Canon PowerShot A410 3.2-Megapixel Digital Camera - Compact, Inexpensive and Works Well
Written: Oct 23 '05 (Updated Oct 30 '05)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Shutter Lag
Pros: Low price, compact, uses 2 AA batteries, good performance, image quality, build quality
Cons: Only 3.2 MP resolution, no ISO 400, no dedicated zoom control, no wide angle
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend the Canon PowerShot A410 if you need an inexpensive yet capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with...
dkozin's Full Review: Canon PowerShot A410 Digital Camera
A replacement for the last year's Canon A400, the 3.2-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A410 is currently available at very low prices. I got mine for $118 together with Canon camera case, which brings the price of the camera itself to under $110.
Can you get good picture quality and features for such a low price?
Pictures
The sample photos that I took with the Canon PowerShot A410 as well as photos of the camera are available at the address below:
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What is Canon PowerShot A410?
The Canon PowerShot A410 is a 3.2-Megapixel compact digital camera with a 3.2x optical zoom (41-131 mm equivalent), 1.5-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, 14 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 A400. If you want more manual control, slightly larger LCD and optical zoom, as well as wider-angle lens, check out the Canon A510.
Features
The Canon PowerShot A410 is an update to the popular 3.2-Megapixel Canon PowerShot A400. It features a 3.2x optical zoom (41-131 mm in 35mm equivalent with maximum apertures f/2.8-f/5.1).
The camera uses 2 AA-type batteries. Canon claims that you can take 400 photos on one battery charge if you use rechargeable NiMH batteries.
The camera 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. The camera has a built-in flash that zooms with the camera's lens. The A410 has a shutter speed range of 1-1/2,000 sec and selectable ISO of 50-200 (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. for up to 3 minutes, 320x240 20 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 used neither of them. Once the camera arrived, I inserted my charged NiMH batteries and a 512 MB SanDisk SD memory card and was ready to shoot.
I have not read the manual but was able to use all of the camera’s features since it is very easy to use, especially if you are familiar with Canon menus.
About the Camera
The A410 is very inexpensive and I can see where the money was saved. Comparing to, also 3.2-Megapixel Canon A510, the camera has physically smaller CCD sensor, which translates into slightly higher noise levels, no ISO 400 and longer (less wide) wide angle end of the zoom range (41 mm).
Also, the A410 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. The LCD screen is also a little smaller. But the camera still has an optical zooming viewfinder, focus assist light and a physical mode wheel.
The A410 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 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 1.5-inch LCD monitor, an optical zooming viewfinder and control buttons.
Performance
The camera takes less than 2 seconds to power on and can capture images at less than two-second intervals without flash or about 6 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 2.5 fps rate (about 2.5 frames per second).
The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost non-existent. The zooming from wide angle to telephoto (or back) takes about 2.5 seconds and is responsive, but has less steps than I would like.
Power
According to Canon, the camera can take more than 400 pictures on one charge of high-capacity NiMH batteries. I was able to take 110 photos using my old 1600 mAh Panasonic 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 camera’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.
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 6 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. I saw the same situation with the Canon A510 as well as other cameras. Makes sense, since the camera tries to use all the power it can get from the AA batteries.
Picture Quality
The camera 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 A410 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 very little chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in the areas of high contrast.
The camera does not have ISO 400. But the image noise is at ISO 50 is lower, when viewed pixel-per-pixel than that of the 5-Megapixle Canon A610. The noise is absent at ISO 50 and cannot be found even in the shadows. It appears (slightly) at the ISO 100 in the shadows and gets more pronounced at ISO 200.
Still, if you are printing 6x4 or 5x7 pictures (which is the largest size you should be printing with the camera’s 3.2-Megapixel resolution), the noise should not be visible. You can print 8x10-inche enlargements, but they will not be sharp. Usable for wall-mounting, but not very sharp.
You can adjust color saturation of select colors by selecting Vivid Green, Vivid Blue or Vivid Red color mode. Also available Darker Skin and Brighter Skin mode as well as Color Swap mode. Have not used that one.
Image Quality Settings
The camera lets you select between SuperFine, Fine and Standard compression levels (regardless of resolution). At the highest resolution of 2048x1536 pixels, the SuperFine JPEG can be of about 1.8-Megabyte size, the Fine JPEG - about 1.2 MB and Standard JPEG is less than 1 MB.
You can detect occasional JPEG artifacts in the Standard mode and some fine detail is lost. I would definitely use SuperFine mode exclusively. But for web/email or conserving space on the memory card, other modes are viable options.
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 or using the available manual white balance (using gray card).
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 new and 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 1.5-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 80% of what will be recorded. There is a strange click-like sound when you switch the LCD on and off. The LCD has good visibility and decent resolution. It increases brightness in low light (gains-up).
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 did.
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 A410 if you need an inexpensive yet capable compact camera that produces excellent photos with print sizes of up 8x10 inches, has 3.2x optical zoom and uses AA batteries. It is inexpensive and easy to use. But if you need wider-angle capability, larger LCD, higher resolution or more manual control, check out the Canon A510, A520, A610 or A620.
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