Canon PowerShot A2000 IS

"There are no innovative features here, but everything the Canon PowerShot A2000 IS does, it does extremely well," says PhotographyBlog.com's Mark Goldstein. The 10-megapixel camera has a roomy 1/2.3-inch sensor, a 6x zoom lens with an expansive 26 mm to 216 mm focal range and optical image stabilization, along with a vibrant 3-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD monitor. The beefier features are loaded on a wedge-shaped chassis that is a smidge wider and heavier than the Canon PowerShot A1100 IS, and likewise, not pocket-friendly. Across the board, the PowerShot A2000 IS wins accolades for menu navigation and ease of use. Among these formidable features, however, users and experts lament the absence of two items: an optical viewfinder and manual settings. At heart, the PowerShot A2000 IS is a point-and-shoot model. In addition to Easy Mode, it has 17 programmed shooting modes plus movie capture with sound. The DIGIC III processor is on board, with red-eye correction as well as face and motion detection technology.

Like other A-series models, however, the Canon PowerShot A2000 IS lags in camera speeds, particularly shot-to-shot and flash recovery, which CNET's Joshua Goldman tests at 2.7 and 7.1 seconds, respectively. "The majority of my pictures are of my young kids -- they are NOT going to wait that long in between pictures," says one Amazon.com owner. Delay setbacks aside, image quality shines through. Goldman describes the macro (extreme close-up) performance as amazing, while Steves-Digicams.com rates indoor, outdoor and video image quality as good. Similar to other budget cameras, image noise pumps up at ISO settings above 200. "Plain and simple, the A2000 IS is designed for point-and-shoot use and it does that extremely well," says Goldman. "If only it were a bit faster at doing it."

Imaging-Resource.com, PhotographyBlog.com and Steves-Digicams.com are among the photography sites that thoroughly test and evaluate the Canon PowerShot A2000 IS. CNET provides a test-based review with product specifications, while owner postings at Amazon.com show how the A2000 IS fares with extended use.