Canon PowerShot A5 (1998)
It wasn’t just an eventual drop in price and improved specs that helped sell digital cameras to consumers. Without the need for squeezing a roll of 35mm film inside, digital cameras could be made impressively small and compact, and no one churned out compact point-and-shoots better than Canon.
Before smartphones, Canon’s digital P&S cameras were the best tool for those who wanted to carry a camera with them at all times but didn’t want to feel like they were lugging one around. Small enough to slip into a shirt pocket, the PowerShot A5 was one of Canon’s first truly compact digital shooters and paired a durable metal body with an 0.81MP sensor, a motorized retractable lens assembly, and an 8MB compact flash card, with a $700 price tag. It was probably the first digital camera your parents or older relatives owned and eagerly whipped out at parties and other family gatherings.
