The 5 megapixel resolution of the PowerShot A95 places it
at the top of the current A-series cameras, a series apparently
named for the fact that the cameras are powered by inexpensive
and common AA-size batteries.
As a member of the A-series cameras, the A95 only adds incremental improvements
to a design that has had enough time to mature and which is recognized
as one of the best, possibly giving the A95 an edge over its competition.
In part, this competitive edge comes
from the fact that, as with others in this series, the A95 is
equipped with a complete range of shooting modes. These include:
priority modes which allow varying levels of control over how
the image is captured; as well as a good variety of scene modes
that allow a novice to obtain decent results without ever having
to worry about the technical end.
These varied capture modes are supported by very effective
metering to evaluate the subject of the shot. The default is
a multi-zone system Canon calls Evaluative metering,
but the camera also provides Centre-weighted and Spot meters
that are easily accessed in the Function menu.
The Function menu of the A95 is another advantage of the series, providing
a fast method for changing settings in the more advanced modes as the
menu can remain on the screen while the shot is taken.
In the same vein, the A95 also has
the ability to recall a complete set of commonly needed settings
by saving them as preferences to be recalled when the Mode dial
is turned to the C position, a feature rarely found on
cameras in this price range.
Aperture: f4.9, shutter speed: 1/40 sec., 50 ISO.
As one would expect, the zoom of the A95 covers a focal length
range that makes the camera practical for the vast majority
of subjects. And, while the image sharpness is excellent from
one edge of the image to the other, the wide angle end does
have some barrel distortion, which becomes noticeable when
some straight element in the image happens to be close to the
edge of the frame. Likewise, the wide angle end of the zoom
has a slight chromatic aberration which can become visible
as a faint purple fringe in high contrast areas of the image.
By moving the zoom past the widest
angle however, the distortion vanishes quickly, and similarly
the chromatic aberration is undetectable when the zoom is at
maximum telephoto setting.
On inspecting the image quality
of the A95, one notices that one of Canon's most noticeable characteristics
is the accuracy of image compression algorithms.
While it is always regrettable that a camera does not offer either an uncompressed
image format, or a RAW format, the compression used at the highest image
quality of the A95 is excellent and does not appear to affect either the
detail or the textures of recorded objects.
Aperture: f4.0, shutter speed: 1/40 sec., 50 ISO.
In addition, the images have natural
looking colours which while being vibrant retain subtle nuances
that help preserve detail.
The A95 is not particularly sensitive to noise, and images
captured at 50 or 100 ISO are effectively noise-free, even
in shadow areas. Moreover, at 200 and 400 ISO the noise that
does appear is relatively minimal, and this allows images captured
at these settings to be quite useable.
With long exposures the noise reduction system that starts as soon as
an exposure is longer than 1.3 seconds is efficient, and long exposures
are excellent.
While the A-series PowerShots
do not offer the compact size of the Digital Elph/IXUS series,
nor the solid metallic bodies of the S-series PowerShots, they
offer well-thought out features and are very capable cameras.
This is in evidence with the A95. Although this is a reasonably
priced 5 megapixel camera, no critical shortcuts have been made
to position the A95 at this price point, making it a very attractive
model, especially in view of its excellent features.
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Image Quality
