A review of the Canon Powershot A420 digital camera
Trying to find a Christmas present for that awkward mate or teenage niece? Well, look no further as the Canon Powershot A430 will add a bit of excitement to their Christmas day and won’t break the bank for you. It is exceptionally easy to use so they won’t need to spend hours with the user manual, just switch it on and off you go. It is also available in four trendy shades. Design |
| As we said the Canon Powershot A430 is available in four colours, Silver Grey, Gold, Red and Blue and is a great pocket size with dimensions of 103mm (w) x 51.8mm (h) x 40.2mm (d) and a weight of 160g. The front of the camera is very attractive with the colour of your choice (see above) dominating the front with a silver metallic section on the left side and a sleek shiny silver lens. The flash and viewfinder are located just above the lens. On the top there is simply the power button and the shutter release button. As we have found with some other digital cameras the power button is on the far right with the shutter release button a bit further in, so you must be careful not to switch the camera off when taking a shot, as we did. The 1.8” LCD screen is smaller then the average screen and is situated on the left of the rear of the camera with the viewfinder just above it. On the right side are the mode dial, d-panel and other shortcut buttons, such as delete and playback. The button are small and flush with the camera body so can be rather difficult to press and sometimes need to be pressed a couple of times before the camera reacts. |
| Features |
| Quality does not need to be sacrificed with the Canon Powershot A430, as it has 4 mega pixels and 4x optical zoom, which combined with the digital zoom creates magnification of up to 14x. The A430 has a 9-point AiAF so that each part of the image is in focus and not just the main subject. The fine detail of a subject can be captured too, using the camera Super Macro mode you can get as close as 1cm from your subject. There are 15 shooting modes and My Colours is also available on this model so you pick and choose from a range of colour effects for your image either during or after shooting. This is also available for Movies and you can connect the camera to a TV or PC to watch the movie back. |
| Performance |
| We found the menu on the Canon Powershot A430 really simple and very easy to use and proves that this camera is suitable for any level of camera user and if you have never used a digital camera before you could find your way around and understand this menu without a problem. The battery life is not too impressive using the 2 AA batteries that are supplied with the camera as we only managed to squeeze about 85 images out but we would recommend investing in a Ni-MH battery pack that you will be able to get about 350 shots from. The images we took were good considering there are only 4 mega pixels and there was minimal digital noise. They were crisp and sharp and colours were true. We particularly like the Night Display, which makes the LCD screen light up in the dark. |
| What's In The Box? |
| 2x AA batteries, USB lead, AV cable, Camera strap, manual, CD softeware |
| Overall Opinion |
A good digital camera for the beginner as it is very user-friendly and simplicity is displayed throughout the menu. The Canon Powershot A430 is a very affordable and ultra-compact digital camera. |
| By Hayley Malyon |
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Pros + 9-point AiAF + 1cm Super Macro + 4x optical zoom + 4 colours + Very user-friendly |
Cons - Small menu buttons |
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Battery Life 7/10
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Picture Quality 8/10
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Setup Simplicity 10/10
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Build Quality 9/10
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Ease of Use 10/10
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Overall Rating 
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27/11/2006
at 1:00:50pm
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