Worth the extra $30 over the A570is with mostly same or better features

Worth the extra $30 over the A570is with mostly same or better features, March 20, 2008
By BoaltGeek (California) - See all my reviews

Pros:
The A590IS is the best point and shoot under $200 today (closer to $155 most places). I own an SD600 and my wife, friend, and father (all different people mind you!) own A570IS's. The A590IS is the new version of the A570IS, 2007's best selling camera. Generally, see the rave reviews of the A570IS if you want to know the major pros and cons (in summary: Image Stabilization is amazing, noise is limited, features of all there including manual controls [though no auto-bracketing which no other cameras at this price point have regardless], final picture quality is superior to all other brands at this price point and type, [i.e., point-and-shoot], good size). Rather, here I'll address the main improvements over the A570IS (which is about $30 cheaper):

(1) The A590IS has 8mp vs. 7mp on the A570IS (negligible difference)

(2) The A590IS is slightly faster between non-flash shots BUT slightly SLOWER before the first shot can be taken and slower between shots where flash is used (less than .5 second difference according to CNet)

(3) It's charcoal/gray - minor change from silver, but I like canon powershot sd780is a lot.

(4) It's "rounder" on the edges but no less stable in your hand, neither camera is too slippery like other overly polished cameras (also, no finger smudges as a result).

(5) There is sometimes increased noise with higher MP cameras, this is NOT the case here - noise levels are similar.

(6) there are some minor additional shooting modes and improvements to other shooting

Cons:
The only change that is not an improvement is the lowering of the frames per second in the video mode.
A570IS: 640x480 = 30fps --- 320x240 = 60fps
A590IS: 640x480 = 20fps --- 320x240 = 30fps

Frankly, this is a bummer and cannon should correct canon powershot sd780is with firmware ASAP; however, the lower FPS is still quiet good, but this was a pointless change that is not appreciated -- the reality is that most people don't use video often and those who do will see a minimal difference ... if you're paying that much attention to the video you may be more interested in a different camera or a video camera.

Conclusion:
This will be the best selling camera of 2008 and it's a VERY safe purchase you won't regret (unless canon powershot sd780is gives you such a new found love for photography that suddenly you wish you had a Canon S5 or G7 ... which are more than twice as expensive!).