Canon debuts A3100 IS, A3000 IS, A495 and A490 low-end shooters

It might not be glamorous, but if a $110 camera is all you can afford -- or all you'd trust your kid with -- then it suddenly becomes of utmost importance. The new crop of A-series cameras fits such a bill, with the 12 megapixel, 4x zoom, optical image stabilized PowerShot A3100 IS in the "high end" at $180, followed by the 10 megapixel A3000 IS at $150; 10 megapixel, 3.3x zoom A495 at $130; and similarly specced A490 at $110. The differences between the A495 and A490 are muddled, outside of color choices and fewer scene selections. The Two A3000 cameras sports 2.7-inch screens and recharageable lithium-ion battery packs (a first for A-series cameras), with the A490 units going for 2.5-inches and trotting out the AAs. All four shooters should be out sometime in late February.

Canon debuts A3100 IS, A3000 IS, A495 and A490 low-end shooters

[JeanLuc Picard Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:15AM]

They all look kinda ugly... Anyone else agree?

[sirthought Posted Jan 5th 2010 6:11PM]

@JeanLuc Picard

Who cares what they look like, as long as they perform well for the price point. It's a camera! You worry about what's on the other side of the lens.

[babya Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:16AM]

Liked looks of older A series but the new A series although quite slim doesn't attract in me for its styling as much.

[cowtowner Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:38AM]

I kind of like the plain look of them.

The A490 price point is just right for gifting to people who you know don't take many pictures per year and still haven't made the jump to digital.

[skyblaze Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:42AM]

damn... cheaper than the 12 megapixel Powershot SD960 IS i got... i dropped near 300 for that last month.. and that was on sale :\

[metalhaze Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:55AM]

Any of these shoot HD video?

[Brother Unit No 4 Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:57AM]

But how are the A3X00 cameras different from their SD1X00 cams, as the SD1200 is selling pretty much everywhere for $150?

[KAL326 Posted Jan 5th 2010 11:04AM]

Might be something to look into as I haven't seen many any Sony's recently that interest me in the cheap PS category. I have a old DSC-P72 3.2MP that's my take anywhere point and shoot that I could care less if it got destoryed. It takes a decent image, but its getting flaky in its old age. Could also be the two dozen plus times its been dropped. If you drop it just right the memory card ejects and flies a good distance.

[UnixSystemsEngineer Posted Jan 5th 2010 11:10AM]

My 2MP SD200 is starting to look a bit dated...

[fencesitter Posted Jan 5th 2010 2:19PM]

A-series with Li-Ion batteries? I thought the whole deal with the A-series was that they took AA batteries?

They could have just kept the PowerShot moniker (read: not dSLR) and made it a different series. I mean they've already got PowerShot A, G, Pro, S, SD, SX and TX (possibly others). How hoar would it have been to add a PowerShot L-series or something?

I guess the A just means "amateur" now. Yeah great, a really flattering mnemonic.

[FitFan Posted Jan 5th 2010 3:07PM]

Nice! The A3100 and A3000 support SDXC.