Once in a while it would be nice to have a digital camera handy. I still have my old casio exilim, but I hate using it. Since I sold the Digital Rebel to Steve and bought all sorts of film gear, I was left without anything digital. What I wanted was something small enough to take everywhere, but not so small that it’s hard to handle. I wanted a simple point and shoot but with manual options, just in case. After much research, I settled on the Canon A80.

After about 6 hours with the camera, here’s what I like…

• Solid construction. They actually used metal to make this thing, and it’s heavy enough to feel like it won’t fall apart if I squeeze it too hard.

• Reasonable shutter lag. I can live with the lag, especially if prefocussing.

• Controls are nicely arranged. I don’t expect to accidently push the wrong button too often.

• The lens is pretty fast - f2.8 at the wide end.

• The rotatable LCD has already come in handy

What I don’t like so far…

• The LCD is way too small. This won’t always be a problem, since I usually use the optical viewfinder anyway.

• Highest ISO is 400, although I’ve heard that it’s actually more like 800.

• Lotsa noise at higher ISO settings. The Rebel blows this outta the water

• After a few test shots, it’s showing a tendency to blow out highlights easily, and there is evidence of “purple fringing” - see below.

Shot of Zim against bright sun

Fringin’