Reviews
Canon
PowerShot A80
A clear winner any way you look at it
Not too long
ago it was next to impossible to find a really good digital camera
for under $400. No matter how hard we looked, something was always
lacking or didn't work quite right, so serious buyers had no choice
but to spend more, and perhaps more than they wanted. However,
with digital cameras now having reached critical mass, prices
have come down and features and quality have gone up. All major
brands now offer reasonably priced cameras that can produce excellent
images at prices we could only dream of a couple of a few years
ago.
A great example is Canon's new PowerShot A80, the replacement
of their popular A70. It's all around better, and amazingly so.
You could almost call it an economy version of the famed Canon
G3, once the undisputed champion of the PowerShot series. It was
eventually replaced by the G5 and other higher end PowerShots,
but even today the G3 can stand up to scrutiny: a great 4 megapixel
CCD, a LCD display that swings out, and a slew of lens accessories.
The new A80 recaptures the spirit and performance of the Canon
G3 in a smaller, handier package.
This is a camera you pick up and everything feels just right.
The shutter is in the proper position and so is the zoom ring
around it. In the back is a handy navigation disc to manipulate
menus and modes and move between pictures. There is a switch to
move back and forth between recording and playback mode, and that's
the only control that doesn't feel quite right. Canon tried hard
to make things simple on the A80, and they succeeded admirably.
The whole interface is controlled by just four buttons. They allow
you to do all the on-screen settings on the simple and easy-to-understand
menus. The icons are self-explanatory, but just to make sure,
each also has an English language label.
We've always liked flip-out LCD displays because they allow you
to take pictures while holding the camera up to shoot over the
top of heads, or having it sit discreetly on your lap so as not
to attract attention. The A80's moves out a full 180 degrees and
then rotates 270 degrees, offering a lot of flexibility, including
taking those ever-popular self portraits. Finally, you can also
flip the display so that the glass faces the body of the camera,
thus protecting it when you don't use it.
For
storage the A80 uses the still popular and widely available CompactFlash.
A smallish 32MB card comes with it-enough to get you started,
but not nearly enough to keep you happy with a 4-megapixel camera.
Get a 256MB card. They don't cost a lot these days. One nuisance
here: why do so many high-quality digital cameras have those flimsy
plastic doors for the memory card compartment? The A80 has one
of those. Be careful with it, and with the plastic tripod mount.
Canon also stayed with proven standard in the battery department
where the A80 uses simple AAs. Alkalines are not a good match
for digital cameras, though, so get a couple of sets of rechargeable
NiMHs.
This being a Canon we expected good image quality, and we got
it. Between the excellent 4X zoom lens and Canon's Auto Intelligence
autofocus that shows you with little squares what the camera focuses
on, it's hard to get a bad shot. Also, this is a fast camera that
hardly ever makes you wait. If you like to take control, there
is a cool Manual Focus assist mode that helps you without taking
over. It's a bit like having your dad looking standing next to
you and nodding when you got it right.
Like almost all digital cameras these days, the A80 has plenty
of features. In some cameras those are hard to select or use,
but the A80's mode select dial makes it simple to pick one of
the many modes, including auto/program, shutter/aperture priority,
different scenes, stitch, and so on.
For those who like to accessorize, Canon offers additional lenses
that fit on the A80. The options catalog even includes a waterproof
enclosure so you can take pictures in your pool! All of this makes
the PowerShot A80 a great value and perhaps one of the best consumer
digital cameras available today.
-Edison Carter
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