Advantages: Total control, Reliability, image quality
Disadvantages: Not for novices :-), weight

...The A1 is great if you have a fair bit of photographic knowledge & want to get more experience in traditional 35mm film photography. It's not the easiest camera to get to know if you're just starting - although, as long as you can deal with the manual focussing, you can just put it on "auto" & fire away. Had an A1 for nearly 20 years & put (literally) thousands of film through it. Dragged it all over Europe & bits of the US. Utterly reliable and, with Canon or Vivitar Series 1 lenses, excellent image quality. I Don't use Canon flash - I prefer off-camera units. Multi mode: * Full auto * Shutter priority * Aperture priority * Flash * Aperture override I've used this camera with 3200 ASA colour film & 2 minute exposures (4 x 30 seconds using multi-exposure!), with the bellows, the 5FPS motor drive (not to be confused... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: 3 different modes
Disadvantages: difficult to find 2nd hand now - all snatched up quickly

...This is still a brilliant camera even counting its age. You can buy it secondhand still in good camera shops but getting one in good condition can be a bit of a challenge but never the less the time an effort is worth it. It has 3 modes. Programme, where it does everything for you except focus, aperture priority where you choose the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed and shutter priority where you set the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture. It has a double exposure facility. This canon camera can be fitted with a motor drive that will take up to 5 frames a second. Pictures with this camera cannot be faulted. You can still find the flashes for this A1 camera and this is easier to find than the good condition camera. Using genuine canon lenses equals superb optics. You can still pick up various... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: low price, well built, built in flash, great pictures, manual and LCD viewfinder
Disadvantages: batteries don't last that long

...of the pictures that will be produced. The flash is also quite strong but one hell of a drain on the batteries which even in bright light and without flash usage drain very quickly. I would suggest 2 sets of rechargeable batteries for use with the A460. The pictures produced by the A460 are fantastic and as good in terms of clarity and detail as any other digital camera pictures I have seen. They are easy to upload onto the computer as well thanks to the easy user interface. I have a large amount of affection now for the Canon PowerShot A460 and recommend that everyone looking for a decent digital camera without a £150+ budget gives this a serious look. Once you've had your hands on this beast, you won't want anything else.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Write their own music, play their own instruments and have a variety of sounds
Disadvantages: They are 'on a break'

...A1 were formed by Steps Manager, Tim Byrne (also manages Simon Cowell’s contestants in the X Factor). Tim wanted to create the ultimate boy band. One that could sing, dance, write music and play their own instruments. The first member of the band was Paul Marazzi who was picked from auditions Tim held. Paul was the only auditionee good enough. Tim nex spotted Mark Read in the audience at a gig and asked him to go for a meeting, Mark went along and sang and became the second member of the band. Tim asked Mark if he knew of any friends who are talented and would be interested and Mark recommended the youngest member of the band Ben Adams. Last but not least Christian Inbebrigtsen was recommended by one of his teachers at the Paul McCartney Fame School (also known and LIPA). The band secured a contract with Sony which... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: To open up your eyes
Disadvantages: You don't get it do you?

...A1 - Love them or loathe them, they were once the most talented boyband to ever roam on Planet Pop. These tenor boys all had different distinct voices and this is one fact that removes the label - manufactured pop off the band because a1 were less manufactured than it meets the eye. These days, no one really bothers to look inside the music. especially if you are four guys who are all singer-songwriters, put into a band, or boyband. This unlucky fate decides that you will never get the respect of making sincere music. However, in my case, i was a sucker for ballads with good melodies. In 2000, "Everytime" by a1 was an overly played song in my local radio station. I fell in love with it, and also got the chance to find out more about the four people who wrote and sang the song. This was how i got into a1. I agree that a1... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: sing live, great music, talented
Disadvantages: always seen as a boy band

...Well, by the looks of it, all the other opinions in this section are writing off A1 as "just another boy band" but I wonder just how many of you have actually heard them sing? Now, let me clarify, I am not a teenybopper or a fan madly in love with them, I am 31. I bought their album, The A-List, for one of my daughters for Christmas and expected it to be pretty awful. It isn't, it's great. When they released their cover version of A-Ha's Take On Me, I was sceptical. I remember the original version and prefer it. I dismissed A1, assuming they were clones of hundreds of other