Canon Powershot A 3300

A budget camera that will not leave you feeling cheated

I have used a lot of digital cameras from Canon. So when it announced the A3300 IS, I was eager to test it. In this case, the product spec sheet and pricing were a definite nudge to give it a shot.

Buying a budget camera can give you the nagging feeling that it might be  missing features you wanted and that maybe you should have bought something else. Not the A3300.

This 16 megapixel point-and-shoot comes with a 28 mm wide angle lens, 5x optical zoom and 7.5 cm (3 inch) LCD. This is more than enough hardware to shoot HD videos of up to 1280 x 720 pixels. The Live View Control and an optical image stabiliser make it more exciting.

The first thing you notice is the change in shape. It is now much easier to use. The function wheel can be used easily with one hand. A new picture mode in camera is the Live View Control. It lets you see, in real-time, how your adjustments of brightness, saturation and white balance will impact the final image—before you click the photo. Another new mode is Discreet. With this, you can turn off the autofocus light, all sounds of the camera, and also ensure that the flash will not fire. Besides a sting operation or a stakeout, this mode can also be used in concerts where you can take photos without disturbing your neighbours or the artiste.

In any case, with its 28 mm wide lens and big aperture of f2.8, you can get good quality images even in low light. For light situations that are worse than that, there is the Low Light Scene Mode. It comes with the limitation that images can be taken at a maximum of 4 megapixels. But for a low light image taken without a flash, the results are pretty good. These shots, however, can be a bit grainy as the camera switches to ISO 6400 setting in this mode.

And did I mention, it’s available in blue, black, silver and red colours.

About The Author

Gagandeep Singh Sapra