Although the clunky-looking 8-megapixel Canon PowerShot A590 IS looks bland when compared with colorful, ultraslim, style-minded cameras, its impressive insides help produce some quality photos. It's a great entry-level camera that offers 4x optical zoom, a bright 2.5-inch LCD monitor and an 8.0-megapixel CCD.

Not quite a "pocket camera," the Canon PowerShot A590 IS measures roughly 3.5 x 1.5 x 2.5-inches and weighs around 6 ounces. Its image controls allow for customization in taking pictures, such as manual exposure control, shutter priority, aperture priority and several scene modes. And, of course, automatic mode is available. Canon also included "Optical Image Stabilization," which actually moves the lens focal point just slightly to reduce blurriness from shaking the camera. It supports microSD flash memory cards for photo storage.

The 4x optical zoom lens offers slightly more zoom than the average point-and-shoot digital camera, covering a range equivalent to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera. In addition to the 4x optical zoom, the PowerShot A590 IS features another 4x of digital zoom, which does a decent job of maintaining image quality despite the digital enlargement.

There is a mildly slow picture-to-picture shooting speed. Between shots, it takes the camera at least 2 seconds before it can take another picture, which can hinder the ability to take action shots. With the flash enabled, the shot speed increases further.

With a full range of exposure modes from Easy to a full Manual mode, the PowerShot A590 IS is a good fit for just about any experience level, and its offering of preset Scene modes help with a wide range of common-yet-tricky exposure situations. More experienced users will appreciate the camera's adjustable white balance, ISO, color, contrast, sharpness and saturation adjustments. The PowerShot A590 IS's combination of small, portable size and numerous capabilities should even appeal to photography enthusiasts.

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