Cheap and easy: Canon's A-series PowerShots

Joshua Goldman
Senior editor April 6, 2010 (updated on: June 27, 2011)

There wasn't a lot of diversity in Canon's 2010 A-series models. Mainly it was a matter of megapixels and whether it used a lithium ion rechargeable battery or AA-size batteries that separated one camera from another. Thankfully that's not the case with the 2011 lineup.

At the top is the 16-megapixel PowerShot A3300 IS, which gets you optical image stabilization, a 3-inch LCD, and a 5x wide-angle lens. Just below it is the A2200, which seems like it exists just to upsell you to the A3300 IS. It's a nice camera that is capable of taking some excellent photos, but has a smaller LCD and shorter zoom lens than the A3300 and has no optical image stabilization.

Both of these models are powered by lithium ion rechargeable batteries. If you're after AA batteries for power, you can step down to the A1200. Along with AA batteries, the A1200 marks the return of an actual optical viewfinder to an A-series camera.

The only 2011 A-series model not reviewed here is the A800. It's Canon's first sub-$100 point-and-shoot. We'll have that up in the near future, but it's essentially a redesigned version of the A495 from 2010 at a lower price. Going by specs alone, the A800 seems to have a different sensor so that may change photo quality. Maybe not.

Regardless of their features, though, we've been pretty impressed with the photo quality from all of these models given their prices. None of them has fast shooting performance, so I wouldn't recommend them for regularly shooting active kids and pets, but they're otherwise solid compact cameras.