Four back-to-school cameras from the reasonable to the ridiculous

In this all-new product review shootout, we put four products to the test. Read on to learn how Digital Blue 732 Disney Pix Micro Pirates III Digital Camera from Prime Entertainment, Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom from Canon, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III 21.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) from Canon, and Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder 60 Minutes (Black) from Pure Digital Technologies Inc. stand up to our editorial review.

Digital Blue 732 Disney Pix Micro Pirates III Digital Camera

This is the perfect camera to hook on your back pack or bag and go. Be ready to take pictures any time. Photos are easily downloaded into your computer. Get creative with Disney Pix photo editing software! You're picture perfect and now your photos can be too! Disney Pix photo editing software lets you create awesome photos and graphics. You can even customize your photos with Disney characters stamps frames and more.

Connected Photographer's evaluation

You'll look like a dork and your pictures will will be pretty crappy as well. But we've seen this thing for as low as $17, so it's probably your cheapest path to something resembling a digital camera. Should you buy it? Probably not. But if you're on an incredibly low budget, this is something of a substitute. Honestly, we'd recommend you just get a free-with-service camera phone. It'll take better pictures and it won't look like Mommy bought you your first camera.

Digital Blue 732 Disney Pix Micro Pirates III Digital Camera, produced by Prime Entertainment, has a retail price of $19.99. We give Digital Blue 732 Disney Pix Micro Pirates III Digital Camera a rating of 2 out of 5.

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

The PowerShot A590 IS will astound you with its power-packed performance and impressive value. It's got 8 megapixels a 4x optical zoom, an Optical Image Stabilizer, and a large 2.5-inch LCD. A range of shooting modes -- from manual to automatic including Canon's new Easy Mode -- make picture-taking carefree. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Enhanced Canon Face Detection assures natural-looking results while Motion Detection Technology reduces blur. For added creativity, attach wide or telephoto converter lenses.

Connected Photographer's evaluation

This is a nice middle-of-the-road camera that'll suit virtually any student. We've seen it as low as $150, so it's also reasonably affordable. It's a good choice for most back-to-schoolers.

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom, produced by Canon, has a retail price of $179.99. We give Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom a rating of 4 out of 5.