photography enthusiast (I make no claims as to actual skill) I find it maddening that most digicams are dumbed down with limited manual control options. Manual control on a digicam is simply a matter of software, so this is a conscious decision on the part of the camera maker to reduce support calls and returns by limiting the control of the users. What I love about the A series is the fact that they retain full manual and priority AE modes just like a real SLR. They may not be SLR quality but you can learn photography with a cheap A series camera just as easily. It's something worth considering.

[mattynovak @ Feb 22nd 2007 8:46AM]

Nice all around, but did I miss something? Doesn't the Canon SD 700 and 800 have IS and 4x optical zoom?

[John Doe @ Feb 22nd 2007 4:35PM]

You couldn't have been more right about the A710 IS. Its perfect, except for size and flash charging time (3-4 secs)
What's not to like about 7.1 MP, 6x optical zoom, image stabilization, and a huge screen (and a viewfinder, which is increasingly missing on a lot of models).
Oh, and don't forget full manual control.