I have a canon digital SLR camera, and wanted to go on a hummer 4x4 extreme off road adventure. Rain was in the forecast and several days of rain on the trail already, taking the digital SLR was totally out of the question.

I picked this nifty device based on the price, the batteries, storage on the SD card, and the 10mp really perked my interest. The gentleman at the camera shop showed me the easy access on/off button, and where the "press here for picture" button is located. 20 minutes after the purchase, I was in the hummer taking photos and within the hour, I was being bounced around, getting muddy water all over me, I was able to laugh and press the button to take pictures without problem.

Ease of operation:
I use my cameras in the auto mode, (the if SLR is for my wife), and the auto mode does work. I was able to view the pictures I took using the 2.5" view screen with ease. I did not even need the instruction manual.
The batteries and memory card were easy to install too, without the need for instructions. The camera does boast a host of different shooting modes, but auto is all I use.

Picture quality:
Not a fine as my digital SLR camera, but the price difference is over 1000.00 dollars.
Compared to my old 5mp camera, this camera does a very good job for the price. Image stabilization is WONDERFUL. I was trying to take picture of the hummer tires while we were in motion bouncing everywhere (the tire at times was in the air) and the pictures look almost as if the tire is still. You can read the manufacturer on the tire

Battery life:
After two days of use, the camera was still able to go. To save battery life, the LCD screen turn itself off and the followed by the camera (the auto shut off was annoying some times)

Summary:
The camera is very easy to operate, image stabilization works very well. Time from button press to picture taken is almost unnoticeable.
Picture quality is pretty darn good.

For the entry market, or for those looking for a good camera that won't break the bank, this maybe the camera you are looking for/

For an entry level point and shoot, this camera is ok. There are a few cons about this camera as well as pros.

Con:
The first camera I bought had auto-focusing issue. It will not auto-focus correctly in "normal" and "infinity" mode. I went back to the store and exchanged it. I made them open the box so I can test it there and the 2nd camera worked fine. Just FYI.

After having it for 30 mins, dust already got inside the LCD screen. It is not a big deal unless you have OCD or something.

The video quality is pretty decent at the highest settings, however, the camera cannot handle light reflections off the water. If light reflects off the water and into the camera,the video will cause a vertical line streak. One streak isn't so bad, but when you're at the beach with tons of light reflecting off the water/sand it caused tons of vertical lines streaks.

Also becareful when replaying videos on the camera. Sometimes it will start where you last stopped. I accidentally deleted several videos thinking the video was shorter than it really was.


Pros:
I used the alkaline batteries provided with the camera and regular Duracell batteries. I got a good amount of photos and videos before I needed to replace them. I am happy with the battery life.

Even though the camera isn't as thin as the digital elphs, the camera is pretty compact for an AA-powered camera. The button layout is pretty nice. Really simple interface. You can pick it up really quick.

Lots of nice program settings such as super macro, portraits, beach and my favorite: long shutter(up to 15 seconds).

Conclusion:
Overall, I am pretty happy with the camera. The picture quality of the camera is pretty good. I am happy with the video quality so long it's not at the beach. I wanted an inexpensive point and shoot. Just remember this is the absolute bottom line of Canon's point and shoots. It's decent for the $99 I paid for it.

I just received my camera today and I was impressed. It's so tiny and has so much in the way of capabilities. All I wanted it for was to take pictures of restaurants when I eat out (for Yelp). Without adjusting the white balance or anything, every picture has been pefect. I have three other Canon cameras: a G2 which cost me about $800 when new, a D60, and a 20D. All of them are too large to lug around with me, while the A480 goes in my shirt pocket. I uploaded some pictures, take a look.

I wanted a small digital that would fit in my shirt pocket that used AA batteries and of course took good pictures.
The Canon A480 far exceed my expectation. Out of the box it was so intuitive to use that I hardly looked at the manual. I took tons of pictures and they all came out great.
There was a bad review here by someone who said there was a problem with "battery charging" all the time, however I noticed it once and that was it, and even then it was for just a couple of seconds.
If you want an easy camera that does alot (the movies were great on this little guy) then this is the ticket.

I bought this camera as a throw around to just keep in my purse. I LOVE this thing! The battery life is awesome. I used it for a 6 day trip to Vegas AND for another 2 day adventure, and still have not needed to replace the aa batteries and have taken over 200 pix with it!

Buy it! It's a great camera, especially for the price. It's a steal!

I am very happy with the picture quality produced by this camera. I've taken about 100 pictures so far and only a few have been less than perfect. I like to print 8 x 10's of my children who are 6 and 3 years old (this age group is not known for sitting still). I can easily get crystal clear quality in an 8 x 10 of almost any picture I've taken so far.

This is a great big camera in a little package. I already have a Canon Power Shot but it was big and bulky so I was looking for something smaller that I could carry in my pocket, but I didn't want to sacrifice quality. This camera take wonderful pictures, and still has the video capability that I loved in my other Power Shot. Canon always makes a great camera, I definitely recommend this item!

This is a nice camera overall, but the macro shooting on the little A480 is positively splendid! The super-macro feature is unbelievably good. We've come a long way from the Kodak Instamatic cameras of 30 years ago, where your only chance of getting a tight closeup was to hold a very strong magnifying glass in front of the lens and hope that one of the photos turned out.

I regularly use the A480 as a back-up to much more expensive gear - and every now and then it actually outperforms a DSLR camera and lens kit that cost me ten times its price. Anyone who enjoys taking experimental photos or shooting in the great outdoors -- nature geeks like me -- will appreciate this camera's macro abilities. It easily finds the correct focus and light levels, even on very difficult shots. The trick with a beautiful close-up photo is to have an attractively blurred background. Very smooth, "creamy" blur (referred to as bokeh) allows the subject to really pop from the photo. The bokeh of the A480 exceeds the quality of some of the more modestly priced, though reasonably good, DSLR lenses that fall in the $200-$400 range.

Like most other point and shoot cameras, the A480 really shines in good strong lighting, and falls off a bit when used in dark settings with a flash. But even in poor lighting it is a remarkable little piece of equipment. Compared to most other point and shoot cameras, the A480 creates exceptionally rich photos with attractive color, sharpness, and tone. I use it regularly for website development projects, either to build photo galleries showing businesses and products, or to create textures and special FX graphics. The added Canon software is great as well and helps to supplement this camera. The Photostitch program, which creates a large panoramic image from a series of shots taken in sequence from left to right, was nearly perfect, and a riot to watch in action. It works best with photos taken from a tripod.

The trick with any point and shoot is to take tons and tons of pictures, and then aggressively throw most of them out, retaining only the best. Unlike the old film days, it pays to burn through as many photos as your heart desires. Print only the best. This camera will help you create some real masterpieces.

I have several more expensive Canon cameras and bought this one for a student. I ran it through its paces first, and came away with a very favorable impression for a 10MP camera that sells for barely over $100. It is very easy to use and the picture quality is excellent. I like that it uses AA batteries which are easy to find anywhere. In addition to its standard "automatic" mode it has several options for "custom" modes. It has the normal "macro" setting for close-ups, but it has even another mode for very extreme close-ups which I find handy. It also records good video with sound, and you can play it back in various slow motion speeds if you want, in the camera or on a big screen TV. All in all I give it very high marks and especially for its price range. Its only disadvantage I could find is it is just a bit thicker than other small pocket cameras.

This camera was taking decent pictures for a couple months and change, until about a week ago. Ordered April 11, 2009. Now it's July 6, 2009, and the mechanism that open & closes the lens, and also allows you to zoom has basically FAILED. It makes a "clicking" sound as it's trying to grab whatever it can to open & close it. The zoom has completely failed. The camera LCD reads, "Lens Error, Restart Camera." This seems to be a noted problem, already, in the amazon.com reviews. Some are also saying that Canon is NOT admitting that there is a mechanical problem with the the lens motor of this A480, and are denying responsibility. Maybe they'll tell me I dropped it, or got sand in it. We'll see. Though it is still under warranty, we will have to pay to ship & insure it back to "Elk Grove Village, IL." There are NO LOCAL service centers. We paid $129 on Amazon, so some might say you get what you pay for. My suggestion would be to say that if manufacturers can not offer a budget digital camera that is sturdy enough to last for a couple years .... then don't offer one. I will update this review when I get they Canon deals with the repair.