Canon PowerShot A460 compact camera

Cheap and cheerful

By Rob Thomas • Get more from this author

19th December 2007 13:27 GMT

Page:

Movie recording offers three modes, with 640 x 480 (VGA) at 10f/s being the default setting – and highest resolution. ISO speed ranges from 80 to 400, and the shutter speed goes from 15-1/2000th second. Picture resolution ranges from 2952 x 1944 pixels to VGA, and there’s also a wide mode (2592 x 1456) for printing onto wide paper.

Simple to use

The relative dearth of features means that the A460 is very simple to use. Just open the (fiddly) battery/memory card cover, insert batteries and card and you’re ready to go. Power-up isn’t bad in terms of speed and it’s very easy to find your way around the controls. Switching from still to movie mode or to a particular scene mode didn’t involve navigating endless menus or sub-menus - a good thing in our book. Our main gripes are the zoom control, which is not as convenient to use as a conventional rocker, and the slow flash power-up - it took around half a dozen seconds, a drag obviously due to the AA batteries.

Sample shots

This predominately white scene exposes some picture noise, otherwise the A460 performed well shooting a brightly lit scene
Click for full-size version

Twilight without Night Snapshot taken at dusk at ISO 250 and shutter speed 1/60 sec
Click for full-size version

The same scene shot at the same time, only this time with the Night Snapshot mode on. The ISO remains the same, but the shutter speed is slowed to 1/8th sec
Click for full-size version