Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot A490 10.0 MP Digital Camera with 3.3x Optical Zoom and 2.5-Inch LCD

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have to say this before anything else - this is a $100 camera. You get what you pay for.

The good:
It's 10M Pixels
It's $100.
Takes nice pictures (in good light).
AA batteries.
Fits in my hand very well.
The "Auto" mode makes it easy.

The bad:
Cheap construction (to the point of damaging Canon's reputation of quality products in my opinion).
No image stabilization (but.... it is a $100 camera...)
**"Charging the flash"... This is an approx 5-10 second delay every time you want to take a picture. It may not sound like that much time, but it gets real annoying real quick.

Bottom line:
It takes pictures. It takes nice pictures. They get a little grainy and colors get a little off at low light. But in good light, it makes good picts. But the delay between pictures, mostly from the "Charging the flash" message, is just too much of an annoyance for me. Which is a shame, because this is a decent little camera otherwise. But, it's annoying enough that I wouldn't recommend purchasing this camera (unless your patiences exceeds mine).

I wrote a review on the little brother model A480 - a good camera (if used with ample lighting). If you look at the specs carefully, there is really nothing to distinguish this camera (A490) from the A480 to a novice or beginner.

I had them both side-by-side and also reviewed their specs side-by-side.

Pros
o Truly a fit-in-the-pocket camera
o AA batteries and good battery life
o Good pictures in decent lighting

Cons
o Build quality not great. *VERY* light and cheap plastic. Cameras from just 2 years ago put this to shame.
o Somewhat price. Save the $10 and buy the A480 if you like this style. These camera often fluctuate $20 at a time
o The camera isn't as well made as prior Canon's in this price range - though it is up on features.
o Not so good in low-light conditions

There is no image stabilization in this camera so low-light photos will be blurry in some cases - be careful of lighting..

Overall a good beginners camera but be ready to upgrade - especially if you drop it hard.

There are a lot of minor cons listed here, but you get a lot for a $100 10MP beginners camera like this as long as you don't shoot in low-light.

I bought this camera several weeks ago after my six year old Pentax Optio 30 was accidentally damaged. I held off on writing a product review until I learned all the features and got comfortable with navigating the menus. I can confidently say this camera is a great value in a reasonable price range.

Pros:
- Good picture quality under most conditions in Auto mode.
- Great pictures under all conditions if you make use of the many features this camera has to offer.
- Uses AA batteries.
- Quality materials/build.

Useful features everyone should want:
- Auto, Scene-based and Program modes
- Program mode offers adjustable ISO speed (80 - 1600), white balance, color saturation, sepia tone or black and white, metering, single shot or continuous frames
- decent video with reasonably high definition
- Normal focus range, plus infinity and macro
- Exposure control +/- 2 stops
- Playback mode while camera is off and lens is retracted
- better than average flash includes slow synchro mode and has adjustable flash exposure

Cons (no fault with this particular camera - these are general observations):
- Short battery life if flash is used often with standard alakalines.
(No problem. Buy a four-pack of Powerex 2700 rechargeables. I've been using them for years. Each charge lasts the equivalent of 3-4 pairs of throw-aways! And in a pinch, where CAN'T you buy standard AAs?)
- Could benefit from better ergo design.
(Why do manufactures pay such minimal attention to grip-ability of small electronics? Of course, if they made things too grip-able, we'd rarely drop them, and they'd sell less replacements...)

Anyway, ignore negative reviews written by the impatient and the uninformed. This is a fine, feature-packed compact camera, and it's easy to recommend at under $100.

I just read the 1 review for this camera and it isn't really a review. They complained that there was no memory card and then doesn't even describe the performance of this camera. I just bought this camera and it is so easy to use, it also has great picture quality. When you are not using it then it automatically powers off saving the life of the battery. This is a great deal and I haven't seen many cameras come with a memory card unless it is being sold in a bundle or an online special. You can't rate the quality of a product by what accessories it didn't come with.

I ordered this camera as a gift for my mother-in-law. She loves to take pictures but still uses the disposable cameras. This camera here is ideal for someone who has never used
a digital camera before. My mother-in-law has had no problem adjusting to using this camera, and has stopped buying the disposable cameras. It has been very simple to use. The picture quality exceeds my expectations for the price.

Got this for my 73 YO mother and it is awesome. Easy and non complicated to operate. uses 2 AA batteries so nothing to worry about. I recommend this camera for everyone.

I was able to take good pictures right out of the box. They are clear.
The camera goes from light to dark conditions very well for great pictures in any light.
I am very happy with it and would recommend it to anyone who wants a
small digital camera that is easy to use.

Consumer Reports recommended this camera. I got it for $80. It takes great pictures and is easy to use. CR compared it to a $350 camera and said that this camera's pictures were just as good. This is a great buy for someone who is looking for a simple camera to take clear pictures.

The Cannon Powershot A490 works well. If you are looking for a simple point and click this is it. The camera even beeps at you to let you know that your shot is in focus. There are additional features which can be used if you wish, such as time delayed, movies and zoom up to 13x.
The camera fits easily into a shirt pocket. The extra features are indicated by graphics on small buttons that are fairly easy to identify.
I found the included software a bit cumbersome, but if you take your time you can adapt to it. The camera itself does not have any internal picture capability - so you do need to purchase the card as well as the batteries to make the camera take the pictures. There is no case included. Reading the manual before taking pictures would be helpful.

The Canon A490 has been a pleasure to get to use. For a camera under $90.00, the image quality is good and the video quality holds its own as well.

The camera's image quality varies. The image quality is much better outdoors than indoors. Outside the camera takes fairly high quality pictures. Macro shots are excellent and portraits are very great as well. The image quality indoors is still good for an entry level camera but does tend to get grainier (as expected) when there is little light. The screen displays a much grainier picture indoors than what it actually takes which turns out to be a nice surprise.

The flash indoors is essentially useless. It tends to wash everything out and overall just isn't worth having on. I'd save the battery and just hold your hand still and you should get enough light to take a decent picture.

I was very impressed with the video on the camera. This was one of the main points when it came to choosing this camera. The video isn't ready for the big screen but at 480x640, it's good enough to record events of all types. Again, the video is much better outside than inside. The camera also has no limit on how long it will record video for. If you have an 8GB card, it can record 8GB without having to record in portions. You must use the software provided to convert the raw video into a format that regular programs such as Window's Media Player, can preview them.

The modes are somewhat helpful. I tend to stay on soley auto mode which is what these entry level cameras are really made for. Action shots (outdoors) turn out surprisingly quite well!

The camera's 2.5 inch screen is big enough to preview the pictures you've taken comfortably but I would still recommend seeing them on your monitor. The camera comes with a lot of software; although, it is aimed more for beginners. The battery life isn't great with cheap batteries or the ones provided. I'd recommend going out and spending $10.00 on a double A battery charger so the hassle of constantly buying more batteries is eliminated.

Overall I am very pleased with this camera. My ratings are only applicable in comparison to other point and shoot cameras in this price range. The quality doesn't stand up to a DSLR but it makes for an amazing starter camera or a camera for an aging relative who isn't interested in all the bells and whistles!