Outings with the Canon PowerShot A495

This little Canon PowerShot A495 had been my dad’s. I find myself unsentimental about that. When I got it out recently, I had a clear mission in mind: determine whether this camera is good enough to keep. My camera cabinet is overfull, and I keep to a strict rule that my entire collection must fit into it. I took it along the weekend after Margaret’s birthday when we hiked through Turkey Run State Park. There’s Margaret on the left. Typical of entry-level point-and-shoot digitals of the 2010s, the screen washes out in bright sun. But also, I noticed that you have to press the shutter button mighty lightly to get it to lock focus and exposure and beep to let you know it’s ready. Waiting for that beep seems to be an important step. When I successfully heard it, focus and exposure were right. When I didn’t, they could be off. It’s like I rushed the camera and it hadn’t made up its mind yet. I took the A495 on a couple walks closer to home and made a point to slow down. The camera…