Canon Powershot A480 Review

Here you can see the typical record mode screens. Pressing the DISP. button changes the amount of information on the screen.

The mode dial has been replaced with a mode button. Pressing the button allows you to scroll through the shooting modes, or you can select them via the switch shooting modes icon in the camera menu.

When you half-press the shutter release it starts the autofocus process and if it locks you'll see the AF targets turn green. If focus fails, they will turn red and flash on the screen (not shown.) The 'lightning bolt' icon indicates the flash is charged and ready to fire.

Pressing the 4-way controller Up, Down, Left or Right allows you to quickly change settings for Macro focus mode, Flash mode, Self-timer, and ISO sensitivity.

You can access a variety of Scene modes by selecting the SCN shooting mode. Here you are provided with a choice of 18 different shooting modes, each designed for a specific shooting situation. Scene Modes (1. Portrait, 2. Night Snapshot, 3. Kids & Pets, 4. Indoor, 5. Sunset, 6. Fireworks, 7. Long Shutter, 8. Beach, 9. Aquarium, 10. Foliage, 11. Snow, 12. Super Macro)

Pressing the OK/FUNC. button will bring up the menu of options shown above.

FUNC. Menu Options:

Exposure Compensation - �2 in steps of 1/3
White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom
My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black and White, Custom
Metering - Evaluative, Center or Spot
Drive Mode - Single or Continuous
Quality - Fine, Normal Image Size - 10 megapixel, 6 megapixel (M1), 4 megapixel (M2), 2 megapixel (M3),
VGA (640x480), Date Stamp (2 megapixel), Widescreen (3648x2048)

Camera Menu Options

AF Frame - Center, Face AiAF
A Frame Size - Normal, Small
Digital Zoom - Standard, Off,1.4x, 2.3x
AF-Point Zoom - On or Off
AF-Assist Beam - On or Off
Flash Settings - Red Eye Correction, Red Eye Lamp
Shooting Info - Off or On
Review - Off, 2-10 second, Hold
Review Info - Off, Detailed, Focus Check
Display Overlay - Off, Grid Lines, 3:2 guide, Both

Press the 4-way selector 'left' to enable Macro focus mode and take close up shots at a range of 1.2 inches to 1.6 feet (3 to 50cm) wide.

When using the Standard Movie mode, you can capture video clips at either 640x480 30fps (or LP) or 320x240 30fps. The optical zoom may not be used during recording, but can be preset before hand. Movie clips are recorded in Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.

Both the video and audio portion of movies can be replayed on the camera thanks to the built-in speaker. Full audio-video playback is also possible when connected to a TV monitor or a compatible PC after downloading.

Function Menu Options

White Balance - Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H,
Custom
My Colors - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, B&W, Custom
Video Size - 640x480 30fps, 640x480 30fps LP, 320x240 30fps

Camera Menu Options

Digital Zoom - Off, Standard
AF-assist Beam - On or Off
Shooting Info - On or Off
Disp. Overlay - Off, Grid Lines