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April 21, 2008

Canon PowerShot A470 review

The Canon PowerShot A470 is a good no-frills digital camera at a rock-bottom price.

Children love taking pictures just as much as those of us who should know better, so for many people it's important to buy a camera that works for kids as well as it does for proper grown ups. The Canon PowerShot A470 fits the bill.

The 7.1Mp Canon PowerShot A470 is inexpensive (£75 inc VAT), so you don't have to worry about the damage a toddler might do to it. And you don't have to trade image quality for price; in our lab tests, the Canon PowerShot A470 performed as well as several far more expensive cameras.

Still, there are some trade-offs to this bargain camera. The Canon PowerShot A470's battery life was only fair in our lab tests, and it lacks image stabilisation, which means you'll need a steady hand or a tripod to prevent photos from looking blurry.

The Canon PowerShot A470's optical zoom tops out at 3.4X, but even working with that limited range we managed to capture some great playground shots during our testing. The Canon PowerShot A470 also lacks any manual focus settings, although you do get 14 shooting modes - plenty to keep a casual photographer entertained.

The 2.5in LCD screen on the PowerShot A470 has no viewfinder, so you have to rely on the LCD screen, which tends to get washed out in outdoor light. And unlike other cameras in the same price range, this Canon PowerShot A470 is too big to fit into an adult's jeans pocket (to say nothing of a toddler's).

On a more positive note, the Canon PowerShot A470's shutter speed is excellent - we never missed a shot while waiting for the camera to respond after clicking the button.

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User reviews from Reevoo.com

Canon PowerShot A470 scores 8.9 out of 10 based on 79 reviews

Reevoo reviews are by people who definitely bought the product

The 2 most helpful reviews:

30 Sep 2008 Paula, Sevenoaks Kent

Good Points

I bought this camera for my elderly, non-technical parents for Christmas having seen a review that claimed it was one of the simplest cameras to use. I had to choose a camera that was very simple, inexpensive and would be of use to someone without a PC. The good points are that you can just switch it on, zoom and press the button. Also excellent is the easy to use AV-out function that enables them to view the photos on their TV as they do not have a PC. Another benefit is that it is Pictbridge and my parents have a Pictbridge compatible printer so they can print out the occasional photo - this is lesson two for them, we have to learn just a little bit at a time. The camera writes to SD - a very convenient and now inexpensive industry standard format. My mum was reluctant to use it on Christmas Day but, by the afternoon, she was merrily snapping away and I just received a message from her on Boxing Day to say she was going to take some photos as it was such a sunny day today! Playback mode on the LCD and TV was easy and logical - as was frame deletion. In fact, we did not need to read any instructions at all, it was so obvious, the icons were obvious, i.e. zoom, flash etc. Some may say that the camera is unattractive but it is perfect for kids and elderly people as it is simplicity itself to hold and operate. Canon cameras have a good reputation and this is well founded with this camera - well thought out.

Bad Points

Both my parents are arthritic and removing the battery cover and also the flap to expose the AV-out and other ports proved very difficult for them. The camera has a rather cheap plastic feel about it. As is the case with most equipment these days, all the writing and icons on the camera are so small my parents could not see them properly. The ideal would be to make the whole camera bigger with bolder icons.

29 Apr 2008 Sally, Portsmouth

Good Points

The camera is stylish and easy to use. It features a number of different modes for different scenery and settings. The screen is large and therefore easy to focus on what you are taking.