As well as being compared against other compacts, the Canon PowerShot A490 is also often compared to mirrorless, ultra compacts, pro digicams and digicams. The Canon PowerShot A490's top rivals come from Canon (such as the PowerShot A480 and the PowerShot A590 IS) and Olympus (such as the FE-240 and the FE-5050)
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon A490 compared to other compact competitors include: it has a faster max shutter speed (1/2000 of a second vs 1/1600 of a second).
However, on average it has a much narrower wide angle lens (37 mm vs 28 mm), has a slightly smaller screen (2.5" vs 2.7"), is much larger (compact (94×62×31 mm) vs super compact (94×57×23 mm)), is older (january 2010 vs august 2010) and is thicker (1.2" vs 0.9").
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon A490 compared to mirrorless interchangeable-lens competitors include: it is thinner (1.2" vs 1.7") and is slightly lighter (175 g vs 314 g).
However, on average it records lower quality movies (480p @ 30fps vs 1080p @ 60fps), has a much smaller screen (2.5" vs 3"), has a much lower resolution screen (115k dots vs 920k dots), takes slightly lower resolution photos (9.8 MP vs 16 MP) and doesn't record movies in 24p.
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon A490 compared to ultra compact competitors include: it takes slightly higher resolution photos (9.8 MP vs 7.1 MP), is newer (january 2010 vs january 2007) and slightly longer exposures (15 seconds vs 1/2 of a second).
However, on average it is much larger (compact (94×62×31 mm) vs ultra compact (91×55×17 mm)), is thicker (1.2" vs 0.7") and is slightly heavier (175 g vs 140 g).
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon A490 compared to pro digicam competitors include: it has a much larger screen (2.5" vs 2"), is significantly smaller (compact (94×62×31 mm) vs large (141×86×142 mm)), is newer (january 2010 vs july 2006), is thinner (1.2" vs 5.6") and is significantly lighter (175 g vs 734 g).
However, on average it has a slightly narrower wide angle lens (37 mm vs 35 mm), doesn't have image stabilization (none vs lens), doesn't have a screen which flips out, doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs digital) and doesn't support an external flash.
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon A490 compared to digicam competitors include: it takes slightly higher resolution photos (9.8 MP vs 7.1 MP) and is newer (january 2010 vs february 2007).
However, on average it has a slightly narrower aperture (f/3 vs f/2.6), has a slightly narrower wide angle lens (37 mm vs 35 mm), doesn't have image stabilization (none vs lens) and doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs tunnel).
