Canon Powershot A460 Review

The A460 features a 4X (38-152mm in the 35mm format) f/2.8-5.8 all-glass aspherical zoom lens. When the camera is powered down the lens is retracted inside of the body and a built in shutter closes to completely protect the lens.

An advanced TTL AiAF 9-point autofocus system permits the camera to automatically select the primary subject even when off-center. The focusing range is:

• Normal AF: 47 cm (1.5 ft.) - infinity
• Macro: 5 - 47 cm (W)/25 - 47 cm (T) (2.0 in. - 1.5 ft. (W)/9.8 in. - 1.5 ft. (T))
• Super Macro: 1.5 - 5 cm (W) (0.6 in. - 2.0 in) (W)

In low light conditions the focus-assist lamp helps to illuminate the subject for accurate focusing.

The built in flash offers Auto, On, Off, Red-Eye Reduction On or Auto. The flash range in Normal mode is from 47 cm - 3.0 m (W)/47 cm - 2.0 m (T) (1.5 - 9.8 ft. (W)/1.5 - 6.6 ft. (T)). In Macro mode the coverage is from 30 - 47 cm (1.0 - 1.5 ft.) (W/T). (When ISO speed is set to AUTO.)

Compact and elegantly designed, the optional High-Power Flash HF-DC1 complements your PowerShot perfectly and requires no accessory shoe. With a strong light output (guide number 59 ft.) and wide angular field (28mm), it delivers proper illumination up to approximately 30 feet and in all zoom positions. The flash fires in synchronization with the main flash, and output is adjusted accurately and automatically. A "Manual" mode prevents others from firing your flash.

You can frame your pictures with the color LCD or to save precious battery power you can use the optical finder. This is a coupled viewfinder with approx. 80% to 85% coverage. It has no dioptric adjustment. Next to the finder are two LEDs that indicate the flash and focus status.

The A460 features a 2.0-inch LCD for framing, review and menu operations.

Controls on the back: The Mode Dial with positions for Review, Auto Record, Manual Record, Scene (8 modes) and Movie. The DISPlay button turns the color LCD on/off and controls the amount of data displayed on it. The 4-way controller lets you navigate menus and select images during playback, the FUNC/SET button accepts menu selections, In record mode you press "Up" to zoom the lens to telephoto, press "Down" to zoom to wide angle. Pressing "Right" changes the flash mode, and "Left" enables Macro focus mode. The MENU button calls up and dismisses the menu screens, and the FUNCtion button gives access to the shortcut menu with settings for: Exposure compensation, white balance, ISO, My Colors, image quality and image size. The Print/Share button speeds and simplifies printing to Direct Print and PictBridge compliant printers, as well as transferring images.

On the top you'll find the Built-in speaker, On/Off button and the shutter release.

The Powershot A460 is equipped with a card slot that supports use of SD or MMC cards up to 2GB or SDHC cards up to 4GB, and comes with a 16MB SD. Shown here with a speedy ATP Pro Max 2GB SD card - see the tables below for the approximate storage capacity.

Approx. Storage Capacities

The A460 is powered by two standard AA-type batteries, alkaline, NiMH (nickel metal hydride), or lithium cells. Canon claims with AA Alkaline batteries you can capture approx. 120 shots (LCD on.) With NiMH cells Canon claims approx. 400 shots with the LCD screen on. Battery tests according to CIPA standards.

Check out our NiMH rechargeable battery page for more info on NiMH battery types.