Canon PowerShot A580

Even beginners can create phenomenal images with the amazing PowerShot A580. This impressive 8.0-megapixel digital camera has a 4x optical zoom and bright 2.5-inch LCD that make shooting simple and convenient. To give you superior quality images without having to worry about the details, there's a full range of Canon's highly-advanced features at your service - including a powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, enhanced Face Detection technology, a host of shooting modes including a new Easy Mode and more.

8.0 Megapixel digital camera with 4x Optical Zoom

Picture the possibilities of this impressive digital camera. The 8.0-megapixel design lets you create images of breath-taking detail and radiant color that you can print, enlarge, crop or email to friends and family. The Canon 4x optical zoom gives you the power you need to get in close and capture special moments—whether they're happening across the room or across the schoolyard.

2.5-inch LCD

The camera's 2.5-inch LCD screen gives you the big picture, whether you're shooting, reviewing or showing off your images. This high-resolution screen offers a crisp, clear and bright picture. It also features Night Display for easy viewing in low light.

Shooting Modes

With 16 Shooting Modes including 7 Special Scene Modes, you're ready for whatever shot comes your way.

Auto
The camera chooses all the settings so you can concentrate on your subject.
Easy
Keep the image quality as high as possible for fail-proof images.
Camera M
The same ease of full automatic exposure control, but with full access to all menu settings, exposure compensation, and white balance.
Portrait
The camera sets a large aperture, focusing the subject and artistically blurring the background to make your subject "pop."
Landscape
For front to back sharpness, the camera sets a small aperture.
Indoor
Reduce blur and improve color accuracy when shooting handheld indoors.
Kids & Pets
Reduced focusing time freezes fast-moving subjects, so you won't miss those special shots.
Night Snapshot
Get natural-looking pictures with brighter backgrounds and subjects lit by flash.
Movie
Shoot in VGA (640 x 480 at 20 fps/20 fps LP), QVGA (320 x 240 at 30 fps) for up to 1 hour or 4GB), or QQVGA (160 x 120 at 15 fps) for up to 3 minutes.
Special Scene Mode
Foliage
Capture brilliant shots of autumn foliage, greenery and blossoms.
Snow
Shoot clear snow scenes without darkened subjects or an unnatural bluish tint.
Beach
Get clear shots of people at a sunny beach without darkened faces.
Sunset
Capture stunning sunsets with all the dazzle and impact.
Fireworks
Grab brilliant images of skyrocketing fireworks.
Night Scene
For impressive sunset or nightlife shots, the camera properly exposes the background and uses slow-sync flash for the subject.
Aquarium
Achieve proper flash-free exposure and natural hues at indoor aquariums.

Advanced Features

Canon's powerful Face Detection Technology delivers even better results with the new A580. The Face Detection Technology continues to recognize faces in a scene, and concentrate exposure (daylight or flash) and focus upon them. But the A580 adds more: Face Detection WB means the camera concentrates upon faces when calculating white balance for the best possible skin tones. Face Select and Track lets the A580 user highlight one face among several in a scene, and the camera concentrates on that person, even as they move around the scene. Face Detection Technology is a powerful contributing factor in Canon's new Motion Detection Technology.

Red-eye Correction provides three options for removing red-eye from subjects in flash pictures.
1) The new Red-eye Correction during shooting actually identifies and corrects red-eye in human subjects as pictures are taken.
2) The A580 can be set to automatically detect and correct red-eye during image playback.
3) The user can manually locate any red eyes in a scene during image playback on the LCD screen, and command the camera to remove them.

The PowerShot A580 features ISO 1600 and High ISO Auto settings that reduce the effects of camera shake and sharpen subjects in low-light situations, giving you greater shooting flexibility.

DIGIC III Image Processor

With DIGIC III, your images boast superior quality, the camera operates at top efficiency and battery life is enhanced. What's more, DIGIC III enables Canon's Face Detection Technology and Red-eye Correction to give you better, more true-to-life people shots. Simply press the Shutter Button halfway down, and the camera automatically pinpoints the faces in the scene and chooses the ideal focus point. The camera controls exposure settings and flash to keep every face looking bright and natural. Red-eye Correction can be handled in-camera, in two ways. The entirely new Red-eye Correction during shooting uses the Face Detection Technology to recognize and remove red-eye from flash images as they're taken, before the file is written to the memory card. It's also possible to correct red-eye during image playback, using simple settings in the A580's menu.

iSAPS Technology is an entirely original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC III Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

Motion Detection Technology

Life doesn't stand still for picture-taking. That's why Canon included its advanced Motion Detection Technology in the PowerShot A580. This sophisticated feature works in the background to instantly evaluate how fast your subject is moving. Then it automatically selects and sets the optimal exposure and ISO settings to keep everything looking sharp and clear. So whether you're shooting a bride walking down the aisle, a ballet recital or even a child's soccer game, you can relax and shoot with confidence knowing you've got the picture you intended.

Print/Share Button

The PowerShot A580's Print/Share button makes direct printing easier than ever. Simply connect the A580 to a Canon PIXMA Photo Printer or SELPHY Compact Photo Printer or any PictBridge compatible photo printer, press the lighted Print/Share button and print! Also use the Print/Share button to transfer images to a computer (Windows® and Macintosh®).

More external Canon PowerShot A580 reviews!

Sensor • 1/2.5 " Type CCD
• 8.0 million effective pixels

Image Processor
DIGIC III with iSAPS technology

Image sizes
• 3264 x 2448
• 3264 x 1832
• 2592 x 1944
• 2048 x 1536
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480

Movie clips • 640 x 480 @ 20fps
• 320 x 240 @ 30fps
• 160 x 120 @ 15fps

File formats • JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
• AVI [Motion JPEG compression]
• WAVE audio (mono)

Lens
• 4x optical zoom
• 35– 140mm (35mm equivalent)
• 5.8 - 23.2 mm
• F2.6 - 5.5

Image stabilization No

Conversion lenses • Tele-converter 1.75x TC-DC52A
• Wide-converter 0.7x WC-DC52
• Close-up Lens 250D (52mm)
• Conversion Lens Adapter LA-DC52G

Digital zoom Up to 4x

Focus TTL autofocus

AF area modes • AiAF (Face Detection/9-point)
• 1-point AF (fixed centre or Face Select and Track)

AF assist lamp Yes

Closest focus distance 5cm from front of lens
(Macro mode)

Metering • Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame)
• Centre-weighted average
• Spot (centre)

ISO sensitivity AUTO, High ISO Auto (incorporating Motion Detection Technology), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600

Exposure compensation +/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments

Exposure bracketing no

Shutter speed • 1/60 - 1/2000 sec (factory default)
• 15 - 1/2000 sec (total range - varies by shooting mode)

Aperture n/a

Modes Auto, Manual, Easy, Movie, Special Scene

Scene modes Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Sunset, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Night Scene, Aquarium

White balance Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom

White balance fine tune n/a

Self timer 2 or 10 sec, custom

Continuous shooting n/a

Image parameters My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Custom Color (limited))

Flash
• Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, Slow sync, red eye reduction
• Range: 30cm - 3.5m (wide), 2.2m (tele)

Viewfinder n/a

LCD monitor • 2.5” TFT
• approx. 115,000 dots

Connectivity • USB 2.0 High Speed
• AV out (PAL/NTSC)

Print compliance • EXIF Print
• DPOF 1.1

Storage • SD, SDHC, MMC, MMCplus, HC MMCplus.
• 32MB memory card supplied

Power • 2x Size-AA Alkaline or NiMH Batteries (Alkalines supplied)
• AC Adapter Kit ACK800 (optional)

Weight (no batt) 175g (6.2 oz)

Dimensions
94.3 x 64.7 x 40.8mm
(3,7 x 2.5 x 1.6 in)