Smaller sibling of the non-stabilized Canon A570 IS, the compact A560 has a classic but nonetheless interesting technical sheet:  4x zoom, 8 million pixel sensor, manual mode, DIGIC III, and face tracking.  Especially important is that all of this is offered at a very attractive price.

Handling

In our first contact with the A560, it seemed rather "plastic"; however, construction is quite solid for an entry level camera.  It’s quite reactive being quick to start up and fast in autofocus.  The 2.5 inch LCD screen is very fluid with good color fidelity, although because this is found on an entry level product, definition is a bit low (115,000 pixels).  The power supply is two AA batteries. Note that the Pack Plus version has two 2500 mAh rechargeable batteries and a recharger.  As for the burst mode, the A560 attains 1.5 images / s which isn’t bad for a camera in this category.

Image quality

Despite similarities with the A570 IS, images produced by the PowerShot A560 are not as sharp.  They are a bit "soft" although colors are still good.  White balance is correct in natural as well as artificial lighting indoors.  The 5 cm macro mode is more satisfactory while the flash produces good results in both fixed shots and our test Barbie (also inanimate).  As for noise, it becomes noticeable at 400 ISO and we noted that smoothing is more significant with this small compact than with other models (the A570 IS).  Thus, at 800 ISO rendering is less grainy but also less detailed.