Canon PowerShot A560 7.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom - 1774B001

Awesome!

1/6/2009

This is an awesome camera! What more can I say. It can do everything you'd want to do, in my opinion. Enjoy, as we have.... :-)

Canon Powershot A560

1/6/2009

I bought one for my fiance' for Christmas last year and we liked it so much we purchased one for my day this Christmas.

Awful interior low light pictures

12/20/2008

I have had this camera for about 16 months. The auto focus seems to have broken. It will not focus when I zoom. The low light ability has always been poor. I wouldn't suggest buying this for taking any indoor pictures.

Most common phrase when using the A560... "I HATE this camera!"

12/20/2008

I bought this camera last year for Christmas and hoped to take great pictures of the kids opening presents. Unfortunately no matter how hard I tried I kept getting pictures that were too late. I would call a child's name and ask them to hold up their gift and I would push the button down but by the time the camera took the picture they would all have looked away. UGGH! I HATE how SLOW it is taking the pictures!!!

After a few months use, the low battery indicator came on and no matter how frequently we replaced the batteries they seemed to always be low. We finally bought the rechargables because we were going through them so quickly and even after charging the camera would still say low battery. UGGH! I HATE having low batteries all the time!

Around the same time, the screen began going "blank" at odd times, just completely out of the blue I couldn't see anything. So I'd turn it on and off and after a few times it would eventually "magically" reappear! UGGH! I HATE it when the screen doesn't work!

Just recently, the lens protector has gotten stuck in the open position, which I guess is better than in the closed position but still... UGGH! I HATE having a dirty lens!!!!

So, of all these things my greatest complaint is the amount of time between pushing (and holding) down the button to take a picture and the actual snapshot. If you do buy this camera make sure it's intended use is for still-life photos or adults who don't mind "posing" for endless amounts of time. If you intend to photograph children or pets or anything that moves... FIND A BETTER CAMERA!!!

Good features and easy to use

12/18/2008

My daughter wanted a digital camera for her 11th birthday so we needed something that was easy to use, but could take the beating that an 11 year old is almost guaranteed to deliver. She has had it about a year and so far it has worked very well. The photo quality is also much better than we expected from a point-and-shoot camera. It has also somehow survived everything from being dropped to getting lost for days in the cushions of the couch. Over the years our family has had very good luck with Canon camera products, both film and digital. The A560 has been no exception, although the newer version of the Zoom Browser software that comes with it seems to be less powerful and less intuitive than previous versions we've used. The AA batteries are a plus since proprietary special batteries need to be charged with a special charger before you're back in business again. Typical alkaline batteries will work, but don't expect them to last very long. Using the more expensive disposable lithium batteries is worth it in the long run. This is a nice camera for the money.