I wanted something cheap, user friendly, durable and trust worthy and that is exactly what I got with the Canon Powershot A480. I was very happy with my purchase and one of the big reasons for this was that I only paid £35 for this camera on Ebay and I bought it from the canon outlet store as refurbished which doesn't bother me because it is as good as new for far cheaper, so I was very happy.

I had been researching what digital camera to buy for ages so I had read a lot of revise about various makes and models, I decided on canon as they seemed the most reliable make for a camera and from my experience this is true. The Powershot range seemed quite popular and this model had mixed reviews, mainly concerns over thickness and battery, neither of which concerned me so I went ahead and bought it. I am very glad I did; now I know I got it very cheap but for the price I paid it is an extremely good camera.

Firstly it is not a slim design camera like so many new modern ones. At its thickest point it is approx. 2cm wide, now I know this will put some people of but for me I prefer it, it makes the camera feel more sturdy and durable and I feel less likely to break it. It also can survive being dropped more than some camera could. It is still very light and in my opinion very easy to take out with you, it works with the design and makes it easier to hold when taking a photo as you have more grip on the camera. So for me thickness is not an issue in fact it is a positive. The camera comes in a few different colours, black, silver, red and blue, I have the red one and thinks it looks great. Though i think the design of this camera looks good in any colour!

Secondly the batteries, yes it does take 2 x AA batteries and unlike most cameras now cannot be charge through a USB cable. This does mean it can eat through batteries but I find if you use rechargeable ones they last longer, and save you money. For me though I again see it as a good thing as you can carry round spare batteries if you want, that way you don't have worry about running out of charge which can be a real issue with USB chargeable camera, so again I sort of see this as a positive thing, however I know others may not.

Something I was very impressed by was the speed of the camera; it turns on almost instantly so in those moments you don't want to miss, this camera is really good to have. It takes pretty clear pictures without the flash, but something that can be quite irritating is sometimes you have to wait for the flash to charge after using. It is 10 mega pixels and takes good quality photos, sometimes on the display screen of the camera they can look a bit grainy but I find that this is just the screen as when I upload them they are always perfectly clear. It has a 3.3 x optical zoom and the zoom is very responsive and adjusts very quickly, though like with a lot of digitals cameras the more you zoom the lower quality your photos becomes.

The on/off button is on top of the camera next to the larger capture button. The rest are neatly arranged next to the display screen, all are easy to use and have symbols or words telling you what they do. It features are all pretty standard do a digital camera now. You can program it to use certain brightness, change the flash, size of image and the fineness or you can just keep it on auto for quick shots. It has a power saving mode for when the battery is low, you can also set a timer if you do not want to take pictures instantly. Also you can record on it, the quality is ok but it does kill the battery so it is not great for doing long clips. The lay out of the menu's is very simple and user friendly, everything is displayed very clearly so the camera is easy to figure out. The display screen is approx. 3cmx4cm so everything is easy to read and you can get a good look at photos you have just taken.

This review is also on ciao :)