Canon Powershot A430 Review

The Canon Powershot A430 is a four megapixel digital camera with a four times optical zoom lens. The zoom lens is slightly longer than you will find on a standard digital camera.

This is an entry level model with less functions and features than other cameras in the Canon Powershot range. This makes the Powershot A430 easier to use than the other models.

With its low price it is aimed at people who are looking for a straightforward, no fuss digital camera who are looking to pay a reasonable price rather than spend a small fortune.

The Powershot A430 proves that you do not need to spend lots and lots of money to buy a digital camera capable of taking a good shot. This camera produced a set of test shots that were head and shoulders above those produced by a number of far more expensive cameras. Looking through my test shots there is not a single photo that I would single out as not being up to standard. In fact there are some surprisingly good shots in the set.

Starting off with the outdoor landscape type shots these are very pleasing indeed. The colours, sharpness and the level of detail in each shot are excellent when taking into account the price of the camera. The first outdoor test shot and the third outdoor test shot really stand out against rival cameras in terms of picture sharpness. In the third shot the zoom lens is fully extended and the picture is much sharper then I have become accustomed to seeing recently.

The sharpness of each picture is retained towards the edges. This is an area where other cameras struggle. All in all this is very impressive.

As with other Canon digital cameras the Powershot A430 comes up trumps in the dedicated test for colours. Strong blues are indicative of Canon cameras. Although blues are strong here they are not overpowering and looking back to my outdoor shots the skies have plenty of depth to them without losing their natural feel. Other colours are strong as well.

The outdoor portrait shot is another winner. It has a pleasant warm feel to it. In order to achieve this I used the cloudy white balance setting. The picture was taken on an overcast day and by using this setting the colour tones are boosted giving the picture a much more flattering look.

Moving indoors the indoor portrait is another photo that works well. It is a sharp photo without being absolutely pin sharp. There is only a trace of red eye and this is a big improvement on many of the cameras I tested at the same time. The picture is also well lit.

The second indoor shot is of some beer bottles taken in almost complete darkness. Despite the conditions the camera manages to produce a sharply focused shot. The level of flash the camera fires off is just about right too leading to a bright, but not overexposed photo.

For close up photography the macro shot is surprisingly good. I am especially impressed by the brightness of the shot. Even under good quality lighting a number of digital cameras struggle to avoid adding a bluey colour caste to the shot. Here the watch face looks white as it should do.

The test for high ISO settings comes out pretty much as standard. As with just about any consumer level digital camera shooting at ISO 400 does cause a loss of picture quality. I would describe the photo taken by the Powershot A430 as about average.

I was able to take a single photo in 0.35 seconds and five photos in 10.18 seconds. The time it takes to capture a single image is roughly average. The time it takes to capture five images is a shade longer than average.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The four times optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 39 - 156mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.8 (wide) - f/5.8 (tele). There is also a 3.6x digital zoom feature available. For close up photography the camera can focus from just 1cm away from the subject.

The Powershot A430 is one of the ever decreasing number of digital cameras to offer a viewfinder. There is also a 1.8" LCD monitor. This is made up of around 77,000 pixels. The brightness of the screen can be adjusted. I must admit I found the LCD screen difficult to see on a sunny afternoon. At least you have the viewfinder to fall back on in those circumstances.

The built in flash unit has a range of 3m. This falls to around 2m when the zoom lens is use. This is a fairly restrictive range. You can boost the flash capabilities of the camera by buying Canon's High Power Flash (HF-DC1). The flash modes available to you are Auto, Manual Flash On / Off. Red eye reduction and slow sync speed are available too.

To help you take the best possible photos a number if scene modes are available. These are predefined within the camera. Whenever you use a scene mode you are indicating to the camera the type of photo you will be taking. The camera will then optimise the settings for that type of photo.

For when you would like to appear in a photo there is a self timer mechanism. This can be set to a delay of two or ten seconds. There is also a custom delay. This allows you to set a delay time of your choice of up to thirty seconds and then to reel off up to ten photographs. You can add a short voice memo to a photo after it has been taken. This helps to capture the moment.

To add something different to your photos there are a number of different colour effects you can apply. These are Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film and Custom Color.

Continuous shooting is available. By keeping the shutter button pressed down you can record still photos until the memory card is full. The fastest rate the camera can achieve in this mode is 2.3 frames per second. A stitch assist mode is also available to help you "stitch" together panoramic photos.

Even though this is an entry level digital camera there are still a number of more advanced features available to you. These include ISO speed equivalents (AUTO, 64, 100, 200, 400), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), three types of metering (Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre)) and white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom).

Shutter speeds are selected automatically by the camera. These work in a range of 1 - 1/2000 seconds.

Movies of up to 1GB can be recorded. The maximum resolution is 640 x 480. When shooting at this resolution the top frame per second rate is 10 frames per second. Although you can play these movies back on a television screen you are likely to encounter a degree of flicker. You can shoot at a lower resolution of 320 x 240. At this resolution you can record at 30 frames per second. This should eliminate flicker, but the movies will not fill a television screen. Digital zoom is available while a movie is being recorded as is sound.

Canon supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Powershot A430 to a computer, television set and a PictBridge compatible printer.

As a rule I do not find Canon digital cameras quite as easy to use as makes such as Sony, Panasonic and Casio. Having said that you should soon be able to find your way around the Powershot A430. Key controls can be found on the back of the camera. These include a control dial that allows you to select the shooting mode, plus other controls for zoom, flash, macro printing and accessing the menu.

When you have to dip into the menu system you will find settings to control items such as ISO and white balance can be found under the function menu. Other items like controlling the digital zoom and AF assist lamp are found in the standard menu.

You can pick up a Canon Powershot A430 for around £105. This compares to around £125 for a Sony DSC S600, £115 for a Panasonic DMC LS2 and £100 for a Nikon Coolpix L4.

It is hard to compare the Powershot A430 exactly like with like. For example the three other cameras listed have a 3x zoom lens as opposed to 4x. The Sony DSC S600 is a six megapixel camera and so you would expect to pay a premium for that model over this one.

Taking all those factors into account I would have to say I think the Powershot A430 is an absolute bargain.

As with many other digital cameras in this price range style is not the strong point of the Powershot A430. It is certainly too large to slip into a pocket. Other than that it is a fairly standard rectangular shape. It is a shiny silver camera with a slightly darker section on the front to add contrast and interest.

It has dimensions of 103.0 x 51.8 x 40.2 mm. Weighing 160g it is heavier than the majority of consumer level digital cameras.

Two AA batteries are used to power the camera. Canon estimates that the Powershot A430 should be able to take around 90 shots with a set of standard AA batteries.

To help keep running costs down I always suggest considering buying a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger. If you do decide to take this option look out for batteries with a mAh rating of 2000 and above (preferably 2500 or 2600). Batteries with higher ratings can go a lot longer between charges.

A 16mb SD card is supplied as standard with the camera. I was able to take 12 shots before the memory card was full using the camera's default settings. Therefore picking up a spare card to go with your camera is likely to prove a sound investment.

Click here to save money on SD cards.

Value for money
Picture quality
Viewfinder

LCD screen could be clearer in bright light

If I was looking for an entry level digital camera this is certainly one I would like to own. Picture quality is the most important factor of any digital camera and the Canon Powershot A430 clearly outperforms many much more expensive cameras in this area.

Canon Powershot A430 Front View

Canon Powershot A430 Back View

Canon Powershot A430 Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Canon Powershot A430