Cons: Expensive, large and heavy, 4 AA batteries, noise at ISO 400, only 3x optical zoom
The Bottom Line: I recommend the A95 if you need a capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 11x14 or even 13x19 inches, has 3x...
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Two Reviews
I will provide two reviews below. The first one (short version) will be targeted to people who don't want to read through multiple pages of text to figure out if the camera has what they want and if it performs well. It is targeted to a casual user rather than somebody who cares about the small details and features.
The second version will contain the description of the more advanced aspects for those who are interested in them. By separating this information into a second, larger review, I hope to avoid boring casual shooters to death with information about things they might not need.
What is Canon PowerShot A95?
The Canon PowerShot A95 is a 5-Megapixel compact digital camera with a 3x optical zoom (38-114 mm equivalent), 1.8-inch Vari-Angle LCD screen, zooming optical viewfinder, acclaimed Canon DiG!C (DIGIC) Image Processor, 9-point AiAF auto focus, 1-point auto focus and manual focus, 14 shooting modes including Full Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual Mode, Scene modes.
It stores pictures on Comact Flash (CF) cards (a 16 MB CD card is supplied) and features USB connection to PC and Mac computers. It also supports direct printing (without computer) with PictBridge compatible printers
The camera is powered by 4 AA batteries (disposable included, rechargeable NiMH recommended).
Features
The A95 features sharp optics with 3x optical zoom (38-114 mm equivalent) with maximum apertures f/2.8-f/8.0 at wide angle, f/4.9-f/8.0 at full telephoto). The camera has a low-light focus assist illuminator that helps it focus in low light. The orientation sensor detects if the camera is held horizontally or vertically and saves the pictures appropriately.
The camera features selectable Evaluative, Center-Weighted and Spot metering modes. The camera has a built-in flash with adjustable output. The A95 has a shutter speed range of 15-1/2,000 sec and selectable ISO of 50-400 in addition to automatic.
The available movie mode records movies with sound at 640x480 at 10 fps, 320x240 or 160x120 at 15 fps (the camera has a microphone and a speaker).
The camera also has a Macro mode where it can focus as close as 2 inches (5 cm) at wide angle or 11.8 inches (30 cm) at telephoto. The manual focusing is also available.
Short Review
The Canon PoweShot A95 has a nice looking and durable metal/polycarbonate body that is convenient to hold, but it is rather large and heavy with the batteries loaded. It is definitely larger and heavier than the 4-Megapixel Canon A520 and 3.2-Megapixel A510 (because the A520 and A510 use only 2 AA batteries, have fixed screens and use SD cards). The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover that opens when the camera is powered on. When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes.
The camera has an on/off button on the top deck as well as a zoom rocker, large shutter release button and a large rotating mode dial. The mode dial can be set to Auto mode, Program mode, multiple scene modes as well as, more advanced, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual mode.
The bottom of the camera has a plastic threaded tripod mount and a battery compartment lid. The rear houses an articulated 1.8-inch LCD monitor that can swing out and rotate, an optical zooming viewfinder, a review/shoot switch, control buttons and a DC power input. The side has a cover, underneath which you can find a USB jack and an A/V jack.
Since I got the camera from a friend, I did not have to charge the batteries or insert the memory card. The camera was ready to shoot. The camera takes about 3 seconds to power on and can capture images at about two-second intervals (I used the supplied CF memory card). The focusing takes about a second and the shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost unnoticeable. The zooming from wide angle to telephoto (or back) takes about two seconds and could be more smooth and responsive. But it is certainly good enough.
The camera can take more than 350 pictures on one charge of high-capacity NiMH batteries (I recommend at least 2000 mAh to get even better number). I was able to take 100 photos using my old 1600 mAh batteries and the low battery warning has not appeared yet.
Unfortunately, unlike cameras that use proprietary batteries, this camera does not show you the battery status. It can only detect when the battery is low. And I dislike the fact that the camera uses 4 batteries whereas many other only need 2.
The camera can be used in full auto mode (by rotating the mode dial to Auto position), where it is extremely easy to use. In this mode the camera sets all parameters automatically and you only have to point and shoot.
You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused by displaying one or more green rectangles (if 9-area AiAF autofocus is engaged). Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way. You can also select the more in which the camera focuses in the center of the frame so that you can recompose the shot after pre-focusing,
You can go one step further and select an appropriate scene mode (e.g. Portrait, Landscape, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Kids & Pets, etc.) to let camera know what effect you want. For example, in the Portrait mode the camera will try to keep the subject sharp while keeping the background blurry, but will try to keep both foreground and background sharp in the Landscape mode.
And if or when you are ready to take control, you can use the Aperture Priority mode (to control how much of your picture will be in focus) or Shutter Priority mode (to freeze fast motion or, on contrary, create motion blur) or even full Manual mode to control both the Aperture and Shutter Speed.
In most modes you can use Exposure Compensation to make pictures the camera takes brighter or darker.
The flash is rather bright and you can adjust its power in three steps. I was happy with its range. The flash recycle time was about 7 seconds and I could compose the shot and focus while it was charging.
Unlike the newer A510 or A420, the screen did not go dark while the flash is "charging", which is a good thing.
The camera produces excellent results with well-exposed, sharp, contrasty and richly-colored photos. The skin colors are true to life and pleasing. Unlike some other cameras (including Canon SD Digital Elph series) that have noticeably softer edges of the frame, the photos taken with the A95 are sharp at the edges of the frame as well as at the center.
The lens has only 3x optical zoom range and the camera is rather large, but it produces sharp results at all zoom levels, even in corners of the frame.
The image noise is virtually absent at ISO 50. It appears (slightly) at the ISO 100 in the shadows, gets more pronounced at ISO 200 and gets rather bad at ISO 400. Still, the ISO 400 should be usable for smaller prints (6x4 or 5x7), At lower ISO settings, the 11x14-inche prints with good detail are possible. You can print 13x19-nch enlargements too, but they will be a little soft-looking.
The LCD flips and rotates and has good visibility in sulight. I personally do not care for rotating LCDs, but some people like them. They are certainly good for shooting at weird angles, since on a camera with a fixed LCD, you cannot see much if the LCD is not perpendicular to your line of sight.
Recommendation: I recommend the A95 if you need a capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 11x14 or even 13x19 inches, has 3x zoom and uses AA batteries. Weather you want point-and-shoot simplicity or full manual control, the A95 delivers. But it is not as compact or light as its competitors and requires 4 AA batteries.
Full Review
More on Image Quality
The camera produces contrasty photos that have a pleasing "Canon" color with slight oversaturation, slight warm cast and cyan shifted towards blue - the kind of color consumers like.
The pictures have slightly high contrast, but the camera still can hold detail in highlights and shadows. The complete noise is virtually undetectable at ISO 50 and there was only minimal amount of noise in the shadows at ISO 100. But the noise at ISO 400 makes the ISO 400 all but unusable at any size over 6x4 and, maybe, 5x7 inches.
The lens of the Canon PowerShot A95 exhibits slight barrel distortion at wide angle (straight lines bow out at the edges of the frame) that is virtually unnoticeable and can only be detected if you take pictures of buildings and really pay attention.
I did not see much chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in the areas of high contrast.
Macro
I briefly tried the macro performance and noticed that, although the camera could focus very close, the flash overexposes the shot at such a small distance. You have to use the ISO 50 and f/8.0 to avoid overexposure. Or you can disable the flash, in which case you need light to illuminate the shooting area and/or a tripod.
LCD and Viewfinder
The A95 has a 1.8-inch articulated (rotating) LCD screen and an optical zooming viewfinder. The LCD coverage as about 100% - you can see exactly what will be recorded. The viewfinder, however, covers only about 80% of what will be recorded.
Computer Connectivity
The camera uses USB connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can also remove the SG memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one). I did not bother with the USB connection and used my memory card reader.
Image Quality Settings
The camera lets you select between Superfine, Fine and Normal compression levels (regardless of resolution). At the highest resolution of 2592x1944 pixels, the Superfine JPEG can be of about 2.2-2.7- Megabyte size, the Fine JPEG – 1.1-1.4 MB and Standard JPEG is about 0.7-0.8 MB.
In the Normal mode, some fine detail is lost. I would only use Superfine mode for high-resolution pictures intended for printing or post processing. But for web/email or conserving space on the memory card, other modes are viable options.
White Balance
The camera's automatic white balance is usually quite accurate with the exception of the incandescent lighting, where you are better off either selecting Incandescent white balance setting or using the available manual white balance.
Build Quality and Ergonomics
The camera has a solid feel and good build quality. The rotating mode dial and the sliding review/shoot switch require good effort for my taste. The memory card door is slightly flimsy, however.
The camera is convenient to hold but could be smaller. The major controls are within easy reach and the tactile response is good. But Cannon engineers put the SET button far away from the menu control buttons, which I find rather stupid. And the MENU button is also pretty far.
Menu System
I am not a big fan of Canon menus of the generation of cameras to which the A95 belongs. Not only I find the menus less easy to use than Panasonic's (e.g. my Panasonic DMC-FZ5), the menus on the Canon DigitalElph SD200, SD300, SD400 and SD500 are easier to use and appear faster too.
Overall, the A95 is easy to use however and I was able to use it without reading the manual, including its advanced functions such as manual focusing.
Focusing
You can let camera focus using its AiAF 9-area focusing system and the camera will show you green rectangles over the areas where it focused so that you can confirm the focus areas. You can also switch to the 1-point focusing or use the manual focus.
The arrow down button switches the camera to Macro mode when pushed once, and to the manual mode when pushed again. The camera shows you a scale in your chosen units (cm or inches) and magnifies the central portion of the screen to let you confirm the focus. Cumbersome but it works, aside from the fact that the camera makes weird sounds while focusing (scraping/scratching sounds, but not as loud as the Canon A520 or A510).
Manual Mode
You can adjust both the aperture and shutter speed in the Manual mode, but you can adjust them one at a time, unlike my Panasonic FZ5, where you can adjust them simultaneously without having to jump from one to another. The A95 shows you the under/overexposure as evaluated by the camera once the shutter button is half-pressed (e.g. -1EV means 1EV of underexposure).
You can also adjust the flash output (albeit only in three steps) in the manual mode.
How Does It Compare to Canon PowerShot A520?
The A520 represent the newer generation of Canon A-line. It still uses the first version of DIGIC (whereas the smaller Canon DigitalEphs use faster DIGIC II). It has 4-Megapixel resolution and fixed screen, but it is more compact, lighter, uses only 2 AA battery, more progressive Secure Digital cards and has 4x optical zoom. If you don't need to print big enlargements and if 4-Megapixel resolution is sufficient for you, the A520 may be a good choice for much less than the A95.
Bottom Line
I recommend the A95 if you need a capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 11x14 or even 13x19 inches, has 3x zoom and uses AA batteries. Weather you want point-and-shoot simplicity or full manual control, the A95 delivers. But it is not as compact or light as its competitors and requires 4 AA batteries. In other words, there are better and more sensible options. If you do not need big enlargements, the 4-Megapixel Canon A520 may be a better choice.
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