Canon PowerShot A490 and A495
© 2010 Canon USA, Inc.
Of the dozens of 2010 cameras from Canon, which are best suited for your curious child? To find out, I grilled the booth reps at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (see the video posted on CTR's YouTube channel) in search of an auto-shoot camera that is affordable and powerful. In addition, Canon sent me an A495 to kid test (hence the ratings). The winner? If you don't mind the AA batteries, you can't go wrong with the PowerShot A490 ($110) or A495 ($130), a 10 Megapixel, 3.3x Optical Zoom powered by last year's DIGIC III Image Processor. The camera's clear color 2.5-inch LCD makes it fun to review the pictures on screen, and it is easy to toggle between still and movie mode. The camera automatically chooses from 13 predefined shooting situations, using the flash as needed. For $20 more, you can get the A495 which includes an additional scene mode that could complicate things. If you want all these features, plus rechargeable batteries and a slightly larger preview screen, the Canon PowerShot A3000 ($150) is your best bet. In my book, the rechargeable batteries are worth the extra money. Note that SD card memory is not included in the price, and that you'll want to budget at least another $14 to $20 for memory (for 4 to 8 GB). In addition, remember that these cameras are NOT toys, and they are not designed to toy specifications. For example, the battery compartment can be easily opened, presenting a possible choking hazard, and we noticed that the batteries tend to fall out when changing the memory card, which some children might do in order to transfer the pictures to a computer. Finally, we noticed lower prices online, so shop around. The bottom line? Young photographers have some powerful new options that can easily become the envy of their Grandparent's eye.
$80, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: creativity, digital photography
CTR Rating: 82.5%