Canon PowerShot A460 5-megapixel digital camera

Features
Input and Output Notes
Supplied Software
Specifications

Features

LCD Monitor: The Canon PowerShot A460 has a fixed 2" low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD monitor on the back panel. The LCD monitor allows you to view an image before taking a picture and replay images that have been stored in memory. You can adjust the LCD brightness between two levels.

Optical Viewfinder: In addition to the LCD monitor, the camera has a "real image" optical zoom viewfinder.

Recording Media: The PowerShot A460 records images on SD (Secure Digital), SDHC memory card or MMC (MultiMedia Card). A 16 MB MultiMedia Card is included.

Image Recording Format: The camera records still images or moving images with monaural audio. Still images are recorded in JPEG format and movies are recorded in AVI format (Image data: Motion JPEG, Audio data: WAV).

DIGIC II Imaging Processor: The PowerShot A460 features the DIGIC II Imaging Processor, designed to improve processing speed and image quality. DIGIC II provides markedly faster startup, autofocus and playback, plus it assures that every image is more colorfully vibrant.

iSAPS: iSAPS Technology is an original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC II Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

Image Sensor: For optimal image quality, the camera uses an 6.0mm diagonal (1/3.0") CCD image sensor with approximately 5.3-million total pixels and 5.0-million effective pixels giving your shots added depth and detail.

Image Resolution/Compression: You can change the resolution and compression settings to suit the purpose of the image you're about to shoot. You can choose from the following resolutions: Large (2952x1944 pixels), Medium 1 (2048x1536 pixels), Medium 2 (1600x1200 pixels), Small (640x480 pixels), Post Card (1600x1200 pixels), and Widescreen (2592x1456 pixels). For each resolution (except Postcard which is fixed at Fine), you can set the compression to Superfine, Fine, or Normal. Movies can be shot with the following resolutions: Standard (640x480 pixels/10 frames per sec or 320x240 pixels/30 frames per sec) or Compact (160x120 pixels/15 frames per sec).

16:9 Widescreen Mode: The PowerShot A460 is equipped with a 16:9 widescreen option that lets you shoot still photos in a format that's specially made for viewing on widescreen television sets or your computer monitor.

Digital Zoom: The PowerShot A460 features a 4x optical zoom and a 16x digital zoom when shooting still images and a 2x optical zoom and 8.1x digital zoom when recording video-clips.

Lens Cap: The A460 has a built-in lens cap, it opens when you turn the camera on and closes when the camera is turned off.

Night Display: When shooting in dark conditions, that camera automatically brightens the LCD monitor to suit the brightness of the subject, making it easier to frame the subject.

Display Overlay: You can display vertical and horizontal grid lines, a 3:2 print area guide or both on the LCD monitor while shooting to help check the position of your subject.

Auto Focusing: The PowerShot A460 utilizes a 5-point AiAF auto focus or a 1-point center auto focus. Artificial Intelligence autofocus (AiAF) uses a broad metering field to calculate the focal distance with high precision, it delivers a crisp focus even when the photographic subject is slightly off-center. You can turn off the AiAF and use the center AF frame for focusing on a specific part of a subject.

Focus Lock: If it becomes difficult to focus on the subject due to low contrast to the surroundings, close up and far away subjects in the same shot, or quickly moving subjects, you can choose to lock the focus on an object at a similar distance, then shoot the picture after recomposing the shot.

AF-assist Beam: The AF-assist beam will sometimes emit when the shutter button is pressed halfway to assist focusing in certain conditions, i.e. dark conditions. The AF-assist beam can be turned off. If animals are your subject, turn off the beam when shooting in the dark to avoid startling them.

Power Saving Function: In Shooting Mode the power will automatically turn off approximately 3 minutes after the last function is accessed (time adjustable for the LCD). In Playback Mode the power will automatically turn off approximately 5 minutes after the last function is accessed. While connected to a printer, the power will automatically turn off approximately 5 minutes after the last camera function is accessed.

Shooting Modes: In addition to the automatic setting, the PowerShot A460 offers several different shooting modes that you can choose from using the camera's easy to use Mode Dial.

• Manual Mode: Choose from one of the two manual modes.

  • Manual: allows you to select settings yourself, such as the exposure compensation, white balance, My Colors or ISO speed

    • Note: This is not a true "manual exposure" setting (where the user sets the aperture and shutter speed manually.)

  • Super Macro: allows you to take larger close-ups; at the maximum wide angle, the distance from the end of the lens to the subject can range from 0.3 to 2.0 inches

• Special Scene: Choose one of the following scene settings:

  • Portrait: Softens the background to accentuate your subject

  • Night Snapshot: Shooting subjects against the backdrop of an evening sky or night scene without using a tripod to reduce camera shake

  • Kids & Pets: Appropriate for shooting moving subjects such as children and pets

  • Indoor: Prevents camera shake and maintains the subject's true color when shooting under fluorescent or tungsten lighting

  • Foliage: Shooting beautiful images with flowers, leaves, or trees

  • Snow: Shooting scenes such as snowy mountains, while preventing dark subjects and bluish backgrounds

  • Beach: For scenes by the sea, prevents dark subjects and enhances the blue of the sea

  • Fireworks: Shooting fireworks

• Movie: Shoot motion video

  • Standard: Max recording time 1 hour or 1 GB

  • Compact: Small file size for e-mail, max clip length 3 minutes

Focusing Range: You can choose from the following focus ranges when in Manual mode:

• Normal: 1.5ft to infinity
• Macro: 2" to 1.5' (wide) / 9.8" to 1.5' (telephoto)
• Infinity: 9.8' to infinity

Flash Modes: You can choose from the following flash modes:

• Auto: The flash fires automatically as required by the light level

• Flash On: The flash fires with every shot

• Flash Off: The flash will not fire

• Red-Eye Reduction: You can set whether the camera automatically fires the red-eye reduction lamp when the flash fires

• Slow Synchro: The flash timing is adjusted to slow shutter speeds

My Colors: Using My Colors you can easily change colors in an image when it's taken. My Colors offers several options:

• Vivid: Emphasizes contrast and color saturation to record bold colors
• Neutral: Tones down contrast and color saturation to record neutral hues
• Sepia: Brownish tint
• B/W: Black and white
• Custom Color: Adjust the contrast/sharpness/color saturation
• My Colors Off: records normally with this setting

Continuous Shooting Mode: You can use this mode to shoot successive frames while the shutter button is fully depressed. The interval depends upon shooting conditions and settings. The approximate interval is 1.5 shots per second.

Metering Modes: You can select from the following metering modes:

• Evaluative Metering: Used for standard conditions, The area within the frame is divided into several zones and light is measured based on subject position, brightness, direct light, and backlighting

• Center-Weighted Averaging: Averages the exposure from the entire frame but places more weight on the subject at the center

• Spot AE Point: Light measured in one spot, selectable between the center and the auto focus point

Exposure Compensation: If you are shooting against a bright background or strong backlight, you may need to correct the exposure so that the subject doesn't come out too dark. You can set the adjustments from -2 to +2 in 1/3-stop increments.

Long Shutter Mode: You can set the shutter speed of the camera to a slow setting to make dark subject appear brighter.

White Balance: You can choose from the following white balance settings:

• Auto: Camera sets the white balance automatically according to shooting conditions

• Daylight: Outdoors on a bright day

• Cloudy: Overcast, shady, or twilight skies

• Tungsten: Tungsten and bulb-type 3-wavelength fluorescent lighting

• Fluorescent: Warm-white, cool-white or warm-white (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting

• Fluorescent H: Daylight fluorescent, or daylight fluorescent-type (3-wavelength) fluorescent lighting

• Custom: Allows you to manually set the white balance and store the settings

ISO Speed: Raise the ISO speed to reduce the effect of camera shake, setting options are 80, 100, 200, 400, and Auto.

Review: After an image is recorded, it will appear in the LCD monitor for a preset number of seconds for reviewing. You can select the review time from 2 to 10 seconds. It will also display as long as you hold the shutter button down.

Playback: When playing back your images on the camera the last recorded image will display first. If you have played back images between shooting sessions however, the last image viewed will display - this is called Resume Playback. If the memory card has been switched or the images on the memory card have been edited with a computer, the newest image on the memory card appear.

Self-Timer: The self-timer starts when the shutter button is pressed. The delay time can be set to 10 seconds, 2 seconds, or custom. In the custom mode the timer options are 0-10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, and 30 seconds, and you can choose to take from 1 to 10 shots.

Post Card: You can take pictures optimal for printing postcards, a 3:2 aspect ratio is used in the Post Card mode to ensure the entire frame is printed. The default resolution is 1600 x 1200 and the compression setting is Fine. You can also embed the date in the image if you like.

File Numbers: The images you shoot with this camera are automatically assigned file numbers. You can select how the file numbers are assigned. File numbers are assigned consecutively starting with 0001 and ranging up to 9,999, while folders are assigned numbers starting with 100 and ranging up to 999.

Folders: You can create a new folder at any time and the recorded images will be automatically saved to that folder. Up to 2,000 images can be save into one folder.

Sound Memos: In playback mode you can attach sound memos up to 60 seconds to an image. The sound data is saved in WAV format.

Auto Play (Slide Show): You can view images on the memory card one-by-one with the Auto Play function. You can set each image to display in the LCD monitor for approximately 3 to 10 seconds, 15 or 30 seconds. You can choose from the following Auto Play modes.

• All Images: plays all images on a memory card in order
• Date: play images bearing a specified date in order
• Folder: plays images in a specified folder in order
• Movies: plays movie file only in order
• Stills: plays still images only in order
• Custom 1-3: plays the images selected for each slide show (Custom 1, 2, or 3); up to 998 images can be selected

Transition Effect: You can select the transition effect used when on image is replace by another in Auto Play mode. You can choose from the following 4 modes.

• 1: Standard Display.
• 2: New image gradually brightens as it moves upward from the bottom of the screen.
• 3: New image first appears in a cross shape and gradually expands to display the full image.
• 4: Portions of the new image move horizontal, then the image expands to display the full image.

Index Playback: This feature allows you to view nine images at once on the LCD monitor so that you can search for an image quickly. Movie-clips cannot be played in the index playback mode.

Image Magnification: When viewing a still picture in Single Image Playback mode, you can magnify the image up to 10x.

Rotating Images: You can rotate an image 90° or 270° clockwise in the LCD monitor.

Protecting Images: The protect feature allows you to protect important images from accidental erasure.

Movie Playback: In addition to normal playback of your video clips the camera features slow-motion, fast-forward, rewind and frame-by-frame playback.

TV Playback: You can play back images on your television using the supplied AV cable.

Menu Languages: The camera allows you to select from a wide variety of menu languages, including - English, Spanish, French, German.

Volume Adjustment: You can turn "on" or "off" the sound of the camera. When the Sound is activated you can adjust the volume levels of the Start-Up, Operation, Self-Timer, Shutter, and Playback functions.

Power Requirements: The PowerShot A460 comes with 2 "AA" alkaline batteries. You can also use Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries. For long periods of continuous use, or when connected to a computer, it is recommended that the camera be connected to the optional ACK800 AC Adapter kit.

Print & Share Button: A new dedicated Print & Share button right on the camera makes direct printing on a Canon Card Photo or Direct Photo Printer easier than ever. Enjoy a full range of print features, including ID Photo Print in 28 sizes, and a Movie Print function that lets you print multiple stills from a recorded movie on a single sheet. The Print & Share feature is compatible with Canon CP, SELPHY or PIXMA photo printers as well as any PictBridge compatible photo printer.

Direct Print Function: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a CP-series printer that supports the Direct Print function. You can also connect the camera directly to certain Canon Bubble Jet printers. In this way, you can make prints directly from the camera without ever having to hook it up to a computer.

DPOF Print Settings: On your memory card, you can select which image or images you want to print and how many copies you want. This is convenient for printing images all at once, on optional Canon direct print function compliant printers, or at participating photo labs.

DPOF Transfer Order: You can use the camera to specify settings for images before transferring them to a computer. The settings used on the camera comply with the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) standards. A maximum of 998 images can be selected per memory card, and are transferred in order from oldest to newest by shooting date.

PictBridge Printing Capability: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a PictBridge compliant printer. PictBridge is a new standard that allows you to connect a PictBridge compliant camera directly to a PictBridge compliant printer and make prints, regardless of brand.

Exif Print (Exif 2.2): The Canon PowerShot A460 conforms to "Exif Print", a worldwide standard. Vital camera settings (such as: exposure mode, white balance, exposure time) and scene data are recorded to the image file when it is captured. Printers compatible with "Exif Print" are able to use this information to produce high quality photographs, exactly the way they were intended at the time of capture. This intelligent communication process also allows the printer to correct for poor lighting or mistakes, resulting in photos that can be even better than the originals.

Input and Output Notes

Digital Terminal: The PowerShot A460 has a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed terminal to allow you to connect the camera to a compatible computer or compatible printer via the supplied USB cable.

AV Output: The camera's mini-jack output allows you to connect the camera to a TV or video monitor with RCA audio and composite video input jacks using the supplied audio/video cable. You can set the video output to NTSC or PAL.

DC In: The camera features a 3.15 V DC input for optional AC power adapter.

Supplied Software

Included Software: The PowerShot A460 comes supplied with the Canon Digital Camera Solution Disk CD-ROM. It contains the following programs.

• ZoomBrowser EX: downloads, displays, organizes and edits your recorded images
• TWAIN Driver: driver for Canon brand cameras
• PhotoStitch: use to merge still images to make panoramas

Minimum System Requirements:

Specifications

Estimated Image Capacity of memory cards:

Battery Performance: