Product Reviews

The lower reaches of Canon's PowerShot range may be short on glamour, but they include some excellent cameras at bargain prices. A fine example is the A630, which offers excellent image quality from its 4x zoom lens and 8-megapixel sensor, plus extensive manual controls. The A570 IS costs about the same and goes down a megapixel, but adds optical image stabilisation to counteract blur from camera shake, and face detection to assist with automatic focus and exposure. It's also lighter and more compact, thanks in part to the use of two (rather than four) AA batteries.

Performance is up to Canon's

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high standards, with a 1.6-second gap between photos during normal shooting and a 1.7fps continuous mode. Aperture priority, shutter priority and manual exposure are available, with the latter benefiting greatly from the onscreen preview, which adjusts the brightness to reflect the predicted outcome of settings, including ISO speed and flash. The only thing it overestimates is the flash's ability to illuminate large scenes. Manual white balance and focus are available too, although as with the A630, the latter is limited by the 21/2in screen's low resolution.

Our image-quality tests revealed punchy, flattering colours and excellent handling of high-contrast scenes. We've seen more accurate colour reproduction, but none of our test shots were flawed in this respect. Similarly, detail and image noise were about average for a 7-megapixel camera, but by today's standards and at this price, this isn't a criticism.

Full manual control is almost unheard of at this price, making this a great choice for impoverished enthusiasts. The A630 has slightly better image quality, but the A570 IS's image stabilisation and compact design make it equally worthy of the bargain hunter's money.