Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PowerShot A460 Digital Camera - Blue (5.0MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 2.0 " LCD

Bought this new model as my first digital camera and boy, am I impressed, this is an excellent camera! It comes in a range of colours (red, blue or silver) and the pack includes AA batteries, wrist strap, memory card (only 16MB - I recommend you purchase a 1Gb card as you'll want to take loads of pics & video clips with this), cable to connect to the tv, camera to computer USB cable, basic camera user guide, advanced camera user guide + software to edit your photos from your computer. Digital cameras use alot of power so I recommend you invest in a battery charger & rechargeable AA batteries for this camera. The new A460 camera (replacing the previous A430)has a 2 inch LCD screen, 5MP, 4x optical zoom & movies with sound. Images are excellent, even in low light using the auto flash (which you can override). Colours, contrast, detailed pictures are all superb. Focusing is extremely quick and accurate with a green square(s) appearing on the LCD screen to show you what is being focused on before the picture is taken. You can use the Auto mode if you prefer for the camera to automatically select settings and just point and shoot or there are loads of manual settings you can select and play around with for those who are more adventurous. The software supplied is very easy to use and its amazing how you can edit your photos. A great site for printing your photos is PhotoBox - as a new customer and applying via Amazon I got 90 free prints! I researched many different camera review sites before deciding on this camera (camera.co.uk is an excellent site - although the existing review is on the previous Canon A430). This is an excellent camera at a great price, I'm 100% happy with my new toy - highly recommended!

I stood on the summit of Everest on 22nd May 2007 with this camera and never had a problem with it on my 65 day expedition. I took 1300 photos on 2 gig card with ONE set of lithium AA's! Photos are great colour and pin sharp.
Forget other cameras with rechargable Batts, this one takes AA's and you can get them anywhere. Good value, good quality, good looking. Cant recommend it enough :)

this camera is fantastic, its gorgeous(blue) and great quality and it takes brilliant pictures. lovely and easy to use.
but one bad point in my opinion is that it doesnt come with a case ????
i was astonished, but there is one on here to buy for about £12, so you can get one, but shouldnt it come with ? .
i cant recommend this camera highly enough, just remember to buy the case at the same time.

I know nothing about cameras so read the reviews on various ones and settled on this Canon 460. It's idiot proof and I'm getting the best photos ever from it. Friends and family can't believe the photos are so good and the camera didn't cost me hundreds of pounds. It's certainly the best buy I've ever made, together with the Canon Selphy photo printer - ideal for someone who wants their photos straight away. I've never owned a digital camera before and I'm over the moon with it.

OK, so let me start in its defence. I bought this camera to replace a camera which died, but originally cost over 4 times that of the Canon, but I don't have the funds to replace like for like. What can you expect for sixty quid ?

It's a dinky little camera, light and I like the design. I went for the blue one, because other reviewers on here said the red was definitely pink in real life. I found the battery / memory card flap a bit fiddly to open at first and I had to mess around with the seating of it when closed, to get the cam to switch on. Even without reading the manual, it was pretty easy to work, but I do highly recommend you familiarise yourself with the features and menus, to get the best from the camera.

To begin with, I just pointed and photographed anything. First couple of pics came out blurred. First constructive observation: Indoors, the cam can be a bit slow to focus and actually take the picture, which could lead to a bit of camera shake (like what happened to me).

As I'd not set up the picture resolution, it was set at its highest from the factory. I got about 6 pictures before the 16Mb card supplied was full. I'd ordered separately, a 2 Gb card, which I have now put in the camera. I suggest anyone considering purchase of this item, does the same with the biggest capacity card they can afford.

I did a couple of pics of some pastel coloured socks (to see how it handles pale colours under flash conditions). They were about 5 feet away and the reproduction of the colour was excellent. I did the same pic on the high, medium and 640 x 480 settings. When taken up to full size on my PC screen, the high and medium settings were knockout, the fibres of the cotton were detailed and sharp.

I then took a picture of a large plant in my living room, which stands in front of a picture. The result was lifeless and flat. My second objective criticism of this camera is: The flash is too weak. I am sure there are compensations to be made using the various menus, but if you were at a party or like me just want to point and shoot, this could be a letdown long term, when you don't have time to set up your shot.

I read in other reviews people saying battery life was poor. Well, all the shots I've done have been with the batts that came with the item and using flash and they are still OK. Of course, you should never judge the batteries that come in the box. They are intended for demo purposes only. Use good alkalines or at least 170 m/Ah rechargables. I've yet to use the camera outdoors, but before buying, I logged into Flickr (www.flickr.com) and on that site, you can find a camera by model and pull up people's pictures taken with that model. Some nice results can be seen. Like most digital cameras, the Canon seems to be "light hungry" and in this case the flash lets it down poorly. I have no reservations that outdoors it will perform admirably.

I did one macro picture - Top notch, especially for a camera of this price. So, all in all, only the flash prevented me giving this camera 5*

Would I recommend it ? For kids and impatient people like me, probably not, because I think you'd get more blurs than pictures. For someone who is prepared to learn how this camera thinks and adapt their behaviour to meet it, then yes and as a holiday camera - Definitely. KP