Canon PowerShot A460

Manufacturer: Canon USA Part number: 1778B001

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$94.22 - $95.95 at 2 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
2.5 stars Average
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 11 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: With heavy image noise and merely decent performance, there are better budget cameras available than the Canon PowerShot A460.

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*Total price for the Canon PowerShot A460 are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

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CNET editors' review

Canon PowerShot A460

price range: $94.22 - $95.95

Reviewed by: Will Greenwald
Edited by: Philip Ryan
Reviewed on: 02/14/2007

The good: 4x zoom lens; optical viewfinder.

The bad: Very noisy images; awkward zoom rocker; no 30fps VGA movie mode.

The bottom line: With heavy image noise and merely decent performance, there are better budget cameras available than the Canon PowerShot A460.

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Budget cameras are everywhere these days. Plenty of snapshot cameras cost less than $200, and you can even find some for around $150. The Canon PowerShot A460 is in that second category of inexpensive shooters. This basic, 5-megapixel camera comes in at the very low end of Canon's PowerShot A-series of digital cameras. On paper, it looks like your average budget camera. Unfortunately, a lackluster design in addition to image-quality issues make it feel like Canon phoned this one in.

The chunky, brick-shaped A460 weighs 7.4 ounces with batteries and memory card, and at 1.6 inches thick, it's a bit too fat to fit in your jeans. The minimalist control layout consists of four buttons and a zoom rocker integrated into a menu-navigating joy pad. This is an irritating design, and large thumbs will be prone to accidentally bumping the zoom in or out, or changing settings such as flash when using the zoom.

As a budget shooter, the A460 fails to really stand out of the crowd. Its most notable aspect is its 38mm-to-152mm-equivalent 4x lens, slightly more powerful than the 3x lenses found on most snapshot cameras. Its 2-inch LCD, however, is just a bit smaller than the norm. Fortunately, the small screen leaves enough room for an optical viewfinder, offering greater flexibility when framing shots. Besides those features, the A460 has the standard compliment of scene modes and presets, though its movie mode is limited to either VGA resolution at 10 frames per second or QVGA (320x240) at 30fps. Most cameras have a 30fps VGA movie mode, making this a disappointing omission for users who want to shoot videos with their camera.

The Canon PowerShot A460's performance was acceptable, but not great. After the camera took 1.7-seconds to start up and capture its first image, we could take an additional photo every 1.5 seconds. With the flash enabled, however, that time quadrupled to a full 6 seconds between shots. Shutter lag was a decent 0.5 second in bright light, though it increased to 1.2 seconds in dim light. We shot 47 full-resolution images in 31 seconds for a rate of 1.5fps. This would be a decent score for a 6- or 7-megapixel camera, but we expected a bit faster rate for a mere 5-megapixel shooter.

For a camera with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 400, the A460's images were awfully noisy. We saw at least some grain on almost every test shot. Our ISO 100 test image looked like it was taken at ISO 200 on almost any other camera, our ISO 200 test image could have been taken at ISO 400, and our ISO 400 test image resembled one taken at ISO 800.

Image quality was otherwise decent. The automatic white balance produced a drastic yellow cast under our lab's tungsten lights, though the tungsten preset proved very neutral, even more so than the manual white balance. We also noticed some purple fringing around bright highlights, and while the images weren't the sharpest we've ever seen, they were on a par in that respect with other cameras in this price range.

The Canon PowerShot A460 would have been a good camera a few years ago, but these days it just doesn't cut it. With only 5-megapixel resolution and horrible image noise, we can't easily recommend this camera. Even among sub-$150 cameras, there are better choices out there.

Canon PowerShot A460 shooting speed
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35

1.4

0.4

Canon PowerShot A460

1.5

1.7

0.5

Canon PowerShot A430

1.8

1.9

0.7

Fujifilm FinePix F650

1.7

1.9

0.7

Note: In seconds.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 11 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 11

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8 stars

Excellent inexpensive automatic camera

by LannyM on March 2, 2008

Pros: Easy to use, Autofocus, Manuals in 2 languages,

Cons: a little hard to see the LCD in very bright sunlight

Summary: We bought one of these four (4) months ago and we love it! We bought a 2 GB SD memory and rechargable batteries for it. There are manuals for English ...

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Summary: We bought one of these four (4) months ago and we love it! We bought a 2 GB SD memory and rechargable batteries for it. There are manuals for English and manuals for Spanish. The quality of the photos we are getting speaks extremely well for the automatic focusing and the lens quality of this basic, inexpensive camera. We would buy this camera again, without considering other makes or models! Yesterday, I took 97 photos, mostly in very bright sun and the results are excellent. The camera is recognized, immediately, in the Linux Operating System. It's also recognized in MS Windows XP, without needing to install Software from Canon.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great for the average person!

by ferretmom113 on October 3, 2007

Pros: Takes great photos, easy to use

Cons: Can be hard to change settings if you aren't familiar with it.

Summary: The "experts" are obviously more technologically advanced than most. They wouldn't be able to appreciate a camera that doesn't take photos, have movies with sound, make coffe for ...

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Summary: The "experts" are obviously more technologically advanced than most. They wouldn't be able to appreciate a camera that doesn't take photos, have movies with sound, make coffe for you, play MP3, and still fit into a lipstick tube. For average people such as myself, this camera is a great buy, it is a bargain, and while it may have image "noise", I still think it takes great photos and if you want a camera for taking photos and not one that plays MP3, has 2000 dollars worth of bells and whistles and you aren't afraid it will get stolen if you take it out in public, this one certainly tops the list!

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Product defective -- Canon failed to fix it twice

by ae_lucas on December 14, 2007

Pros: A decent point and shoot camera for every day things

Cons: May arrive defective, and Canon won't help you if it does

Summary: Product arrived with a pixel stuck red. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until I went to the desert and took some pictures of cloud formations and it was past return ...

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Summary: Product arrived with a pixel stuck red. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until I went to the desert and took some pictures of cloud formations and it was past return policy. Sent in for repair. They replaced the sensor and it came back with a different pixel stuck blue. Sent in again, the exact same pixel still stuck blue. Broken from factory, 2 repairs, and still have not taken a picture that does not have defects. I called Canon to get a remedy and I will apparently be just sending it back in and hoping the third attempt at repair will work while the other attempts did not. I would not recommend buying this unless you want to photoshop pixels out of your photos and deal with some guy named Jermaine from Canon who insists he does not have a Supervisor.

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9 stars

Perfect for the non-pro

by moonchild111 on October 29, 2007

Pros: Excellent price, Easy to use.

Cons: 5 megapixels (still better than a phone camera by far)

Summary: MAN! The "pros" are harsh on our little A460, dont'cha think? 5.8?! I have no clue what you would do with more options than what this comes with. ...

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Summary: MAN! The "pros" are harsh on our little A460, dont'cha think? 5.8?! I have no clue what you would do with more options than what this comes with. I'm not going on a America's Next Top Model as a photog. Set it to "auto" and away you go, point, click, download, nice pictures! What the heck else could you want??

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9 stars

Want a camera to do what cameras are for? Taking Pictures! Well this is the best one for you!!

by cheetahgal11 on September 20, 2007

Pros: Clear pictures

Cons: Too cheap! and you will need to buy a bigger memory card!

Summary: I love this camera! I got one today. All I want to do is take nice pictures and put them on my computer. And I can do that with this ...

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Summary: I love this camera! I got one today. All I want to do is take nice pictures and put them on my computer. And I can do that with this camera! Very cheap! I bought mine in Brisbane in a shop for $149

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8 stars

Good Camera with the Basics

by rarichie on July 17, 2007

Pros: Good image quality, Optical zoom, Form Factor, Price

Cons: kinda: no ISO 800

Summary: I bought this camera for my wife. It has produced great images in Oregon wine country and Mt. St. Helens, places with little and large image contrast shots, and on ...

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Summary: I bought this camera for my wife. It has produced great images in Oregon wine country and Mt. St. Helens, places with little and large image contrast shots, and on a 2GB card 150X speed ($21-ecost) will hold 1400 images on High Res (always buy a card with speed first then get the most capacity for your $$). She wanted an accessible camera and she got one and fits in her purse. She has not read the manual and with minimal direction she was off and running. SD format is a common reader built in to many laptops. Finally it is not a DSLR and it does not cost $300 (like pricier D-point and shoots) it is $100 so for what you paid it performs quite well. It has nice optical range(4x or upto 156mm-ish), and manual controls of pricier cameras, but does not have iso 800(this was a wish for $100). My Canon DSLRs are much better but they are bigger and way more expensive, this camera serves a great role. Buy one for your significant other, it won't break the bank and they will be more than satisfied.

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9 stars

Best budget camera

by ccroke on July 16, 2007

Pros: Excellent Photos! What are the editors thinking?

Cons: Poor location for ON/OFF button

Summary: Do your research. As a previous owner of an A60, I wanted to buy something that took great pictures and would not cost a ton of money. The 200+ pictures ...

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Summary: Do your research. As a previous owner of an A60, I wanted to buy something that took great pictures and would not cost a ton of money. The 200+ pictures I have taken to date, prove I spent my money wisely. The pictures are great. I am so happy with the colors and crispness of the photos. I see a lot of reviews that are focused on bells and whistles. I do not use this camera for video. I use my Elura for that. If one of my kids breaks this on me, I won't be upset. At 100+ dollars, it performs better than more expensive cameras I have seen photos from. Buy rechargeable AA batteries and you are good to go. The ON/OFF switch is lousy. I kept on turning the camera off from time to time when taking photos. It's not as small as others, but it's weight and size proves to be more comfortable to the user in the long run. Smaller ones in this price range feel cheap. The 4X zoom kicks as well. Best bang for the buck hands down!

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9 stars

Great basic camera, does everything I need

by mikepier on June 13, 2007

Pros: Great images, compact design, price,

Cons: awkward button locations

Summary: I previously owned a Canon A510 3.2 megapixel digital camera for about 2 years, but after making too many trips to the floor, it finally died on me, so ...

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Summary: I previously owned a Canon A510 3.2 megapixel digital camera for about 2 years, but after making too many trips to the floor, it finally died on me, so it was time to get a new one. My old camera had so many extra features in it that I never used, so I was looking for a basic camera without the extra features at a good price. I came across the A460. This camera does it all. It produces great images, has a movie mode, and is a little smaller than my old A510. I picked it up for $119 at Amazon.
There are only 2 minor quirks on this camera. The zoom control button is shared with the menu button on the back of the camera as opposed to having a dedicated zoom button like my old A510. Also the power button and shutter button are too close to each other so that if you go to take a picture, you might accidentally shut off the camera. But these are minor quirks that I got used to quickly and are no longer issues.
Bottom line is this is a great camera at a great price. It does just about everything my old camera did. I don't know how this camera scored a 5.8 on Cnet's rating.

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9 stars

5.8???????????

by jimsi777 on May 31, 2007

Pros: Great small budget camera with a nice feel

Cons: Slow recovery between shots.

Summary: This is the perfect camera for the average person, this is a sturdy camera for the price as well, a good feel, not too small where youll lose it....pay ...

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Summary: This is the perfect camera for the average person, this is a sturdy camera for the price as well, a good feel, not too small where youll lose it....pay the little money, you'll be glad you did and its great for the internet picture sharing and web site builds.
Updated
its video 320x240 is perfect for posting on YouTube and Myspace video Sites...and the video doesnt run out in a few seconds and with a nice sized 2 gig card, it will fill it all up and no be limited to 15 seconds like older cameras and it offers...30f/s 320x240, 10f/s 640x480...cool indeed

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8 stars

I LOVE my camera

by kkkardee on May 11, 2007

Pros: Cute, nice zoom, nice screen

Cons: time between images

Summary: Soo. Saying its a 5.8 out of 10 is a little harsh. I love my camera. I just bought it on a trip after forgetting my digi at home. ...

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Summary: Soo. Saying its a 5.8 out of 10 is a little harsh. I love my camera. I just bought it on a trip after forgetting my digi at home. Personally, I much prefer this camera to the one I paid 300$ for last year. So what if it's a little chunky, I see people with chunkier camera's all the time. It's skinner than Kodak easy shares, and looks waay better. Now the only disappointment was the time it takes to set up and take another picture. But I can live with that. I went to the drag strip tonight and took multiple videos and they are awesome, the video quality is not as poor as that last reviewer said. I'd deffinately advise someone to buy this camera if they were just using it as a picture taking camera. Its not like you expect to be getting a professional quality camera for 150$. So get one!

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Canon USA
Part number: 1778B001
Description: The stylish PowerShot A460 offers the high-performance features and high-quality design that make great pictures possible even if this is your very first digital camera. Equipped with 5.0 Megapixels of resolution, a 4x optical zoom and many of Canon's most popular shooting features, this is a camera designed to make digital photography simple, fun and rewarding - from the moment you take it out of the box.

General
Product Type Digital camera - Compact
Weight 5.8 oz
Width 4.2 in
Depth 1.6 in
Height 2 in
Available Body Colors Blue, red, silver
Main Features
Resolution 5 megapixels
Sensor resolution 5 megapixels
Optical Sensor Type CCD
Effective Sensor Resolution 5,000,000 pixels
Total Pixels 5,300,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size 1/3 in
Light Sensitivity ISO 200, ISO auto, ISO 400, ISO 80, ISO 100
Digital Zoom 4 x
Shooting Modes Frame movie mode
Shooting Programs Beach, Portrait mode, Macro, Foliage, Kids & pets, Snow, Fireworks, Indoor
Special effects Vivid, Black & White, Sepia, Custom Effect, Neutral
Max Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 15 sec
X-sync Speed 1/500 sec
Exposure Metering Center-weighted, Evaluative, Spot
Exposure Modes Automatic, Program, Manual
Exposure Compensation ?2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
White Balance Custom, Automatic, Presets
White Balance Presets Tungsten light, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Fluorescent light (daylight), Daylight
Digital video format AVI
Still Image Format JPEG
Continuous Shooting Speed 1.5 frames per second
Color support Color
TV Tuner None
Video Capture AVI - 320 x 240 - 22 sec - With 16MB card, AVI - 160 x 120 - 107 sec - With 16MB card, AVI - 640 x 480 - 23 sec - With 16MB card
Memory / Storage
Flash Memory 16 MB Flash
Floppy Drive None
Image Storage Fine JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 10 - With 16MB card, Super-fine JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 5 - With 16MB card, Fine JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 26 - With 16MB card, Super-fine JPEG 640 x 480 : 56 - With 16MB card, Normal JPEG 2592 x 1456 : 28 - With 16MB card, Fine JPEG 640 x 480 : 88 - With 16MB card, Normal JPEG 640 x 480 : 138 - With 16MB card, Normal JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 50 - With 16MB card, Super-fine JPEG 2592 x 1456 : 7 - With 16MB card, Super-fine JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 9 - With 16MB card, Super-fine JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 14 - With 16MB card, Normal JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 33 - With 16MB card, Normal JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 21 - With 16MB card, Fine JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 16 - With 16MB card, Fine JPEG 2592 x 1456 : 14 - With 16MB card
Flash memory 16 MB
Supported Flash Memory MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
Lens System
Type Zoom lens - 5.4 mm - 21.6 mm - F/2.8-5.8
Focal Length 5.4 mm - 21.6 mm
Lens Construction 6 group(s) / 7 element(s)
Additional Features
Self Timer Yes
Self Timer Delay 10 sec, 2 sec
Additional Features AF lock, Direct print, Digital image rotation, DPOF support, Audio recording, Auto power save, Safety zoom, PictBridge support, 16:9 widescreen mode
Camera Flash
Effective Flash Range 1 ft - 10 ft
Type Built-in flash
Flash Modes Flash OFF mode, Fill-in mode, Slow synchro, Auto mode, Red-eye reduction
Red Eye Reduction Yes
Effective flash range 1 ft - 10 ft
Features AF illuminator
Viewfinder
Viewfinder Type Optical - Real-image zoom
Display
Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2 in - Color
Mounting Built-in
Resolution 86,000 pixels
Digital Player (Recorder)
Type None

Microphone
Type Microphone - Built-in
Connections
Connector Type 1 x Composite video/audio output, 1 x USB
Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Lens Systems
Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
Type Zoom lens
Focal length 5.4 mm - 21.6 mm
Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 38 - 152 mm
Focus adjustment Automatic
Auto Focus Points (Zones) 5
Min Focus Range 18.5 in
Macro Focus Range 1-47cm
Lens Aperture F/2.8-5.8
Optical Zoom 4 x
Zoom Adjustment Motorized drive
Lens construction 6 : 7
Features Aspherical lens, Built-in lens shield
Miscellaneous
Carrying Case None
Cables Included USB cable, A/V cable
Included Accessories Wrist strap
Min Operating Temperature 32 ?F
Max Operating Temperature 104 ?F
Power
Power Device None
System Requirements for PC Connection
Operating system MS Windows ME, MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000, Apple Mac OS X 10.2 - 10.4, MS Windows 98 SE
Peripherals USB port, SVGA monitor, CD-ROM drive
Battery
Supported Battery 2 x AA Alkaline battery ( Included )
Software
Type Canon ZoomBrowser EX, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ImageBrowser
CNET Labs' Benchmarks
Labs information All values are expressed in seconds. Please visit our labs information page for information on how digital cameras are tested.
CNET Labs Flash shot to shot time 6.0

Canon PowerShot A460

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Specifications

General

Main Features

Memory / Storage

Lens System

Additional Features

Camera Flash

Viewfinder

Display

Digital Player (Recorder)

Microphone

Connections

Lens Systems

Miscellaneous

Power

System Requirements for PC Connection

Battery

Software

CNET Labs' Benchmarks