The stabilized sibling of the PowerShot A580, the A590 IS is a compact for less than 200 Euros.  Besides stabilization, nothing differentiates it from its predecessor in terms of technical characteristics: 4x zoom, 8 million pixels, 35 - 140 mm zoom, face detection, etc.

Handling

At first glance the PowerShot A590 IS’s construction may be deceiving; however, it is indeed serious and there is a small handle for a good grip.  The 2.5 inch LCD has a definition of only 115,000 pixels.  While the PowerShot A590 IS has a 4x zoom, unfortunately, there is no wide angle.  Navigation is pleasant and menus are clear and quite intuitive.  A dial is present in order to quickly switch between the 13 available modes: manual, video, scenes, and auto.  We also liked the rapid access to the different parameters such as sensitivity, white balance, etc.  In terms of reactivity, the A590 is well in the average at 1.40 seconds for startup and 1.28 seconds for the recording of 2 photos.  Autofocus in bright lighting is very fast at 0.85.  On the other hand, the burst mode attains 1.5 i/s or a rather weak score.

Image quality

Overall, the quality of images is very satisfactory for a compact in this category.  Indoors, there good results with colors that are a little more saturated (see the red of the car on the test scene).  White balance is efficient without any particular dominance.  On A4 prints with the sensitivity at its lowest, details are quite sharp without too much accentuation.  However, we did notice the presence of purple fringes on the edges of images.  Otherwise, optical stabilization enables limiting the use of high sensitivities.  Actually, in our ‘’Barbie’’ test shots, we obtained sharp photos at 400 ISO and 1/5 s.

The macro mode is not exceptional and it needs 5 cm to focus.  As for the quality of video (VGA), it’s particularly satisfactory with sequences that are quite sharp.  Because there are 20 images per second, we would expect video to be less fluid; however, this characteristic is barely visible. 

One downside is that some deformation is noticeable.  The below image was obtained with the camera placed on a tripod.  As you can see lines are slightly curbed, just like the sheet itself.  White balance presents very good neutrality and we have to say, well done Panasonic!


Noise control is quite classic with some noise being visible at 200 ISO although it remains within reason up to 400 ISO.  On A4 prints at 1600 ISO, granulation is more significant than with other rival compacts (notably the Sony Cyber-shot W130), but shots also have more detail and smoothing that is much less pronounced. This is a strategy that Canon often uses on its compacts.  It’s just too bad the flash lacks a bit of power to make up for noise control in the darkest scenes.