The Canon Powershot A470 is a 7 megapixel digital camera with a 3.4x optical zoom lens. The amount of zoom available can be increased by a maximum 1.9x when shooting at lower resolutions. 4x digital zoom is also available. The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 38 - 132mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture is f/3 - f/5.8.

• Special resolution for widescreen television playback
• Self timer
• Red eye correction available after shot taken
• Colour options - Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Custom Color
• Up to 60 second voice memos per image

In macro mode the Powershot A470 can focus from just 1cm from the subject. Face detection focusing is available for portrait shots.

The LCD screen is 2.5 inches in size and is made up of around 115,000 dots.

The flash modes are automatic, on and off. Slow sync speed and red eye reduction can be turned on and off. The maximum range of the flash unit is 3m. This falls to 2m when the lens is zoomed in. To boost the range of the flash unit you can buy Canon's High Power Flash HF-DC1.

A selection of scene modes is available. These are Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Sunset, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and Aquarium.

Movies with sound can be recorded. These have a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and a top speed of 30 frames per second. The maximum length of a movie is 1 hour, unless 4gb of footage have been recorded sooner. Optical zoom can only be applied before shooting starts. Digital zoom is available while recording is in progress.

Among the more advanced features are metering (Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame), Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre)), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), white balance (Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom) and sensitivity (AUTO, High ISO Auto (incorporating Motion Detection Technology), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600).

Shutter speeds are set automatically in the range 15 seconds to 1/2000 seconds.

There is also a continuous shooting mode that allows you to shoot at a maximum speed of 1.9 frames per second until the memory card is full.

All the necessary cables and software are supplied to attach the Canon Powershot A470 to a computer, television set and compatible printer.

Canon Powershot A470

Description:	7 megapixels and a 3.4x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	8
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	9
Style:	7
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	9
Build Quality:	8
Total:	81
Verdict:	When you take the price into account this is an excellent camera. When it comes to picture quality it outperforms many more expensive cameras. Well worth adding to your shortlist.
Review Date:	April 2008
Related Pages:	Canon Powershot A470 Specification Canon Powershot A470 Sample Images Canon Powershot A470 Features

Camera	Rating
Canon Powershot A1100 IS	83
Fuji Finepix J250	82
Fuji Finepix Z35	82
Panasonic DMC LS85	82
Canon Powershot A480	82
Nikon Coolpix L20	81
Nikon Coolpix L19	81
Olympus FE-5020	80

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 A470