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I purchased this camera as an upgrade/companion to my Canon Powershot S2IS because I needed a smaller camera to carry in my purse, and the A590IS to be very similar to the S2 -- so I thought I wouldn't have to rely too heavily on the owner's manual to learn how to do everything (this has turned out to be mostly true). The A590IS is superior to the S2 in many ways. It's lighter. It's smaller (about 10% smaller in length and height, and half the size of the S2, depth-wise.) It uses 2 AA batteries instead of 4. It has 8 megapixels instead of 5. Best of all, it doesn't have a separate lens cap that likes to fall off all the time! (It has an automatic lens cover instead.) However, the optical zoom is considerably less on this one (4x instead of 12x) and it's a bit more difficult to take videos (you have to put the camera in video mode with the A590, whereas with the S2 you just had to press the record button.) One thing I really miss on the A590 is the rotateable LCD screen that the S2 had; but I guess if this camera had one of those, it couldn't be as small as it is!
One of the reasons I chose this particular camera, as opposed to selecting one of the many other, smaller cameras currently on the market, was that this camera has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen. Viewfinders on digital cameras are hard to come by anymore, but they are very useful if you're trying to take a picture when it's bright outside (making the LCD picture almost impossible to see.)
Overall, I am happy with the A590IS. I like the fact that it's small (by no means the smallest camera on the market, but small enough for my purse or even a coat pocket). I like that it can take good photos in many different conditions. I am most impressed with its ability to get good shots outside at night, even without the flash. I took a photo of some friends in front of a Ferris wheel at the fair. The sun had just set, so the sky was dark, and while there were lights around from the rides, the lighting conditions weren't ideal. The photo still came out beautiful and bright, with the lights from the Ferris wheel noticeable, yet my friends weren't washed out or too dark in the photo. I also took "experimental" shots of the different rides at the fair. Depending on which mode I used, I could either get a clean shot of a lit-up ride with the black sky in the background, or I could get an "artsy" shot (while the ride was moving) using a setting where the shutter was a bit slower.
A few cons: The battery life isn't anything to write home about; I had to change the batteries twice during a recent 5-day vacation (to compare, I only had to change the batteries once on a 10-day vacation with the S2 a few years ago.) Also, I still get blurry photos from time to time, for no apparent reason. The subject is still, my hands are steady, and yet photos can still turn out blurry. This can be kind of frustrating. This used to happen with the S2, too, though, so maybe it's just me.
If you want the smallest camera on the market, or one with the most megapixels or zoom capabilities, then the A590 may not be for you. If you want a camera that's kind of in the middle of everything (except picture quality), check this one out. For the amount of features it has and the quality of the photos, I think the price is good.
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