Canon Powershot A480 Reviews: Digital Compact Camera

Photo of Canon Powershot A480 Digital Camera

54 Real Customer Reviews - In Summary

+ This digital camera has no outstanding positive points. - It scores poorly on build quality. “It's light, easy to use and takes great pictures without much effort on the part…” Kat, Exeter View all 54 real customer reviews

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Product Details

2.5" Screen, 3.3x optical zoom, SD Card storage More »

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Product details
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Real customer reviews

54 verified purchasers have reviewed this product.
89% of people recommend it.

Show scores of…

All purchasers (51)

Build Quality	8.2
Ease of use	8.9
Features	8.1
Image quality	8.9
Value for money (at time of purchase)	9.0
Overall rating	8.9

Point & shoot (16)

Keen amateur (3)

Other (32)

*not all purchasers provided a score or review

Score 9.0/10

Kat, Exeter

+ It's light, easy to use and takes great pictures without much effort on the part of the user! Plenty of different modes depending on the type of picture you are taking, and ideal for short video clips.

- It's a bit big compared to some other digital cameras around at the moment.

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83 of 84 people found this review helpful

purchased 03 Feb 2009

Score 9.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Easy to use and was able to start taking photos strait away without spending ages reading instruction manuals. Is small enough to carry around, especially with all the stuff 2 year old needs with them.

- none found yet.

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51 of 53 people found this review helpful

purchased 09 Apr 2009

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Small, easy to use, good instructions, good LCD viewer

- none found as yet

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35 of 35 people found this review helpful

purchased 13 Apr 2009

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Excellent picture quality
Good but not too greater range of picture settings, but can be set up to a very precise level if you wish.

- Would benefit from a viewfinder, particularly in bright conditions when the screen can be difficult to see.

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23 of 23 people found this review helpful

purchased 18 Jun 2009

Score 8.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Easy to use.

- A bit too large.

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18 of 19 people found this review helpful

purchased 21 May 2009

Score 10.0/10

Sarah, Middlesex , “Keen amateur” More like this »

+ Have kept my Canon SLR (non-digital) but love this digital camera for quick photo taking and downloading and sharing with friends on the same day. It's easy to use and does all it claims to do! Excellent purchase for the money.

- Haven't found any yet.

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16 of 16 people found this review helpful

purchased 28 Apr 2009

Score 9.0/10

Nicola, Dolwyddelan

+ very simple to use with lots of excellent features. takes an 8Gb card which is really useful

- none

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15 of 15 people found this review helpful

purchased 12 Jun 2009

Score 9.0/10

John, Croxley Green , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Very good value. Also easy to use and great quality pictures. Very pleased with it indeed.

- Wife wanted a view finder but it doesn't seem as any of the cheaper camera's have them anymore.

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14 of 14 people found this review helpful

purchased 12 Aug 2009

Score 9.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Love it! Simple, easy to use and good quality

- Reviewer left no comment

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10 of 10 people found this review helpful

purchased 09 Aug 2009

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ such a little camera with great pictures and easy to use

- Reviewer left no comment

Was this review helpful?

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

purchased 01 Jul 2009

Score 8.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Cheap, good quality pictures

- A bit big, uses battery power very quickly

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9 of 9 people found this review helpful

purchased 31 Jul 2009

Score 9.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Ease of use.

- The card supplied has very little storage.

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7 of 7 people found this review helpful

purchased 30 Jul 2009

Score 9.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Compact, easy to use, simple menu, excellent close focusing.

- None

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6 of 6 people found this review helpful

purchased 24 Aug 2009

Stephen, Beverley , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ With already being an owner of a digital camera I just dropped the batteries and the sd card in then started shooting and with no problems.

- None at the moment.

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6 of 6 people found this review helpful

purchased 22 Aug 2009

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Im not an expert photographer and its my first digital camera but I found it simple to use and pleased with the quality of the photos

- Havent had it long enough yet but so far no bad points

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6 of 6 people found this review helpful

purchased 27 May 2009

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Its so easy to use, It does what it should do, user friendly

- none

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 05 Sep 2009

Score 9.0/10

angela, bude , “Keen amateur” More like this »

+ does everything stated with ease

- feels tinny

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 08 Sep 2009

Score 7.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Reviewer left no comment

- Flimsy build. Lens jams with low batteries.

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful

purchased 22 Sep 2009

Score 10.0/10

Ruby, Trowbridge

+ Good quality camera - easy to use as point and shoot

- none so far

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3 of 3 people found this review helpful

purchased 07 Sep 2009

Score 7.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ Macro mode.

- Zoom lens keeps jamming open and the camera goes bonkers.

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4 of 5 people found this review helpful

purchased 07 Jun 2009

Score 8.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ easy to use, small and great to carry around, appropriately placed buttons

- plastic feels a little cheap, screen display poor visuals

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

purchased 05 Jul 2009

Score 8.0/10

Aline, Cumbernauld, Glasgow

+ Its easy to carry and to use. For those just starting out its ideal you point and shoot in over 500 photos taken I don't think I have had more then 5 out of focus pictures. The video option is also great to have and we had a lot of fun taking short videos while on our holiday.

- Goes through batteries quite quickly if you taking pictures in an area with poor lighting.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

purchased 15 Aug 2009

Score 10.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser

+ easy to use

- none other than I would be great if it came with a case

Was this review helpful?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 11 Sep 2009

Score 10.0/10

Dave, London

+ very easy to use, does all i want it to

- should come ith a case

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 25 Sep 2009

Score 9.0/10

Louise, York

+ good compact camera

- black camera looks plasticy, try the silver option in future

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

purchased 16 Sep 2009

Score 10.0/10

jan, cambridge

+ not too complex

- Reviewer left no comment

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purchased 28 Sep 2009

Score 9.0/10

LYNNE, CANNOCK

+ picture quality was good

- had to return camera as problem with lens

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purchased 06 Jul 2009

Score 5.0/10

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ Good Pictures

- Very bulky, budget camera

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purchased 07 Oct 2009

Score 8.0/10

Shelley, Doncaster

+ Pretty, compact and easy to use I hate needing to read instruction booklets to get a product up and running and with this camera that was nt necessary so i was pleased. Ive even dropped it a few times and it hasnt scratched or altered its performance that i can tell so robust too.

- None that i can think of yet.

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purchased 17 Oct 2009

Score 9.0/10

Paul, Oxford

+ Can get very close to objects and still get them in focus eg coins

- Button for looking at previous photos is awkward to use.

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purchased 20 Oct 2009

Score 10.0/10

Sergio, Vuaxhall/London , “Point & shoot” More like this »

+ I trust the cuality of CANON

- Not necesarily

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8 of 20 people found this review helpful

purchased 07 Jul 2009

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Expert reviews for Canon Powershot A480

PC Advisor expert review - by Roman Loyola

The Canon PowerShot A480 is designed for people who want to shoot pictures without fussing over camera settings. It's a dead-simple, reasonably stylish point-and-shoot camera to have on hand when you're hanging out with friends and family.

This Canon Powershot A480 review continued on PC Advisor

reviewed 11 Jun 2009

Product Features

Camera Type	Compact
There are 2 main types of camera: The SLR and the Compact. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. SLR cameras use a prism to reflect the exact image as seen through the lens and so offers a more accurate viewfinder. SLR cameras have detachable lenses offering greater flexibility if you wish to take a variety of different photographs. Compact cameras have a built in lens and an ‘above lens’ viewfinder which is less accurate but they are often cheaper, more sleekly designed and easier to carry anywhere with you to capture that moment perfectly without having to fiddle with complex settings or a bag full of lenses.
resolution (Megapixel)	10

Optical Zoom Ratio	3.3
The amount by which the camera optics (lens) can bring the subject closer.
Optical Zoom Ratio	3
The amount by which the camera optics (lens) can bring the subject closer.
Screen Size in Inches	2.5
Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner.
Digital Zoom Ratio	4
Not to be confused with optical zoom, digital zoom enlarges a portion of the image thus simulating optical zoom. In doing so, some image quality is lost.
Face Recognition	Yes
A function for automatically detecting peoples faces and correctly adjusting the focus and exposure to take the best photo
Image Stabilisation	No
If a photo is taken at a slow shutter speed, or at a long focal length, the effects of ‘hand shake’ will be amplified. Some cameras come with built-in image stabilisation which is designed to act against this to produce sharper images. It’s great for low light shots without a tripod, like at a gig.
Colour	Multi
The main colour of the product.
Memory Card Slot	Yes
Having a memory card slot allows you to save data to a memory card and then transfer it to another device. For example you may put a photo from your camera or mobile phone onto a memory card and then plug it into your printer to print directly. Memory card slots come in many formats: Compact Flash Card Memory Stick Duo Micro SD Card MMC SD Card SDHC Card
Media Format	MMC Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
Media Format	SDHC Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
Media Format	SD Card
This is the type of storage that your digital camera or camcorder uses to save images to. The main types of card media format: Compact Flash Micro SD MMC (Multi Media Card) SD Card (Secure Digital) SDHC (Secure Disk High Capacity)
PictBridge	Yes
An industry standard allowing images to be printed from camera to printer, without needing a computer. CIPA PictBridge Standard Website
Macro Mode	Yes
This mode allows close-up photograpy of small objects such as insects and flowers.
Video Recorder	Yes
Video recording functionality allows the capture of videos in mpeg or avi format which is great if you want to capture a whole scene, not just one moment.
Manual Focus	No
Almost all modern cameras have autofocus. Manual focus allows you to override the autofocus and set the distance yourself. This is especially useful if your camera is struggling to focus in a low-light or confusing scene.
Timer	Yes
Having a timer function is essential if you want to get into the shot yourself. Make sure your camera has this feature if you plan to go on holiday and capture photos of you and your friends or family having fun together.
Under Water	No
An under water feature means your camera is safe to dive with, usually between 3 and 5 metres. Most dSLR cameras will require expensive separate housing so consider investing in a waterproof digital compact first.
Dimensions (mm)	92x62x31
The size of the device in millimetres, in width x height x depth.
Dimensions (mm)	62x92.1x31.1
The size of the device in millimetres, in width x height x depth.
Weight (g)	140
The weight of the product in grams.
Flash	Yes
Whether or not your camera has an in-built flash. Flashes are essential for fully capturing a low light image.
Body Only	Yes
dSLR cameras have detachable lenses and are sold in a variety of combinations. This facet lets you know whether the package your are considering comes bundled with a lens or whether it is just the body of the camera.
Resolution (Pixels)	3648x2736
A camera sensor, that captures the photograph, is measured in pixels. The number given here is the horizontal amount of pixels followed by the vertical quantity of pixels. The more pixels a camera sensor has, the bigger and higher quality the image will be.
Shortest Shutter Speed	2000
This is the fastest speed at which the camera can take a photo. Faster shutter speeds really freeze the action and are great for sports photography.
Longest Shutter Speed	15"
This is the longest exposure your camera will take. The longer you take a photo for, the more light is let in and the more motion is captured. Long shutter speeds can give fantastic, artistic results. Try photographing the night sky at 30s or longer to see how the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to curve through the scene.
Longest Shutter Speed	15
This is the longest exposure your camera will take. The longer you take a photo for, the more light is let in and the more motion is captured. Long shutter speeds can give fantastic, artistic results. Try photographing the night sky at 30s or longer to see how the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to curve through the scene.
Max. Aperture Lens 1	f3-5.8
Measured in f-stops the aperture of a lens dictates the maximum amount of light captured. If you want to do low light photography look for something with a wide aperture like f2.8. The widest aperture is given as a range as it changes when your lens is zoomed in.
Max. Aperture Lens 1	f-3-5.8
Measured in f-stops the aperture of a lens dictates the maximum amount of light captured. If you want to do low light photography look for something with a wide aperture like f2.8. The widest aperture is given as a range as it changes when your lens is zoomed in.
In-Built Memory (MB)	32

USB Port	Yes
Socket for connecting devices such as a computers and other components
USB Port	No
Socket for connecting devices such as a computers and other components

Also known as: Powershot A480

Digital Cameras Buyers' Guide

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Manufacturer's Description

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