This camera is not your father's point and shoot (P&S). This is a full-featured camera with some amazing capabilties. It has no more relationship to the Brownie or Instamatic than a computer has to a typewriter.

My neighbor's kid just turned 14 and said that she wanted a digital camera for her birthday. When I asked her what she wanted it for she said "I don't know, I just want to take pictures of my friends." I could have gotten her a $19.95 cheapie but, being the optimist that I am, I thought that she could use something better. I also had ulterior motives which I'll explain later.

I looked around and selected the A480, a new P&S from Canon, because the specifications say it has 10 megapixels, 15 shooting modes, nine-face detection, 3.3x zoom, ISO from 80 to 1,600, motion detection, and much more, all for only $129. This model replaces the A470 with only 4 shooting modes. No one in the valley seemed to have any A480s in stock. WalMart is selling out the A470 at a discount before they bring in the A480s. King's ordered one for me but it went backorder and I had made a promise to have it by today. Samy's in Pasadena had several in stock, in all four colors, so I made the trip and only had to ask directions twice (see, guys sometimes do ask directions, so there). But since I was in no hurry and didn't care I wasn't lost.

She came over after school and I got it started for her, put in a 4G memory card (it came with a 128M), batteries, set the time/date, that sorta stuff. Then I showed her how to turn it on, go through the modes, format the memory card, more of the usual stuff. The only technical aspect I mentioned was the white balance (which is adjustable on this camera) to let her know that different modes will give her slightly different colors.

Then we took a few shots to see how it worked. It was amazing. On full Auto she took a shot of her sister (soft brown complexion) then I had her take one in Portrait mode. The Portrait mode gave true-to-life colors where the Auto came close, this was with no posing or consideration for the background. The Auto mode picture of Julia came out true-to-life. We tried the Super Macro mode and it kicked booty. I took a shot of a penny from about 1 1/2 inches away and half the penny filled the frame, with fair to good clarity across the entire penny.

This has more than enough capability to take great shots of kittens, birds, bugs, family, vacation spots, and most of what people take photos of. And with good techniques many of these shots could win prizes in local competitions and fairs. This palm-sized, lightweight camera runs circles around Julia's Canon A720, which I bought over a year ago. I can't wait to see what Canon comes out with next year. It looks like Canon is putting much more software R&D into these P&S cameras than in the more expensive SLR cameras.

So, why was I willing to spend so much on a kid? I'm hoping that she will take up photography more seriously. And I want to see just how well an average digital camera owner with the latest software/hardware, a little coaching on techniques, and some encouragement can do compared to someone struggling to learn the technical aspects of photography (ISO, F-stop, White Balance, etc). She's agreed to join us this Sunday at Willow Springs and I'm expecting some great photos from her.

P.S. This is not a sales pitch for either Canon or the A480. There are other great brands and many great cameras out there. I'm familiar with Canon, so it will be easier for me to help her, and the A480 just happened to fit the need. If you're looking for a quality P&S you should shop around and find the one that fits your individual needs.