Canon PowerShot A3000 IS

Resolution (11.05)

In our resolution tests, we look at the performance of the lens and sensor: how much distortion does it introduce to the image? How sharp are the images across the frame? We found decent overall performance overall, but it is not without issues: we found moderate distortion at the wide end of the zoom range, and slight chromatic aberration at the longer end of the telephoto range. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (8.91)

All zoom lenses introduce some level of distortion, which turns straight lines into curves. The A3000 was particularly prone to this at the wider end of the zoom lens, where we saw just over 2 per cent distortion, enough to turn straight lines into curves. You can see this distortion in the images below, taken from the bottom of our test chart. The red line is added after shooting to show the original straight line.

Distortion Examples
Wide (6.2mm): 2.05% Barrel Distortion
Mid (13.8mm): 0.72% Barrel Distortion
Tele (24.8mm): 0.03% Pincushion Distortion

Sharpness (13.44)

We found that the images that the A3000 captured were fairly sharp, with fine details being pretty well captured. Many cameras have a problem where the sharpness in images is not consistent; the center of the image is sharp, but the edges are soft and fuzzy. We didn’t find that issue on this camera: the sharpness of the images was pretty consistent across the frame and across the zoom range. The only issues that we saw was that the images taken at the long end of the zoom range were somewhat softer than those taken at the middle and wide points of the zoom range.

Chromatic Aberration (8.29)

We saw little evidence of chromatic aberration in the images that this camera captures: across the zoom range, the CA was very low, only becoming visible at the edges of the images at the widest zoom setting.

Quality & Size Options (10.37)

The A3000 IS provides a decent selection of image size and quality options, including 2 levels of JPEG compression (normal and fine) and 5 image sizes. There is, however, no way to capture RAW images (which contain the raw data from the image sensor, and thus are the highest quality) or a combination of RAW and JPEG.

Image Stabilization (0.00)

The A3000 includes optical image stabilization, which moves an element of the lens to correct for camera shake. However, we found in our tests that this did not improve the sharpness of the images: images taken at our tested speed of 1/30 of a second were no sharper with the image stabilization turned on. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Canon A3000 IS	Casio EX-G1	Kodak Z950	Canon SD4000 IS
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On