Canon PowerShot A470, A580, A590 IS announced

Canon announced three replacements in its popular PowerShot A series with the release of the new Powershot A470, A580, and A590 IS.

Powershot A470 offers phenomenal features-to-price ratio

At the budget end of the PowerShot A spectrum, the A450/A460 are set to be replaced by the new PowerShot A470. The 7.1 megapixel A470 is a 3.4x zoom camera, equipped with Canon's next generation Advanced Face Detection technology which offers improve functionality in the form of white balance, exposure, and especially Face Select and Track: select one of any of the faces in a frame, and the A470 will track it as it moves, keeping metering and exposure locked on the subject.

Improving on conventional digital image stabilization, the A470 uses Motion Detection Technology to sense whether or not image-marring shake is occuring: ISO is only boosted when the camera is being shaken, meaning cleaner pictures when you don't need stabilization, and sharp (if a little more grainer) ones when you do. It's still not as good as an optical system, but it's a decided step forward in our view. 

Perhaps most impressively, however, the manufacturer has suggested that the A470 will hit stores somewhere around the $125 mark, making the bare-bones PowerShot one of the most well-specified cameras in its price class.

A580 and A590 IS provide key model updates for popular PowerShots

The sibling PowerShot A580 and A590 IS models are slated to replace the A560 and venerable A570 – one of 2007's most popular compact cameras, and electronic devices in general – for 2008.

The pair of new cams share an 8 megapixel sensor, a 4x optical zoom, and a 2.5-inch display, with the A590 IS sporting optical image stabilization as well. The face detection improvements outlined above show up here as well, and the A580 uses Motion Detection Technology for image stabilization as well.

No detailed specs were available for all three models at the time of this writing, but we'll update this information as soon as it becomes available.

Canon Powershot A470 specifications:

Canon PowerShot A580/A590 IS specifications: