Recording Features
Playback, Editing and Print Functions
Battery Information
Inputs and Outputs Notes
Supplied Software

Recording Features

LCD Monitor: The Canon PowerShot A495 has a 2.5" TFT color LCD monitor featuring approximately 115,000 pixels with approximately 100% picture coverage. The LCD display's brightness can be manually adjusted. The LCD display also features a Night Display feature that when shooting in dark conditions, the camera automatically brightens the LCD monitor to suit the brightness of the subject, making it easier to frame the subject.

Image Sensor: For optimal image quality, the camera uses a 1/2.3" CCD image sensor with approximately 10.3-million total pixels and 10.0-million effective pixels giving your shots added depth and detail.

DIGIC III Image Processor: The PowerShot A495 features the DIGIC III Image Processor. The DIGIC III chip has evolved Face Detection Technology that tracks the faces of moving subjects, and keeps every face in every photo looking its very best.

Face Detection Technology: The DIGIC III chip's Face Detection Technology finds and tracks the faces of moving subjects until you're ready to shoot, then delivers perfect focus. In addition, exposure, flash, and white balance are compensated, so that faces exhibit natural skin tones and backgrounds are properly exposed.

Face Self-Timer: The Face Self-Timer automatically detects an increase in the number of faces, and makes the appropriate adjustments. When the Face Detection Self-Timer is set, the camera waits for the photographer's face to get on-camera before it takes the shot. The camera will take up to 10 shots in a row, two seconds after the new face is detected.

Optics: The camera features a 3.3x optical zoom lens and a 13x total zoom when coupled with the 4x digital zoom. The focal length of the camera is 37-122mm (35mm equivalent) when using the optical zoom, and 35-488mm when using the digital zoom.

Digital Teleconverter: The focal length of the lens can be increased by an equivalent of 1.4x or 2.3x through the use of the Digital Teleconverter. The equivalent focal lengths of the lens (35mm equivalent) are 51-171mm when using the 1.4x digital teleconverter, and 85.1-281mm with the 2.3x teleconverter. The digital zoom and digital teleconverter cannot be used simultaneously.

Recording Media: The camera records still images or moving images with stereo audio on SD Memory Cards (2GB or less), SDHC Memory Cards (2 GB to 32GB), SDXC Memory Cards (32GB and higher), MultiMediaCards, MMCplus Cards and HC MMCplus Cards. Still images are recorded in JPEG, and the movies are recorded in AVI format (Image data: Motion JPEG, Audio data: WAVE (monaural)). No memory card is included with the camera.

Still Image Resolution/Compression: You can choose from the following still image resolutions: Large (3648 x 2736), Medium 1 (2816 x 2112), Medium 2 (2272 x 1704 pixels), Medium 3 (1600 x 1200 pixels), and Small (640 x 480 pixels). You can also select a Widescreen size (3648 x 2048). For each resolution, you can set the compression to Fine or Normal. The estimated number of still images that can be recorded on SD Memory Cards is as follows:

Movies: Movies can be shot at 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels with a frame rate of 30 frames per second. The 640 x 480 LP setting lets you record twice the length as the standard 640 x 480 setting, but the image quality will appear more coarse. Recording will automatically stop when either the clip file size reaches 4 GB or the recording time reaches approximately 1 hour. SD Speed Class 4 or higher memory cards are recommended. The estimated length of movies that can be recorded on SD Memory Cards is as follows:

Continuous Shooting Mode: You can use the continuous shooting mode to shoot successive frames while the shutter button is fully pressed. You can shoot continuously in normal light at approximately 0.9 images per second. In low light, you can shoot approximately 2.5 images per second.

AutoFocus Frame Modes: The camera utilizes TTL (through-the-lens) automatic focusing with two focusing methods:

• Face AiAF: The camera automatically detects the position of a face and uses the data to set the focus, exposure (evaluative metering only) and white balance (auto). When the camera is pointed at subjects, a white frame appears on the face the camera judges to be the main subject, and up to 2 gray frames will appear on other faces.
• Center: camera fixes the AF frame at the center; this is recommended when the target subject is at the center of the composition.

AF-Point Zoom: You can magnify the AF frame and check the focus. In Face Detect mode, the face selected as the main subject will appear magnified in the monitor. In Center mode, the contents of the center AF frame will appear magnified.

Auto Focus Lock: If it becomes difficult to focus on the subject due to low contrast to the surroundings, close up and far away subjects in the same shot, or quickly moving subjects, you can choose to lock the focus or auto focus on an object at a similar distance, then shoot the picture after recomposing the shot.

Focusing Range: The camera features the following focus ranges (from the end of the lens):

• Auto: 2" to infinity (W), 9.8"-infinity (T)
• Normal: 2" to infinity (W), 9.8" to infinity (T)
• Macro: 0.4" to 1.6' (wide), 9.8" to 1.6' (T)
• Infinity: 9.8' to infinity
• Kids & Pets: 3.3' to infinity

Shooting Modes: Using the Mode Button on the back of the camera, you can select from the following shooting modes:

• Program AE: You can choose the settings yourself to take various types of pictures
• Smart Auto: The camera selects the settings for fully automatic shooting
• Scene Modes:
  • Portrait: produces a soft effect when photographing people
  • Night Snapshot: allows you to take snapshots of people against twilight or dark backgrounds by reducing the effects of camera shake, even without using a tripod
  • Kids & Pets: lets you capture subjects that move quickly without missing photo opportunities
  • Indoor: maintains the subject's true colors when shooting under fluorescent or tungsten lighting
  • Low Light: recommended for shooting in candlelight or similarly dark scenes
  • Beach: shoots without making subjects appear dark near water or sand where reflected sunlight is strong
  • Foliage: shoots trees and leaves in vivid colors
  • Snow: shoots without a blue tinge and without making subjects appear dark against a bright white background
  • Fireworks: captures fireworks in the sky sharply and at optimal exposure
  • Super Vivid: adds vivid intense colors to your image
  • Poster Effect: makes your photo look like an old poster or illustration
  • Face Self-Timer: starts a countdown when a new face enters the scene
  • Long Shutter: uses long exposure times  (1-15 seconds) for very dark scenes (tripod recommended)
• Movies: When you press the shutter button, you can shoot movies in 640 x 480 pixels (standard or LP) or 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames per second.

Metering Modes: You can select from the following metering modes:

• Evaluative Light Metering: used for standard conditions. The area within the frame is divided into several zones and light is measured based on subject position, brightness, direct light and backlighting.
• Center-Weighted Averaging: averages the exposure from the entire image, but places more weight on the subject at the center
• Spot: meters the area within the spot AE point at the center of the LCD monitor

Exposure Compensation: If you are shooting against a bright background or strong backlight, you may need to correct the exposure so that the subject doesn't come out too dark. You can set the adjustments from -2 to +2 in 1/3-step increments.

Locking the Exposure Setting (AE Lock): You can set the exposure and focus separately. This is effective when the contrast is too strong between the subject and background, or when a subject is backlit.

White Balance: You can choose from the following white balance settings:

• Auto: the camera sets the white balance automatically according to shooting conditions
• Daylight: for recording outdoors on a bright day
• Cloudy: for recording under overcast, shady or twilight skies
• Tungsten: for recording under tungsten and bulb-type 3-wavelength fluorescent lighting
• Fluorescent: for recording under warm-white, cool-white or warm-white (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting
• Fluorescent H: for recording under daylight fluorescent, or daylight fluorescent-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting
• Custom: allows you to manually set the white balance and store the settings

Flash Modes: The PowerShot A495 has a built-in flash. You can select Auto (flash fires in low light), Slow-synchro, On (flash always fires), or Off (flash doesn't fire). The built-in flash has a range of 12" to 9.8' in Wide Angle and 12" to 6.6' in Telephoto. In the menu, you can turn on the Red-Eye Reduction lamp for the flash, and apply Red-Eye Correction to the images that have been taken.

ISO Speed: The ISO speed can be set to 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, or Auto to reduce the effects of camera shake or avoid blurry subjects or to turn the flash off when shooting in a dark area.

My Colors: You can choose the look and feel of the photos you take by using My Colors to add the following effects to the image you are currently recording or have already recorded:

• Vivid: emphasizes the contrast and color saturation to record in bold colors
• Neutral: tones down the contrast and color saturation to record neutral hues
• Sepia: records images in sepia tones
• B/W: records images in black and white
• Custom Color: lets you adjust the contrast, sharpness, or saturation settings or the color balance between red, green, blue, and skin tones
• My Colors Off: records with no effect

Display Overlay: You can check a composition's horizontal and vertical alignment as well as a 3:2 aspect ratio print range on the LCD monitor by using a shooting guide while shooting. You can choose from the following display overlays.

• Grid Lines: displays gridlines dividing the monitor into 9 areas, allowing you to check the subject's horizontal and vertical alignment
• 3:2 Guide: allows you to check what can be printed in a composition using a 3:2 aspect ratio; the portion that will not print displays in gray
• Both: displays both the grid lines and 3:2 guide at thee same time

Histogram Display: The Histogram is a graph that allows you to check the brightness of the image. The greater the bias toward the left in the graph, the darker the image. The greater the bias toward the right, the brighter the image.

Self-Timer: The self-timer starts when the shutter button is pressed. The delay time can be set to 10 seconds, 2 seconds, or Custom Timer. The Custom Timer allows you to choose the timer delay setting: 1-10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds for up to 10 shots.

Playback, Editing and Print Functions

Auto Rotate Function: The PowerShot A495 Auto Rotate function uses an Intelligent Orientation Sensor to sense whether your images were shot horizontally or vertically. During playback, the camera automatically rotates the image to the correct viewing orientation in the display. You can also manually rotate images as you choose.

Jump Images: When you have a lot of images recorded onto a memory card, you can use the Jump feature to speed up your search for the image you want to view. You can choose from the following Jump functions.

• Jump 10 Images: jumps over 10 images at a time
• Jump 100 Images: jumps over 100 images at a time
• Shot Date: jumps to the first image of each shooting date
• Movie: jumps to a movie
• First: jumps to still images only

Slide Show: Images stored on an SD Memory card can automatically be displayed one-by-one using the Slide Show function. You can set the playback parameters as follows:

• Repeat: On/Off
• Play Time: Set to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ,10 , 15, or 30 seconds
• Effect: Set to fade, slide, or off

Index Display: This feature allows you to view 4, 9, 36, or 100 images at once on the LCD monitor so that you can search for an image quickly. Movies cannot be played in the index playback mode.

Image Magnification: When viewing a still picture in Single Image Replay mode, you can magnify the image up to 10x. You can also pan around the zoomed image to view a particular portion of the picture.

Focus Check Display: Focus Check display allows you to check the focus of image taken and allows you to easily check facial expressions and whether a subject's eyes are closed. This feature can be set to allow you to check the focus of an image taken right after shooting the subject.

Red-Eye Correction: You can correct red eyes in already recorded images. However, red eyes may not be automatically detected in some images such as faces near the screen edge, faces that appear extremely small, larger dark or bright in relation to the overall image and faces turned to the side or at a diagonal and faces with a portion hidden which prevents the Red-Eye Correction from working.

Resizing Images: You can save images a lower recording pixel than the original image. You can change high resolution images to 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240.

Protecting Images: The protect feature allows you to protect important images from accidental erasure. You can protect images by the image itself or select All Images.

Movie Playback Options: When playing back movies, you can play them in normal speed, 5 speeds of slow motion (without sound), frame-by-frame (forward or reverse), and display the last frame.

PictBridge/Direct Print: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a PictBridge-compatible printer of any brand, or a Canon printer that supports the Direct Print function. You can also connect the camera directly to certain Canon Bubble Jet printers. In this way, you can make prints directly from the camera without having to hook it up to a computer.

Exif Print (Exif 2.2): The Canon PowerShot A495 conforms to "Exif Print", a worldwide standard. Vital camera settings (such as: exposure mode, white balance, exposure time) and scene data are recorded to the image file when it is captured. Printers compatible with "Exif Print" are able to use this information to produce high quality photographs, exactly the way they were intended at the time of capture. This intelligent communication process also allows the printer to correct for poor lighting or mistakes, resulting in photos that can be even better than the originals.

DPOF Print Settings: On your SD Memory card, you can select which image or images you want to print and how many copies you want. This is convenient for printing images all at once on optional photo printers or at participating photo labs.

DPOF Transfer Order: You can use the camera to specify settings for images that you wish to download to a computer. The settings used on the camera comply with the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) standards. A maximum of 998 images can be selected per SD card, and are transferred in order from oldest to newest by shooting date.

Battery Information

Power Requirements: The Canon PowerShot A495 powered by two "AA"-sized batteries. You can use Alkaline batteries (supplied) or optional rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries. An optional AC Adapter kit (ACK800) is recommended when the camera is connected to a computer for long periods of time. The typical performance of the available batteries is as follows:

Power Saving Functions: The camera is equipped with the following power saving functions:

• Auto Power Down for Shooting Mode: The screen will turn off approximately 1 minute after the camera is last operated. You can "wake" the camera at this point by pressing the shutter button halfway to turn on the screen and continue shooting. After about 2 more minutes, if no buttons are pressed, the lens will retract and the power will turn off.
• Auto Power Down for Playback Mode and Connection to a Printer: The camera power down approximately 5 minutes after the last control is accessed on the camera.

Date/Time Battery: The Date/Time backup battery (CR1220) has a lifetime of approximately 7 years.

Inputs and Outputs Notes

Digital Terminal: The PowerShot A495 has a Mini-B Version 2.0 USB terminal to allow you to connect the camera to a compatible computer or compatible Canon printer via the supplied USB cable. This USB 2.0 Hi-Speed-compatible terminal allows you to rapidly download images to your computer or printer.

A/V Output Terminal:  Using the 3.5mm minijack, you can connect the camera to a TV or video monitor with mono RCA audio and composite video input jacks using the supplied audio/video cable. You can set the video output to NTSC or PAL.

Supplied Software

Included Software: The PowerShot A495 comes supplied with the Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk Ver.56.0 CD-ROM. It contains the following programs:

• Canon Utilities:
  • Windows:
    • ZoomBrowser EX 6.5: downloads, displays, organizes and edits your recorded images
    • PhotoStitch 3.1: use to merge still images to make panoramas
  • Macintosh:
    • ImageBrowser 6.5: downloads, displays, organizes and edits your recorded images
    • PhotoStitch 3.2: use to merge still images to make panoramas
• User Guides: Software Starter Guide, Personal Printing Guide

Minimum System Requirements: