Canon PowerShot A80 Digital Camera Review

Color (7.78)
We tested the color performance of the Canon A80 using Imatest Imaging Software and an industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart. The software allows us to measure how accurate the color reproduction of the A80 is. In the picture bellow, the outer squares are the colors produced by the Canon A80, the inner squares are a error corrected version by Imatest, and the small vertical rectangle in the center is the ideal color of the GretagMacbeth chart.

The below graph is a representation of the color reproduction of the Canon A80. The circles represent the colors produced by the A80, and the squares represent the ideal color of the chart, or what the camera should be reproducing. The greater distance between the circle and the square, the greater the error of the camera.

The mean saturation score on the Canon PowerShot A80 is 114.7%. This may seem high, but before you write this camera off you need to understand that almost all digital cameras, especially point-and-shoots, will over-saturate color to create a bolder, more lively image. Even the highly praised Canon Digital Rebel received a saturation number of 111%.

The Canon PowerShot A80 performed well in our color evaluation, keeping in line with Canon's good reputation for color accuracy. If you look at our graph the pink and red tone over-saturation (#'s 9 and 15) is no surprise, considering the appealing skin tones that these colors produce. This is common across the board with digital cameras. Aside from a few extremely accurate color tones (#5 and to some extent #3) the Canon PowerShot A80 produced consistent results, straying from the ideal slightly on each color, but not enough to cause alarm or reason to discount the camera as a good image producer. There has yet to be a camera with perfect results for each color tile.

Still Life Scene
The below tableau is our standard still life image which we photograph with every still camera:

Clicking on the above image will open a full resolution version in a new window (CAUTION: The linked image is very large)

Resolution / Sharpness (2.73)
While advertised pixels are a formal gage of the camera's performance, when tested in Imatest there tends to be a large discrepancy between the "real" pixel count and the manufacturer’s reported pixels. When run through the Imatest software an examined, an image with a score of 70-80% of the suggested pixel count is considered a good scorer while 80-90% is very good and anything beyond 90% is excellent.

The Canon A80 received a real resolution score of 2.73 real pixels. While this appears to be a relatively small number of pixels, the actual recorded image at the highest resolution is 2272 x 1704, giving the A80 3.87 pixels recorded by the manufacturer at the camera's highest quality. Although the camera's marketing materials report the camera to be 4 megapixels of resolution, the 2.73 "real pixels" recorded by the A80 is actually a good score, containing 70.4% of the manufacturer stated pixel count.

Noise - Auto ISO (5.68)
For a point-and-shoot camera, the Canon A80 fortunately contains four manual ISO selections. While this is seen as a necessary feature for some, many users select the portable A80 for its compact frame and seamless automatic responses. For the point-and-shoot user, the camera’s ability to make rapid, accurate adjustments is vital. Automatic ISO adjustment is one of the functions that will factor into the image’s quality and illumination. The camera’s ISO rating will determine the exposure and clarity of the frame. The A80 handled automatic ISO adjustments decently, providing well exposed images with some degree of noise throughout. The images were not as clear as many users might expect from a Canon 4.0 megapixel camera and this proves to be a major deterrent in purchasing the $300 A80.

Noise - Manual ISO (3.82)
When manual control of ISO is available, we test each of the ISO ratings using Imatest software to get a numeric value for the visible noise in each image. We take these values and put them into a regression analysis to get an overall noise score. The graph below is a visual representation of the individual ISO settings and the resulting noise from the Canon A80. The horizontal X-axis is a plotting of the ISO ratings, while the vertical axis is the amount of noise.

From the graph, it is clear that the Canon A80 provides adequate resolution and clarity at ISO speeds of 100 or below. The problem is that 100 is an extremely slow ISO rating. This is acceptable for well lit scenes and exterior day shooting; however, once the clouds roll in or the camera is taken inside, an ISO speed of 100 will no longer do the trick. This will prove to be a problem with the Canon A80 when the ISO will have to be pushed to 200 or 400. While 400 is not an extremely high ISO rating, it is the highest option the A80 gives you. This is detrimental to the A80 user because the camera will  need additional lighting to get a proper exposure in moderately lit situations, and its 400 ISO rating produces images fraught with noise and distortion.

Speed / Timing
Start-up to First Shot: (6.7)
The Canon PowerShot A80 start-up time was noticeably slow compared to other cameras of this class, taking approximately 3.3 seconds from start-up to first shot.

Shot to Shot Time: (7.85) 
This camera tested better in its shot-to-shot timing. The Canon PowerShot A80 took approximately 2.15 seconds to register an image and take another one.

Shutter to Shot Time: (6.74)
The Canon PowerShot A80 did impressively well in shutter to shot time, which is the lag time in between pressing the shutter and taking a picture. When the camera was zoomed out it took 1.13 seconds and took a very impressive 0.6 seconds to take an image when in telephoto mode.