Introduction

Ease of Use

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS looks a little bit wider than your average digital compact camera. Arguably, this is to accommodate the wide screen that's found on the back. However, it's only a 3 inch version that's found on any camera. Looking at the back, the camera appears to have been made wider to allow for more space on the back. Not for the screen, though. It's actually for the larger-than-usual buttons that sit next to the screen. They're the typical buttons such as direct Video record, User help, Main menu, Playback, and a command ring that has a cacophony of uses from flash options to wi-fi settings.

On the front, the small lens sits in a large bezel giving it the effect of being larger than it really is. A slim flash sits on on side of the lens with the AF emitter on the other. The top of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS has a simple approach in that there's only two buttons. The power button is a long, thin button while the shutter release is larger than the power button and sits slightly higher. This is useful for shooting in the dark and the zoom switch is wrapped around it so it's easily located and operated with the index finger.

There are a few features to help you along with your photography. One of those is the wi-fi compatibility. Switch the wi-fi on, select the signal you want to use and you can upload your pictures to your phone, tablet, computer or direct to a wi-fi enabled printer. This is really handy for when you simply don't have to time to start messing around taking the card out, downloading pictures onto a computer, finding the file you want and then transferring or printing it.

Front	Rear

Other interesting features include an Eco mode that saves energy on the camera battery. It works by dimming the screen after two seconds of inactivity. After ten seconds of inactivity, the screen turns off and then the camera turns off after three minutes. Ideal for long days out when on holiday and you forget to switch the camera off. There's also several digital effects for making your pictures more fun to shoot and look at after. Features such as fish-eye effect, Super-vivid and Monochrome. You can also use the Miniature effect which – when shooting a town scene from above – makes the scene look like you're viewing a toy town.

Experimenters will be pleased to know that Live control is available on the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS. It lets you change the brightness and colour saturation on screen before you shoot, so you can see what the results will look like before you get them.

Arguably, where the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS excels is the build quality. It's a metal casing, which is nothing new, but look closer and there are a few more nuggets that set it apart from other cameras at this price point. The tripod bush is made of metal, which is unusual for a camera at this position in the market. The screen on the back is flush with the back which generally is only seen on higher priced models. However there are areas that let the camera down such as the rubbery USB port cover. The battery cover is plastic, but has no metal backing it to give it strength. Saying that, it's not overly flexible, but you can't help but worry that it could break easily.

Front	Top

There are two main menu systems when taking pictures and one in the Playback area. Pressing the Func. Set button will open up the Shooting menu. This is a side bar that has access to a number of options that will help you in day to day photography such as white-balance, ISO, resolution, focusing modes etc. To get more in-depth features such as languages, date & time, card formatting or focusing options, you need to press the Menu button and go into the Main menu. Over the years Canon have refined their menu systems and today they're very easy to use. The options are clear, concise and easy to understand just by looking at them. However, should you need it there's a help button just below the video record on the back that will open up a User Guide.

From a cold start, the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS can power up, focus and take a picture in around 2.3 seconds. That's slightly faster than the average of 2.5 seconds. The continuous shooting mode is an unusual one. Look at the Canon website and they state that it can shoot at 0.8 fps (frames per second)  but we managed four pictures in a ten second period. That's more like 0.4 fps – half what the Canon says. Look in the small print on the specification and it does say that it's dependent on the resolution and compression used. So if you want a marginally fast frame rate instead of a tepid one, you need to lower the resolution. 

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

Looking back at pictures you've already taken can be done by pressing the playback button on the back of the camera. When the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS is powered on, it's an instant transfer, but if the camera is off, you'll have to hold the button down for a second or so. This is just for the camera to make sure you've not nudged it by mistake. Viewing the pictures will be full screen as standard along with no information.

Pressing the Disp button will bring up basic information about the photograph, then press it again and you get a lot more detailed information such as the mode used, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, file size and number, date & time taken and a histogram. In the playback menu, you can make a slide-show, erase pictures, protect them set up a photobook or adjust them with iContrast. If you're unfamiliar with iContrast, it's a dynamic range booster that brings out some detail in darker areas while capping burn out in the highlights. 

In the box, there's a User manual that comes on a CD. Along with that, there's another CD that has Solutions. This disc has to be installed if you want to connect the camera to the computer via wi-fi. There's also a USB lead, wrist strap, lithium ion battery and charger.

Image Quality

Typical file sizes from the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS are around 7Mb although depending on the settings used, we also got images around 3Mb on the same resolution.

Noise

As is to be expected, image quality from the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS at low ISO is great. The image is smooth with no hint of noise – even when viewed at full magnification – and the edges are sharp. Unfortunately, if we carry on viewing at full magnification, that's where the story ends. Slight traces of noise start to form at ISO 200. To be fair, it only occurs in the darker areas of the picture and looks mostly like salt and pepper noise. Mid-tones and highlights remain ok. It's obvious noise reduction software is at work, though, so the problem could be worse than we're led to believe.

The problem with noise gets slowly worse as we rise through the settings. Detail starts to dissipate at ISO 400 as the noise reduction software attempts damage control. Edges are still sharp, but at full magnification, noise is starting to be noticeable on mid-tones.

Edges start to suffer at ISO 800 with noise beginning to break them down. Detail in darker areas such as shadows has all but disappeared. Noise also starts to become noticeable at normal viewing distance.

The final setting has blobs of noise all over the darker areas, so kudos to the noise reduction software for keeping it at bay up until this point. It looks pretty bad, but let's look at it from a comparison of other cameras: Yes, noise shows through early and that's not a good thing. However, the noise reduction system does seem to keep it relatively under control. ISO 1600 is a much better result than we've seen from other cameras that have been better at low ISO.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS has a 5x optical zoom, which is a focal range of 5–25mm. However, we generally use the 35mm equivalent distances and in this case that would be 28–140mm.

28mm	140mm

Sharpening

Adding some sharpening to a low ISO image certainly benefits the picture, but if you go over ISO 100, the noise simply gets worse.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

We found traces of chromatic aberration on high contrasting sharp edges. It was noticeable with black on white and white on black.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)
Chromatic Aberrations 3 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS can focus in as close as 3cm. That's good enough for most situations. The image quality does drop out quite early, which isn't a good sign. We expect it to do just that, but maybe not at such an early stage in the frame.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

Vignetting occurs at wide-angle whether the flash is used or not. This disappears on zooming out fully. Using flash simply stabilises any dappled light. The flash is an intelligent version in which it compliments the ambient light and simply helps it along.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (140mm)

We did see a flash of red in the eyes even when the red-eye reduction was switched on. Upon closer inspection, it's not red-eye, but looks more like a type of chroma around the catch-light from the flash.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Correction	Red-eye Correction (100% Crop)

Night

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS has a Night scene mode as well as the Program mode being able to get long enough exposures as long as the camera is steady. In our test, taken at around 5am, the Program mode used a 1 second exposure with the sensitivity forced to ISO 100. In Night mode, the camera ramped it up to ISO 2500 to use a faster 1/20th sec exposure. The resolution also drops from 16 megapixel to a more sedate 4 megapixel. Arguably because of the amount of noise that a full size image would generate. After all, the ISO 2500 setting used is around 2/3 stop higher than the highest setting in the ISO section of the menu.

Night Program	Night Program (100% Crop)
Night Scene	Night Scene (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

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Product Images

Front of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Front of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Side of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Side of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Turned On

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Image Displayed

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Function Menu

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Canon PowerShot A3500 IS Menu

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Settings Menu

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Playback Menu

Rear of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS / Help Mode

Top of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Bottom of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Side of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Side of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Front of the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS doesn't scream “BUY ME” and it's certainly not stuffed with interesting features. Still, each manufacturer has to have a range of cameras that target a market that isn't interested in the newest feature. Some people simply want a picture taking machine. That's what a camera such as the A3500 IS is. It has the technology that's been passed down through the years from higher spec cameras with some general improvements in programming to keep the image quality up to the standard that we expect.

Image quality is actually the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS's main downfall, as is the same with any tiny sensor compact. If you use it on anything higher than ISO 100, you're going to get noise showing through – even with the noise reduction system. If you want the smoothest images it can give, you need to have bright sunlight or use flash all the time when it's not bright sunlight. The flash is intelligent and does supplement ambient light. It's not designed to take over unless there isn't any ambient light.

The build quality of theCanon PowerShot A3500 IS is good for a model at this point in the market. It's only just over £100 and you get a well built little unit with a metal tripod bush, a flush screen and wi-fi built in. That's not bad going for the price. It gets a little let down on the battery door being only plastic. A bit of metal to strengthen it wouldn't go amiss. We also don't like the rubber USB port covers, although we have to thankful that they're covered at all. Some cameras don't have them.

The Canon PowerShot A3500 IS is a camera that will work great for nights out with friends, days out with the family, celebrations and get togethers. It's a good all-rounder. It could be taken travelling and the metal tripod bush (of all things) will be handy then, for the many pictures taken on a little tripod. The built-in wi-fi will be great for transferring images while you're on the go and the small size and the fact it compacts down to a pocketable shape will be great for transportation. The main downside to this being used as a travelling camera is that the battery charger isn't built into the camera. It's a separate unit with its own power source and that will take up precious space.

So if you're looking for a camera that will be good for a gap year around India, then it would be best to look elsewhere. But, if you want a small, pocketable, good looking camera with a few tricks up its sleeve, then take a look at the Canon PowerShot A3500 IS.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	3.5
Value for money	4.5

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