Canon Powershot A2500 Black

Product Information

Canon, Canon's subsidiaries and affiliates, their distributors and dealers are not responsible for maintaining or helping you in your use of the Software. To see how the quality of the PowerShot A2500 measures-up in practice, take a look at my Canon A2500 quality and Canon A2500 noise results pages, browse my Canon A2500 sample images, or skip to the chase and head straight for my verdict. The longest single clip recording time in HD mode is a second shy of 30 minutes for EU models, but you’ll probably run up against the 4GB file size limit just before that. In my review I’ve compared the PowerShot A2500 against two models from the more up-market IXUS / ELPH range.

It’s equivalent to Smart Auto mode found in many cameras, wherein the camera analyses the scene or subject and uses optimal settings. You agree and acknowledge that Canon transfers neither ownership interest nor intellectual property in the Software to you under this Agreement or otherwise, and that Canon retains all right, title and interest to the Software. In my image quality test the two turned in a similar performance, though the PowerShot A2500 fared less well at higher sensitivities, probably as a consequence of its more highly compressed JPEGs – it lacks the Superfine compression option of the IXUS 140 / ELPH 130 IS.

If you get the chance, I'd strongly recommend you take a look at the two models side-by-side and ask yourself if the bigger screen really is worth the extra cost. Both start at a 28mm equivalent wide angle, but the Powershot A2500 extends to 140mm while the IXUS 140 / ELPH 130 keeps on going to 224mm – a substantially longer focal length that’ll get you closer to distant action. This is an important distinction between the PowerShot A3500 IS and lower models in the range which don’t carry the IS suffix – the A2600, A2500 and A1400 – all of which are equipped with Digital IS.

There’s the familiar raised Canon logo which doubles as a gripping surface for the fingers of your right hand. In the right conditions, Digital IS can be a useful tool, but in some circumstances, like the one above, you might just be better off in Program or even Smart Auto mode.

Though the PowerShot A2500 lacks any kind of manual exposure control it does include a long shutter mode which allows you set the shutter speed manually at preset intervals from one to fifteen seconds. Novice shooters might feel more comfortable with Live View control, which provides three sliders for control of exposure compensation (Dark/Light), saturation (Neutral/Vivid) and white balance (Cool/Warm). There’s also built-in red-eye firmware correction which can be applied during shooting or subsequently. Rather than the A3500 IS’s optical system, which moves the lens elements to counteract camera shake, Digital IS is a stacking mode that takes a fast burst of three images and combines them to produce a sharp result. It’s obviously great that you can rely on the same kind of quality from the A2500 as you can from the flagship PowerShot A4000 IS and even some of the lower end IXUS / ELPH models.

To its right is the control panel comprising a 5-way D-pad and buttons for video recording, help, playback and menu. The PowerShot A2500 not only looks very similar to the entry-level IXUS / ELPH line-up, it offers very similar handling with a very closely matched range of shooting and video modes.As with the rest of the 2013 A series models the A2600 retains the 28-140mm zoom range, the 16 Megapixel CCD sensor and Digic 4 processor of the 2012 range.