A Review of the Canon Powershot A570 is Digital Camera

I purchased a new (NOT refurbished) Canon Powershot A570 IS digital camera off the website buydig.com in November 2007 for $152.00. I previously had a Sony camera which was still operational, but the LCD screen had been broken when I dropped it and photos could no longer be viewed on the screen. I did not have a lot of money to spend, but I wanted a reliable camera to use on an upcoming New Years Eve trip to Rio De Janiero, Brazil. A guy recommended the camera to me as a reliable budget camera for basic use. I took the camera on the trip and it took crisp, clear photos in both daylight as well as night and was both compact with a 2.5" LCD screen and lightweight to throw into myday pack. The camera is 7.1 mega pixels and took crisper photos than my current Kodak camera which is 9.2 mega pixels . Additionally, the camera offers a 4x zoom which is a bit more than typical with these budget cameras. I even used it to take photos of the well known New Years Eve fireworks onCopacabana Beach.

The downside

side from traveling I do not use or carry my digital camera with me very often, although I do travel for leisure more frequently than most people. A little over one year after purchasing the camera I was attempting to use it to take photos and take videos of my pet in my home, and I realized that the camera would barley last longer than a shot or do before it would tell me I needed to replace the batteries. After conducting a basicInternet search I understood that budget batteries that take AA batteries tend to suffer from this problem and purchased Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries. Even with these batteries the camera would barley hold for a photo or more andwouldn't work at all for video. The camera was rendered basically useless as I could not rely on it to take even basic photos without bringing the second pair of batteries and turning the camera on and off a dozen times.

Conclusion

I looked into repairing or returning the camera to canon, but since the camera was over a year old there was little I could do. A basicInternet search on the camera showed that this was not an isolated instance as there appear to me many reports of issues with the battery charge. It is a shame that this camera has this problem because it is otherwise an excellent camera for basic photography needs and takes above average shots.