Canon Powershot A580 Review

The screen display in Auto record mode. Icons along the top indicate that ISO is set to
Auto, Auto flash, Auto exposure and single drive mode. Along the left you can see the
metering is Evaluative, image size is Large, quality is Superfine and there's space left on
the SD card to take 563 more pictures.

When the color LCD is turned on and you half-press the shutter you will see which of the nine
AF points (green rectangles) where used for the focus lock. You can also see whether the
flash will be used as well as the shutter speed, aperture and ISO values that were selected
for by the camera for this shot.

Function options in Auto:

Image Compression - Normal, Fine, Superfine


Image resolution - 3264×2448, 2595×1944, 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 640×480,
Postcard (1600×1200), and Widescreen (3072×1728)

Manual mode is more like a program auto mode, where you have more control over the camera settings but the aperture and shutter speeds are still selected for you.

Function options in Manual:

Exposure - ±2 in 1/3 steps
White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, , Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Custom one-push WB set

My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black&White, and Custom

Metering - Evaluative, Center Weighted Avg. and Spot

Image Compression - Normal, Fine, Superfine

Image resolution - 3264×2448, 2595×1944, 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 640×480, Postcard (1600×1200), and Widescreen (3072×1728)

MENU options in Program mode:

AF Frame - Face Detect, AiAF, Center

AF-Point Zoom - On or Off

Digital Zoom - On or Off

Flash Settings - Slow Synchro, Red-Eye Correction, Red-Eye Lamp

Self Timer - Set time for custom timer

AF-Assist Beam - On or Off

Review - Off, Hold or 2 - 10 secs

Review Info - Off, Detailed, Focus Check

Auto Category - On or Off

Display Overlay - Off, Grid lines

Set Print/Share button - Allows you to use the button in record mode to change various camera settings (ISO, White balance, Digital Tele-converter, Disp. Overlay, Display Off)

The camera has a very respectable macro focusing mode with coverage from 2 inches to 1.5 feet
in wide angle and 1.0 to 1.5 feet in telephoto.

On the Mode Dial are positions for Portrait (Shown above), Landscape, Indoor, Kids&Pets, Night Snapshot, and
Stitch Assist. Options for the SCN (Special Scene) position are: Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach,
Fireworks, Aquarium, and Underwater (when using the optional underwater housing). These modes are pre-
programmed to give you the best possible pictures for the chosen shooting situation.

When using the Standard Movie mode, you can capture video clips at either 640×480 20fps or 320×240 30fps. There's also
Compact (160×120). These are great when wanting to be a bit more
creative and the Compact mode is perfect for sending clips via email. The optical zoom may not be used during recording, but can be
preset before hand. Movie clips are recorded in Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.

Both the video and audio portion of movies can be replayed on the camera thanks to the
built-in speaker. Full audio-video playback is also possible when connected to a TV
monitor or a compatible PC after downloading.

FUNC. Menu

Shooting Mode - Standard, Compact

White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom one-push WB set

My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black&White and Custom

Movie Size: 640×480, 640×480 LP or 320×240

Movie Menu:

Digital Zoom - Off or Standard

AF-Assist Beam - On or Off

Auto Category - On or Off

Disp. Overlay - Off or Grid lines

Set Print/Share button - Allows you to use the button in record mode to change various camera
settings (ISO, White balance, Digital Tele-converter, Disp. Overlay, Display Off)