Canon Powershot A410 3.2MP Digital Camera with 3.2x Optical Zoom Reviews.

Nice Little Camera for the Price, March 31, 2006
Reviewer: D. K. Cundy "crafty collie owner"

Canon produces reliable cameras that don't eat batteries like some of the other brands, and the A410 is simple for beginners but has enough options to grow with, including a fair zoom (x3) and a macro setting for super close ups. Its small though only fairly slim, a tad thicker than a pack of cigarettes, so it won't slide in your front pants pocket but it will fit. Avoid the expensive kit you'll get offered, instead get a less expensive AA battery charger and buy the case by itself if you want one. An extra Memory card is a nice option if you are away from your computer on vacation and want to store a lot of photos but the included card is fine for around home. If you have a Mac the Canon will load photos right away into iPhoto without having to load the included software.
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Product Reviews:

A perfect choice for an entry level digital camear., November 2, 2005
Reviewer: Rz.M. "wrpt"
Sample pictures at (snipurl com jfki) replace the spaces with a dot and a forwardslash. bandwidth maybe refreshes every hour.

Pros:
mostly over the a510:
·The video mode although choppy is still a few fps(frames per second) better than the a510.
·Auto white balancing occurs during video recording which the a510 doesn't have and it also allows you to zoom 2x while recording.
·Very fast menu navigation and picture viewing. A lot faster than the a510.
·Better shot to shot times(without flash) than the a510.
·Although it is still at USB 1.1 speed, this time Canon got it right with making the plug and play hardware standards compliant with Windows. Basically meaing when you plug the camera in your USB port, windows will show it as a drive letter allowing you to copy the pictures over to your computer without any additional software unlike the a510 which requires you to use Canon's own propietary software.
·Very slick rectangular design, curved edges, and a dark silver color, with all the buttons perfectly in the right place(if your right handed).
·Seems to conserve a lot less battery power than the a510 especially when recording videos witch the a510 would drain at.
·Battery life seems to just go on forever if you don't use the flash.
·Very sufficient manual controls for an entry level camera

Cons:
·I found the a510 , although slower, to be slighty better in picture quality because of more manual control available and less purple fringing than the a410.
·The LCD is smaller, but because of the faster digic II processor you can quickly zoom-in and pan the pictures very very fast.

ONE OF THE BEST FEATURES:
Canon included a feature not found in many entry level cameras. It is a feature I use very often in different indoor to outdoor environments. It is the EVALUATE WHITE BALANCE. Just place the small rectangle in the LCD view on what is supposed to be white and hit set and the a410 automatically adjusts the picture respectively. This drastically improves pictures taken in indoor lowlight environments so much that you don't even have to use the flash in less than adequatly lit rooms. It also keeps the your white walls looking white and not yellow. This improves indoors and night shots but you should still consider putting the camera on a solid surface and set the timer to 3 secs in order to avoid any potential blurring from trembling hands. This feature also doesn't show 'natural' whites but it is still very much pleasant.

I purchased this camera new after discounts for $100 + tax + shipping and for the price difference, smooth operation, high performance, and convenience in hookup/operation compared to the a510 it outweighs the minimal picture quality difference.

By far the best entry level digital camera currently on the market.

Please take few seconds to view the sample images or rate my review if it was helpful. Thanks.
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The Best Bet, March 26, 2006
Reviewer: Samuel Chell
This would make a fine entry-level camera to digital photography, except for me it's replacing an early-model Sony Cybershot U with a 1.3 mp lens. The Sony was producing satisfactory images, but whenever I'd send out for prints, I'd receive lots of those orange triangles warning me that the resolution wasn't sharp enough to guarantee good results.

The Canon Powershot A410 is a user-friendly camera (I shot my first pictures, loaded them into my computer, and printed them without opening the manual), and it's only slightly larger than either my tiny Cybershot or my wife's Canon Elph SD110. It easily fits in a pants, or even shirt, pocket and is so light as to make weight a negligible factor. I considered the Canon A430 with a 4 megapixel lens until I noticed that it's a bulkier, slightly heavier camera. With the A410 you're getting a precision instrument that's practically Elph-sized. I also looked at the Canon A520, which is essentially a miniaturized version of the 400 series. The problem is that the A520 is appreciably thicker than the A410 (translating into bulging pockets). Also, the shrinking of the camera body in other areas apparently required sacrificing the newer, more efficient Digic II processor that's a feature of the A410.

As for megapixels, the 3.2 lens is just as sharp as the 4 lens. Compare 8X10 photos shot by the two lenses and there is no difference. The 4 megapixel lens becomes a factor only if you decide to go for enlargements much beyond 8X10 or to blow up selected portions of a photo. Back to Canon Powershot A410