Straight Talk recommends Canon PowerShot A570 IS as Best Digital Camera for Young Children, Low Light, Easy, and Under $200.
Overview
Equipped with a 7 Megapixels resolution sensor and excellent lens, the Canon A570 IS captures enough details to get those large-sized prints of baby’s smiling faces. Armed with a good zoom range (4x), great performance in low light, fast operation, face detection feature and compact size, you are always ready to freeze those short-lived expressions of babies and capture timeless moments during family gatherings. The Canon A570 IS also comes with enough controls and scene modes to satisfy demanding users.
- Young children or pets
- Low light
- Easy-to-use point and shoot camera
- Under $200
What's Important for These Needs
- We need to look for cameras with high maximum ISO ratings (the higher the ISO rating, the more sensitive it is to light) and Natural Light modes (camera boosts the ISO automatically to take photos without using the flash). It also helps take blur-free shots (high ISO allows for faster shutter speeds for freezing action moments).
- It is desirable to have an image-stabilization feature as low light scenes demand more time to gather light (even at high ISOs), consequently the shutter is open for longer, leading to camera shake.
- The camera should have a low shutter lag to shoot those short-lived expressions. Shutter lag is the interval between pressing the button to take a picture and actually capturing the image.
- We want a camera that is always ready to take a photograph (should have great battery life) and takes little time to start up (fast start-up time).
- It’s nice if the camera has a face detection feature as it will quickly focus the exposure on the baby’s face and facilitate taking a good shot.
- A camera with as much zoom as possible for getting us up close for those candid shots of kids/pets.
- Preferably an optical viewfinder. Images appear a tad later on an LCD screen because of the time required to process the signal. Images also tend to freeze momentarily as the shutter button is pressed to capture image.
- Good Shot-to-shot speed so the camera can take successive shots quickly.
- Good resolution to support printing large photos. 7 megapixels is sufficient resolution for prints up to 8”x10” size at 300 dpi (300 dpi is considered ideal for lab quality prints). Here “dpi” stands for printed Dots Per Inch of length/width.
Leading Contenders
The value-for-money contender from Canon, it offers an 8MP resolution sensor and ISO rating up to 1600. The camera has a 4x zoom lens (35-140mm equivalent on a 35 mm film cameras), which is image stabilized. It offers full manual modes (Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, etc.). The camera has a face detection feature and runs on 2 AA batteries.
The successor of the great low-light performer Fuji F20, this model offers more resolution (8MP) and comes with a sharp 3x zoom lens (36-108mm equivalent) in a sturdy body. This compact model also has a face detection feature. The ISO rating goes up to 2000. The camera runs on a proprietary battery.
This is a great value ultra compact from Pentax. It has an 8MP resolution sensor, 3x zoom lens (36-108mm equivalent), and a sturdy body. It has an ISO rating up to ISO3200 and a face detection feature. The camera runs on a proprietary battery.
Comparison Table
| Product |
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 |
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| Canon PowerShot A570 IS | Fujifilm FinePix F40fd | Pentax Optio M40 | |
| Customer Rating: |
 
(from 519 reviews)
|
(from 63 reviews)
|
(from 9 reviews)
|
| Price | $162.00 | $158.95 | $119.45 |
| Size (W x H x D) | 3.5 x 2.5 x 1.7 in. | 3.8 x 2.3 x 0.9 in. | 3.8 x 2.3 x 0.7 in |
| Sensor Size | 5 x 4 mm | 8 x 6 mm | 5.8 x 4.3 mm |
| Effective Sensor Resolution | 7.1 megapixels | 8.3 megapixels | 8.0 million pixels |
| Shutter Lag Time (pre-focused) | 0.08 sec | 0.10 sec | 0.10 sec |
| Shutter Lag Time (including auto-focus time) | 0.5 - 0.7 sec | 0.5 sec | 0.6 sec |
| Power to First Shot Time | 1.5 sec | 2.7 sec | 3.2 sec |
| Continuous Shooting Speed (single shot mode) | - | - | 0.4 frames/sec |
| Optical Zoom | 4.0x | 3.0x | 3.0x |
| Image Stabilization Available | Yes, Optical | No (Only Digital I.S.) | No (Only Digital I.S.) |
| Auto Focus Assist Light Available | Yes | Yes | No |
| Max Aperture (wide-angle) | f/2.6 | f/2.8 | f/3.1 |
| Max Aperture (tele-photo) | f/5.5 | f/5.1 | f/5.9 |
| Max ISO Setting | 1600 | 2000 | 3200 |
| Face Detection Available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Aperture Priority Mode Available | Yes | No | No |
| Shutter Priority Mode Available | Yes | No | No |
| Viewfinder Available | Yes | No | No |
| Battery Type | AA-size (x2) | Proprietary Lithium Ion Rechargeable | Proprietary Lithium Ion Rechargeable |
| Flash Recycling Time | 6 (upto 10.7 sec on weak batteries) | 2.7 sec | 2.5 sec |
Top Pick
All these cameras are fully automatic and offer numerous scene modes (including an auto high sensitivity mode that helps take blur-free shots in natural light) for novice users.
The Pentax M40 lags behind the other two as it lacks an auto-focus assist lamp and has narrower maximum aperture values (i.e. the lens gathers less light). Nevertheless image quality at higer ISOs is good.
The compact-sized Fuji F40fd has low light performance as its unique selling proposition. It has a sharp lens and larger sensor, which captures clean images at higher ISOs with a fair amount of detail. It’s the top pick for taking photos of social gatherings and baby photos indoors without flash (i.e. when subjects are moving and image stabilization has minimal impact).
However, overall the Canon A570 IS nudges ahead, armed with image stabilization, larger (4x) zoom, manual modes (for use by advanced users), and optical viewfinder, while also having good enough image quality at higher ISOs (images will be grainy but retain enough details to get acceptable prints up to 8”x10” sizes)
The Canon PowerShot A570 IS is my Top Pick.
Tips
- One should turn off the Image Stabilization feature for action (e.g. fast moving pets or kids) photography. It’s not useful for action photography and switching it off will help the camera focus faster.
- Use “shoot-only” setting for image stabilization for minimizing chances of blur due to camera shake.
- Using a high speed memory card (60X or faster write speed where 1X is equivalent to 150KB/sec) is recommended to get the full potential of the Continuous Shooting Mode.
- See “Tips for Photographing Newborns, Babies, and Children” from GraphicThinking.com for some tips on baby photography and print sizes.
