Product review: Canon Powershot A470

If you're looking for a good camera packed with a host of handy features, then you can't look past the Canon PowerShot A470 when it comes to price.

At just Dh599, the A470 is stylish and compact and although it is made of plastic it is generally robust. The camera is available in four different colour options – blue, red, orange and grey – and it won't make a big hole in your bank balance compared to Canon's high-end products or other competing brands.

Featuring a whopping 7.1 megapixel resolution, 3.4x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 38mm – 132mm) and a convenient 2.5-inch LCD, it is just as nimble, reliable and easy to use as any of the pricier cameras within the PowerShot range.

For those who like to be a little creative, the camera has the usual user friendly exposure modes and also allows for manual overrides for ISO speed (ISO 80 all the way to ISO 1600), exposure compensation and white balance giving you more control over your image output.

A bonus feature is Genuine Face Detection Technology, which automatically detects, tracks, focuses and optimises the exposure on up to nine human faces in a frame or can be set to lock on to one face in a crowd ensuring fine focus for the chosen subject. This feature is great when it works properly but its limitations is that it tends to hook on to other objects in the vicinity.

Another handy feature included is the motion detection technology, which automatically adjusts focusing and exposure settings to allow for movement in the subject and can even compensate for movement due to camera shake. Again, this feature didn't seem to work perfectly and if this is one of the more important items on your list you'd be better off upgrading to one of the more expensive PowerShots, which include Image Stabilisation.

One very appealing feature of the camera is that it runs on only two AA size alkalines or Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, which saves the hassle of having to charge up a designated battery. With rechargeable batteries being so cheap and convenient if you have several batteries charged the camera can always be in action.

Overall, given the other bargain basement compact camera alternatives available, on a price to feature comparison, the Canon PowerShot A470 shapes up very well. While it can't compete with the top-shelf compacts in this category, it has all the features and benefits to match many of the mid-priced models – and it does just about everything most people need a camera to do.

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