Canon PowerShot A95
It wasnt a essential thing. But we wanted a digital camera for the household. My sister being in Dubai for 6 months, thought it was best to buy from Dubai. We researched a lot on Digital Cameras. After the research we found that Nikon was for real professionals who were ready to take very good care. Sony was cool and jazzy, but costly and flimsy as well. Kodak, Konica and all others were cheap but not very reliable and had high maintenance. Canon was the best for a little rough use, a family camera, but with slight adjustments of its features, could be turned into a full scale professional camera.
So we settled on Canon Powershot A95.We also had Sony in mind, but compared to the ratio of price and features, Canon A95 seemed the best.After a little more digging I found that A95 is very durable, strong and sturdy. Many digicam websites listed it as the best in the 5 MegaPixel range.
From RadioShack, Dubai, it costed about 1200 dhs(estimated to about Rs.17, 000 ).In India it costs about Rs.20, 000. 4 Rechargable NimH batteries come with it.Other Equipments include a 32mb Flash Card, The camera, USB-Camera cord, Camera-AV cord, Beginners CD, Software CD, camera pouch and many guides, warranty cards etc.Radioshack gave an extra 32mb card for free and also a compact camera pouch which could hold only the camera unlike the one already provided by Canon.
The first three months I used its Auto mode. Later I began experimenting and found out the real potential it held.It has 17 shooting modes and 5 photo effects.With many different resolutions, sizes and quality, the picture can be modified according to the photographers wish.In custom modes, the user can adjust the ISI(whatever that is), aperture, exposure, brightness and flash intensity. I found that slow, portrait, night modes required a very steady hand, which unfortunately I dont have.Thus I very strongly reccomend a tripod stand for beginners and amateurs. For those who dont have a tripod, try the fast mode, which works very well.
The computerised element is good as well.Standard Red Eye Reduction is available. Auto rotate and other intelligent features makes photography with A95 worth your time. The Optical Zoom allows 12x zooming(3x lens zoom and the rest optical zoom).Macro mode assures clarity even in the most zoomed condition(Used while photographing insects, flowers etc.). The controls are easy once your use it for a while. At first it seemed like a swimming pool. I never touched the modes dial and the other menus and stuff. But later on it became fairly simple, bringing out the real potential of the A95.
The A95 works even in rough conditions. My sister accidentally happened to drop the camera (a 4 foot fall). It suffered a small scratch near the Canon logo(back of the LCD). No other damage or problems.The camera is lightweight and offers good shock resistance(but for heavens sake please dont test the shock resistance).The design is not as sleek as the ones of Kodak or Sony, but the frame offers good grasping space.
We have experienced no complaints so far. Only the one thing I noticed as a problem was about the flash. The autoflash technology focuses the flash on the focused object. Therefore the surrounding areas appear very dark while the focused object appears very bright, often appearing too bright to see. The only remedy is to turn off the flash or set the flash intensity in custom mode. But setting the intensity requires you too be a very experienced photographer or can turn out some extraordinary results.I havnt mastered it yet.
Points to remember-
>Try to obtain and use a tripod for better photography.
>Try not to use the flash, unless you are an experienced photographer, and rely on other light sources. >DO NOT, NEVER, CATCH ON THE CAMERA LENS WHILE ZOOMING IN OR OUT OR EVEN TURNING THE CAMERA ON OR OFF.This could result in serios injury to the camera-repair is very expensive. No it hasnt happened to me, but it happened to a friend of mine using a Kodac 3.0Mpxl camera.
Thats all for now. Canon A95 is a very good camera and I would recommend it very much. It is the latest of the Powershot A series. Lets wish for a even better version.
Yours Truly,
Mohan