We declared the product life of the PowerShot A430 over; however, it took Canon more than 6 months to renew its entry-level camera.  The new A460 has a larger screen (2 inches), a slightly bigger sensor (5 million pixels instead of the previous 4) while maintaining it 4x optical zoom.  The camera comes in 3 colors (silver, red and blue) and claims to be the ideal beginner’s compact.  So was it worth the wait?

Handling

As is often the case on small Canon compacts, ergonomics are particularly nice. On the PowerShot A460, there is a dial that allows you to rapidly select the photo mode (play, automatic photo, manual, scene modes and video).  For the rest, you will have to use the shortcuts or go through the menu. Also, while this camera is first and foremost intended for fully automatic use, you can disengage the automatic system to shoot in manual mode.  Menus have the advantage of being relatively clear and well organized: there is no need to go through multiple parameters to find the proper settings.  The zoom command is a bit odd and can sometimes be mistaken for the selection dial.  In the end, we found this not too practical.  Moreover, while the PowerShot A460 has an optical viewfinder, it’s so unreliable it can only be used as a last resort.  Finally, the A460 is reactive and ready to take photos in 1.5 seconds. It is also very fast in focusing and zooming.

Image quality

Equipped with a 5 million pixel sensor, the A460 proves to be much better than its predecessor, the A430, and easily competes with the A530 in terms of details in images – sometimes even surpassing it.  Noise control is slightly better, but the gain is barely noticeable on 10x15 prints.  Up until 200 ISO details are well produced; however, at 400 ISO noise is unfortunately very pronounced with a loss of precision and the appearance of colored pixels.  With our new test procedure, 400 ISO turned out to be insufficient to shoot sharp photos without a tripod.  You therefore may need to rely on the flash more often, which is luckily relatively well controlled.  Despite the absence of a wide angle, the lens is rather satisfactory with no excessive deformation or chromatic aberration.  Finally, the video mode is limited to 10 images/s in 640 x 480 pixels and you will need to go down to 320 x 240 for fluid sequences.