Canon PowerShot A430 Digital Camera - Inexpensive and Excellent

I liked the last year's 3.2-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A410 and decided to get an updated version - 4-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A430. I bought my A430 for $144. The prices went down since then and you can get an A430 for less than $135. Can you get good picture quality and features for such a low price?

Pictures

The sample photos that I took using the Canon PowerShot A430 as well as photos of the camera are available at the address below:

http://www.review-shop.com/Canon_A430/Canon_A430_Samples_1.html

You can copy and paste the above address into your browser's address area.

What is Canon PowerShot A430?

The Canon PowerShot A430 is a 4-Megapixel compact digital camera with a 4x optical zoom (39-156 mm equivalent), 1.8-inch LCD screen, zooming optical viewfinder, new version of acclaimed Canon DiG!C Image Processor called DIGIC II, 9-area AiAF auto focus, 1-point auto focus, a variety of shooting modes including Full Auto, Program, Scene Modes, and so-called Manual Mode, where you can adjust some parameters (Exposure Compensation, White Balance, ISO, etc.)

The camera stores pictures on SD (Secure Digital) or MultiMedia memory cards (16 MB MMC supplied) and features USB connection to PC and Mac computers. It also supports direct printing (without computer) with PictBridge compatible printers. It is an update on the last year's Canon A410. The camera is powered by two AA batteries (alkaline batteries included, rechargeable NiMH recommended).

In comparison with the last year's A410, the A430 has higher resolution (4MP vs. 3.2MP), larger LCD (1.8-inch vs. 1.5-inch), more optical zoom (4x vs. 3.2x) and wider ISO range (up to ISO 400 vs. ISO 200).

Features

The Canon PowerShot A430 is an update to the popular 3.2-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A410. It features 4x optical zoom (39-156 mm in 35mm equivalent with maximum apertures f/2.8-f/5.8).

The camera uses 2 AA-type batteries. Canon claims that you can take 90 photos using the supplied alkaline batteries or 360 photos on one battery charge if you use rechargeable NiMH batteries.

The A430 has a bright low-light focus assist illuminator that helps it focus in low light. The camera features selectable Evaluative, Center-Weighted and Spot metering modes. It has a shutter speed range of 1-1/2,000 sec and selectable ISO of 64-400 (no ISO 400) as well as Auto ISO.

The camera also has a Macro mode where it can focus as close as 2 inches (5 cm) at wide angle or 9.8 inches (25 cm) at telephoto. The available movie mode records movies without sound at 640x480 10 fps., 320x240 30 fps. or 160x120 15 fps. for up to 3 minutes.

Getting Started

The camera comes with 2 disposable AA batteries and a 16 MB MMC memory card. I inserted my own Rayovac 2300 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries and a 512 MB SanDisk SD memory card and was ready to shoot. In a nutshell, the camera is very easy to use. You power it by using the on/off button on the top deck use the shutter release button (also located on the top deck) to take pictures.

I have not read the manual but was able to use all of the A430's features since it is very easy to use, especially if you are familiar with Canon menus, which are similar for different models.

About the Camera

The A430 is quite inexpensive. One of the areas where the money was saved is the zoom control/buttons. Or lack of thereof. The A430 has no dedicated zoom control, but reuses the menu control disk. You zoom in and out by pressing on the upper or lower part of the disk. Not very convenient, but it works. The camera still has niceties like an optical zooming viewfinder, focus assist light and a physical mode wheel as well as a USB, DC power and an A/V jack.

The camera has a nice-looking and durable metal/polycarbonate body that is compact and convenient to hold. The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover that opens when the camera is powered on. When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes. The body is not as compact or sturdy as metal bodies of Canon Digital Elph line, but it is much cheaper and features better optics.

The camera has an on/off button on the top deck as well as a large shutter release button. The bottom of the camera has a plastic threaded tripod mount. The side has a battery and memory card compartment lid as well as rubberized USB and DC power compartment door. The other side has a door that covers an A/V out.

The rear has a mode wheel, which can be set to Review mode, Auto mode, Manual Mode (which is really Program mode), Scene Modes or Movie Mode. The back of the camera also houses a 1.8-inch LCD monitor, an optical zooming viewfinder and control buttons, including the menu control disk. The buttons are clearly marked and have good tactile feel.

Performance

The camera takes about 2 seconds to power on and can capture images at about two-second intervals without flash or about 7-10 seconds with flash. The focusing takes less than a second at either wide angle or telephoto in good light. In dim light, the camera still focuses in under a second, using its bright orange focus-assist light.

In its burst mode, the camera can take photos at 2.3 fps rate (about 2.3 frames per second).

The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost non-existent. The zooming from wide angle to telephoto (or back) takes about 3.5 seconds and is responsive, but has less steps than I would like. When I noticed that the zooming seemed slower than that of the previous model (A410), I was surprised. Then I realized that the A430 has 4x zoom as opposed to only 3.2x zoom of the A410.

Generally, the performance feels OK. But the flash recycling time is slow. After you take a photo with flash, the camera displays the picture taken on the LCD screen for about 2 seconds, then the screen goes blank and all energy from the batteries goes to the flash recharging. This means that you cannot do anything for up to 10 seconds after the photo is taken. Even if you know that you do not like that photo and would like to delete it and take another one quickly.

This slow recharge time is caused by the use of only 2 AA batteries. The same issue is the case in other cameras that use two AA batteries, including more expensive Canon A530, A540 and even A700.

Flash

The camera has a built-in flash that has an effective red-eye reduction mode and is sufficient at up to 10-12 feet away. It has a recycle time of about 7-10 seconds. Unfortunately, while the flash is "charging", the LCD screen goes blank, which means you cannot frame, focus, zoom or pretty much do anything while the flash is charging.

Power

According to Canon, the camera can take more than 360 pictures on one charge of high-capacity NiMH batteries. I was able to take more than 100 photos using my NiMH batteries and the low battery warning has not appeared yet (the camera has no real battery status indicator since it is difficult to figure out what battery you are using and how long it will last, unlike using proprietary batteries with some other cameras).

Ease Of Use

The camera can be used by any member of the family and by photographers of all levels of expertise from novices to advanced ones. It will not give you direct control over aperture of shutter speed and will not even show them to you. But you can use the exposure compensation to make the photos brighter or darker.

The camera can be used in full auto mode (by rotating the mode dial to Auto position), where it is extremely easy to use. In this mode the camera sets all parameters automatically and you only have to point and shoot.

You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused by displaying one or more green rectangles. Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way. The camera uses the AiAF system by default, where it chooses where to focus among 9 areas within the frame. You can also disable the AiAF in the menu and uses the center-point focusing.

You can go one step further and select an appropriate scene mode (e.g. Portrait, Landscape, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Kids & Pets, etc.) to let camera know what effect you want.

You can also use the A430's M mode, which is not really a Manual mode, but rather Program mode with control over White Balance, ISO, Exposure Compensation, etc. In fact, in most modes you can use Exposure Compensation to make pictures the camera takes brighter or darker.

The camera has no manual focusing, no Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual mode. It does not even show you the shutter speed or aperture. But you can select the ISO is you want.

Picture Quality

I usually take photos that contain all primary colors at different focal lengths, apertures and compression ratios. Some photos are taken outdoors, some indoors with and without flash.

Oftentimes, I take a bunch of photos from my balcony. Those photos features all colors: blue sky, green foliage, red curbs, yellow fire hydrant and cars of different colors.

Taking photos at different focal lengths and apertures reveals the camera's optical quality: corner sharpness, chromatic aberrations, overall sharpness.

Taking photos at different ISO settings shows how well a given camera can keep noise levels low in dim light. I mostly evaluate the image quality using my computer monitor, but I also print some photos at different sizes using either my printer or online services like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Sam's Club's online photo center.

The A430 produces excellent, sharp, contrasty and richly-colored photos. Unlike some other cameras (including Canon SD Digital Elph series) that have noticeably softer edges of the frame, the photos taken with the A430 are sharp corner to corner.

The camera produces photos that have a pleasing "Canon" color with slight oversaturation and the kind of color consumers like. There is a fair amount of chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in the areas of high contrast.

The camera uses a 1/3-inch CCD, which is physically smaller than the sensors used in more expensive models and it shows. Even at ISO 64 I can see some noise in shadows as well as even in patches of solid color. If you look at the roof of the building in the sample photo, you will see the noise there even at ISO 64. The noise gets progressively worse at higher ISOs. I find ISO 400 unacceptable even for 6x4 prints.

Image Quality Settings

Just as the rest of the Canon cameras, the A430 lets you select between SuperFine, Fine and Standard compression levels (regardless of resolution). The Standard JPEG is less than 700 KB and can be safely used for smaller (6x4) prints. The Fine mode produces files of 1.2-1.3 MB in size.

White Balance

The camera's automatic white balance is usually quite accurate with the exception of the incandescent lighting, where you are better off either selecting Incandescent white balance setting.

Focusing

You can let camera focus using its AiAF 9-area focusing system and the camera will show you green rectangles over the areas where it focused so that you can confirm the focus areas. You can also switch to the 1-point focusing.

The arrow left button switches the camera to Macro mode when pushed once, and to the infinity focus mode when pushed again.

Build Quality and Ergonomics

The camera has a solid feel and good build quality. This is unlike the more expensive 5MP Canon A610 and 7.1MP A620, which feel flimsy. The rotating mode dial requires good amount of effort. Even the memory card/battery compartment door is solid.

The camera is convenient to hold and its compact size lets you put it in a jacket pocket or a purse easily. The major controls are within easy reach and the tactile response is good. The lack of a dedicated zoom control takes some getting used to but once you get used to it, you will have no problem.

Tripod Mount

The camera has a plastic tripod mount that is only slightly offset. It is useful if you want to take macro pictures or pictures with long exposures (e.g. nighttime - camera lets you use shutter speeds up to 1 second). The camera has a timer, which you should use to avoid blurry images when the camera is on the tripod.

Since the battery and memory card compartment door is on the side of the camera, you can replace the batteries or memory card while the camera is still attached to the tripod.

Menu System

I have not read the manual, yet was able to use the camera in all modes. I find the menus less easy to use than Panasonic's (e.g. Panasonic DMC-FZ5). But the menus are self-explanatory and usable.

LCD and Viewfinder

The camera has a 1.8-inch non-articulated (fixed) LCD screen and an optical zooming viewfinder. The LCD coverage as about 100% - you can see exactly what will be recorded. The viewfinder, however, cover only about 85% of what will be recorded. The LCD has good visibility and decent resolution. It increases brightness in low light (gains-up) and is rather fluid.

Computer Connectivity

The camera uses USB 2.0 connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can also remove the SD memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one), which I do.

I do not use the software that was provided with the camera since I have Adobe Photoshop CS2.

Bottom Line

I highly recommend the Canon PowerShot A430 if you need an inexpensive yet capable compact camera that produces very good photos with print sizes of up 8x10 inches, has 4x optical zoom and uses two AA batteries. It is easy to use. But if you need more manual control or faster flash recharge times, check out the Canon A610 or Canon A620.