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Canon PowerShot A470 (Gray)

Manufacturer: Canon USA Part number: 2503B001

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Compare with most popular

$87.95 - $119.99 at 6 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

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

Bottom Line:: For the money, you'd have a hard time finding a better snapshot camera.
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*Total price for the Canon PowerShot A470 (Gray) 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 A470 (Gray)

price range: $87.95 - $119.99

Reviewed by: Will Greenwald
Reviewed on: 03/19/2008

The good: Inexpensive; fast performance.

The bad: Noisy pictures; chunky design.

The bottom line: For the money, you'd have a hard time finding a better snapshot camera.

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You don't need to pay a lot to get a pretty good digital camera. Solid budget models are becoming less expensive and offering better performance every year. The Canon PowerShot A470 is one of the best examples of this trend. With a price tag less than $150, it produces surprisingly good pictures. It isn't the prettiest camera available and it doesn't have any flashy features, but for the price, it's hard to beat.

Canon tries to give the A470 a much-needed injection of style by offering four color choices: gray, blue, red, and orange. Unfortunately, colorful accents can't hide the camera's chunky, unattractive design. It feels like a king-size candy bar, measuring almost 4 inches long, 2 inches thick, and more than an inch and a half wide. At 7.6 ounces with an SD card and two AA batteries, it also weighs in as one of the heftiest budget cameras available. The lens and LCD screen both jut out uselessly from the body, giving it a bumpy, uneven feel. Compared with the huge selection of budget point-and-shoots on the market measuring just an inch thick or less, the A470 is downright huge. On the bright side, the camera's large body makes it easy to grip and hold, and its wide design leaves room for large, simple controls that even bigger thumbs can comfortably manipulate.

A barebones feature set accompanies the A470's barebones price tag. The camera's 38-to-132mm-equivalent, f/3.0-5.8 lens offers a slightly longer than usual reach, but offers a narrower field of view than most snapshot cameras' 35mm-equivalent-or-wider lenses. A 2.5-inch, 115,000-pixel screen is the only method of framing your shot, and can be difficult to use on sunny days. You won't find a lot of controls on the A470, but adjustable ISO, exposure controls, and manual white-balance settings offer some flexibility when shooting. It features the standard handful of scene preset modes, plus a movie mode that can record QVGA (320x240) movies at 30 frames per second, or VGA (640x480) movies at a slower-than-usual 20fps. Finally, the A470 includes face-detecting autofocus and autoexposure, an increasingly popular feature that's still a bit surprising to find on such an inexpensive model.

Despite a very slow flash, the A470 proved to be a surprisingly fast shot. In our lab tests, the camera took 2.1 seconds from power-on to first shot, and could capture a new picture every 1.4 seconds after with the flash disabled. With the onboard flash turned on, however, that wait exploded to 5 seconds. With our high-contrast (bright light) target, the camera's shutter lagged a respectable 0.5 second, and with our low-contrast (low-light) target, the shutter lagged a truly remarkable 0.9 second. Most cameras, especially budget models, tend to lag over a second when shooting subjects in low light. Between the low shutter lag and long flash recycle time, the A470 proves bittersweet in low light. While it can snap a shot very quickly at first, you'll be waiting a while before it can fire the flash again. Finally, the A470's continuous shooting mode captured 30 7-megapixel shots in 33 seconds for a rate of 0.9 frame per second.

Noise mars the A470's otherwise very nice pictures. Grain starts to appear at ISO 200, and becomes quite noticeable at ISO 400. From ISO 800 to the camera's maximum sensitivity of ISO 1,600, fuzz saturates the picture, giving everything a felt-like texture. Besides the noise, however, the camera's pictures look good. Fine details appear crisp and clear, especially for a sub-$150 camera. Minor barrel distortion appears on the edges of pictures at the widest lens position, but it doesn't seriously hurt picture quality. Colors look generally neutral, though they sometimes appear slightly cooler than usual. If you keep sensitivity low, the A470 will produce good-looking prints. Even at higher ISO settings, pictures look clear enough to e-mail or post to the Web.

For the money, the Canon PowerShot A470 is a great digital camera. The chunky, sub-$150 shooter doesn't have many bells or whistles, but it shoots quickly in brighter light and produces very nice-looking pictures. It doesn't work very well in low light, but that's a flaw shared by most snapshot cameras in general. If you want to spend as little cash as possible for a decent camera, the PowerShot A470 is one of the best choices currently available.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55

1.4

1.3

0.5

Canon PowerShot A470

1.4

2.1

0.5

Canon PowerShot SD1000

1.5

0.5

Samsung S850

2.1

0.5

Fujifilm FinePix F40fd

2.5

1.1

0.5

Typical continuous-shooting speed (frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Canon PowerShot SD1000

1.7

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55

1.4

Samsung S850

Canon PowerShot A470

0.9

Fujifilm FinePix F40fd

0.5

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Canon USA
Part number: 2503B001
Description: Sleek and sensational, the PowerShot A470 comes in four eye-catching colors that will get you noticed. Plus, it's got everything you need to make shooting fast and fun. There's the 7.1-megapixel resolution, a 3.4x optical zoom Lens, a large 2.5-inch LCD and a full range of performance features including enhanced Face Detection technology and a DIGIC III Image Processor to keep every image looking its best. Vertical Shooting has never been easier - just press the Print/Share button. It's that simple!

General
Product Type Digital camera - Compact
Width 4.1 in
Depth 1.6 in
Height 2.2 in
Weight 5.8 oz
Enclosure Color Gray
Main Features
Resolution 7.1 megapixels
Color Support Color
Optical Sensor Type CCD
Total Pixels 7,400,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 7,100,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size 1/2.5 in
Light Sensitivity ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO auto
Digital Zoom 4 x
Shooting Modes Frame movie mode
Shooting Programs Snow, Beach, Macro, Indoor, Sunset, Foliage, Aquarium, Fireworks, Kids & pets, Portrait mode, Night snapshot
Special Effects Sepia, Vivid, Neutral, Black & White
Max Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 15 sec
Exposure Metering Spot, Evaluative, Center-weighted
Exposure Modes Program, Automatic
Exposure Compensation ?2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
Face Detection Yes
White Balance Custom, Presets, Automatic
White Balance Presets Cloudy, Daylight, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (warm white)
Digital Video Format AVI
Still Image Format JPEG
Continuous Shooting Speed 1.9 frames per second
TV Tuner None
Video Capture AVI - 640 x 480 - 22 sec - With 32MB built-in memory, AVI - 640 x 480 - 45 sec - With 32MB built-in memory, AVI - 320 x 240 - 43 sec - With 32MB built-in memory, AVI - 160 x 120 - 210 sec - With 32MB built-in memory
Memory / Storage
Flash Memory 32 MB Flash - SD Memory Card
Supported Flash Memory MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
Floppy Drive None
Digital Storage Media None
Image Storage Super-fine JPEG 3072 x 2304 : 9 - With 32MB card - 3 MB, Fine JPEG 3072 x 2304 : 15 - With 32MB card - 1.9 MB, Normal JPEG 3072 x 2304 : 32 - With 32MB card - 902 KB, Super-fine JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 11 - With 32MB card - 2.5 MB, Fine JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 20 - With 32MB card - 1.4 MB, Normal JPEG 2592 x 1944 : 41 - With 32MB card - 695 KB, Super-fine JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 18 - With 32MB card - 1.6 MB, Fine JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 32 - With 32MB card - 893 KB, Normal JPEG 2048 x 1536 : 64 - With 32MB card - 445 KB, Super-fine JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 29 - With 32MB card - 1 MB, Fine JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 52 - With 32MB card - 558 KB, Normal JPEG 1600 x 1200 : 99 - With 32MB card - 278 KB, Super-fine JPEG 640 x 480 : 111 - With 32MB card - 249 KB, Fine JPEG 640 x 480 : 171 - With 32MB card - 150 KB, Normal JPEG 640 x 480 : 270 - With 32MB card - 84 KB, Super-fine JPEG 3072 x 1728 : 12 - With 32MB card - 2.3 MB, Fine JPEG 3072 x 1728 : 20 - With 32MB card - 1.4 MB, Normal JPEG 3072 x 1728 : 42 - With 32MB card - 678 KB
Camera Flash
Camera Flash Built-in flash
Flash Modes Auto mode, Fill-in mode, Slow synchro, Flash OFF mode, Red-eye reduction
Red Eye Reduction Yes
Effective Flash Range 1 ft - 10 ft
Features AF illuminator
Lens System
Type Zoom lens - 6.3 mm - 21.6 mm - F/3.0-5.8
Focal Length 6.3 mm - 21.6 mm
Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 38 - 132 mm
Focus Adjustment Automatic
Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
Min Focus Range 18.5 in
Macro Focus Range 1cm
Lens Aperture F/3.0-5.8
Optical Zoom 3.4 x
Zoom Adjustment Motorized drive
Lens Construction 6 group(s) / 7 element(s)
Lens Manufacturer Canon
Features Aspherical lens, Built-in lens shield
Additional Features
Self Timer Yes
Self Timer Delay 2 sec, 10 sec
Additional Features DPOF support, Direct print, Face detection, Audio recording, Date/time stamp, Built-in speaker, Histogram display, Resizing an image, PictBridge support, USB 2.0 compatibility, Digital image rotation, Digital noise reduction, RGB primary color filter, In-camera red-eye removal, Camera orientation detection
Viewfinder
Viewfinder Type None
Viewfinder Color Support Color
Display
Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5 in - Color
Display Form Factor Built-in
Display Format 115,000 pixels
Digital Player (Recorder)
Type None

Microphone
Type Microphone - Built-in
Connections
Connector Type 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video/audio output
Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Software
Software Canon PhotoStitch, Canon ImageBrowser, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ZoomBrowser EX
System Requirements for PC Connection
Operating System Support MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000, MS Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X 10.3.x - 10.4.x
Peripheral Devices USB port, CD-ROM drive
Miscellaneous
Carrying Case None
Windows Vista Readiness Certified for Windows Vista
Included Accessories Wrist strap
Cables Included 1, 1 x USB cable, A/V cable
Power
Power Device None
Battery
Supported Battery AA
Supported Battery 2 x AA Alkaline battery ( Included ), 2 x AA NiMH rechargeable battery
Environmental Parameters
Min Operating Temperature 32 ?F
Max Operating Temperature 104 ?F
Humidity Range Operating 10 - 90%

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Canon PowerShot A470 (Gray)

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Specifications

General

Main Features

Memory / Storage

Camera Flash

Lens System

Additional Features

Viewfinder

Display

Digital Player (Recorder)

Microphone

Connections

Software

System Requirements for PC Connection

Miscellaneous

Power

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Environmental Parameters

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