Canon A710 IS Digital Camera with Image Stabiliser 7.1MP 6x optical zoom

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Quality Camera.......2007-07-06

I bought this camera for my family as a "happy snapper", at the same time as spending months looking for a new semi-professional camera for myself.

Tested semi-professional Nikon's, Lumix and several others, but gave up after feeling that I would need to spend a large amount to get the quality I needed. Anything else would be a compromise.

In the meantime the family needs a small camera. Bought an Olympus mju 725. Nice pictures, but very awkward to use it, everything is on the menu, not external dial, so taking a quick movie is nearly impossible, buried away as scen mode #25 !

I was desperate to buy a camera same price as Olympus as I returned to the shop. I always knew Canon were decent, but never considered the lower end. Well, I bought this one, took a few sample shots...and now I use it more than my family! I have quite forgotten to look for one for myself.

The quality of image is excellent in all situations, normally at the auto setting. Manual overide lets me play to my heart's content, but to be honest the auto is very good.

Video clips are very decent at 30fps, albeit occupy a lot of space as a consequence of the quality.

Flash re-charge can take a few seconds so consecutive flash photos are not too feasible, although consecutive photos in normal light are not problem at all, I think 2.5 fps. Excellent for sports and action.

The piece de resistance is the 6 zoom lens with optical stabiliser, it really works excellently for those zoom shots. Close ups using macro is excellent, down to just a very few short centimetres, amazing.

While this camera is quite small, it is not one of those class of ultra-compacts. However they do not have the quality of this one.

This one is a great balance of size, cost, functions and great quality.

I could write loads more in detail, but one last point, it runs off AA batteries so you can always keep powered up and not worry about carrying a specialist charger and battery pack with you - great !

I wonder if I will ever get around to searching for that expensive semi-professional camera while this great little Canon delivers most things that I need !!!

Canon PowerShot A710 IS, Digital Camera with Image Stabiliser (7.1MP, 6x optical zoom)

Average customer rating:

If it works up Everest then....
Underpowered and overzoomed
Great camera, would recommend
A near perfect compact digital camera. Highly recommended
Canon A710, Small, but perfectly formed

Canon PowerShot A710 IS, Digital Camera with Image Stabiliser (7.1MP, 6x optical zoom)

Manufacturer: Canon
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

7 to 7.9 Megapixel | Digital Cameras | Photography | Categories | Electronics & Photo

8 to 9.9 Megapixel | Digital Cameras | Photography | Categories | Electronics & Photo

7 to 7.9 Megapixel | Digital Cameras | Photography | Travel | uk-shops
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Accessories:

Canon DCC-80 Soft Canvas Case For Powershot A510, A520, A530, A540, A550, A560, A570 IS, A700, A710 IS & A720 IS

ASIN: B000IKRWJ4
Release Date: 2006-09-10

Customer Reviews:

If it works up Everest then...........2007-11-30

I Bought this as a present for my Mum as she was to climb to Everest Base Camp, and bought it with some Lithium Batteries and the canon Case. Following Reviews from Amazon and other sites i narrowed it down to this or the similar Nikon, and went for the Canon as it had better zoom for the price at the time. It worked fantastically for my mum, who played around with the settings and came back with some true memories. The lowest temps up there were about -15C and there was no noticable slow-down or failure for any of the photos taking, even the video's taken were of a high calibre. i am now able to test out the other features of the camera and am still impressed for a camera that was less than £200. My girlfriend who did Photography thinks it is fantastic too and she has several SLR's that i think are only slightly better for quality to my untrained eye on point-and-shoot photos. Digital cameras are improving all th time and this one is a great purchase to those wanting a cheaper quick shot camera, without the bulk of an SLR. Very impressed.

Underpowered and overzoomed.......2007-10-21

I have owned two Canon 'A' series cameras - the A610 which was fab until it got nicked and the A620 which was fab until I knackered the zoom control by riding into a tree head first whilst experimenting with a rudimentary video head cam thang on my mountain bike. I had high hopes for my replacement, the A710IS which I purchased as it had a greater optical zoom than the previous cameras and Image Stabilisation.

However, whilst this camera can take great shots in good light I find it sadly lacking in many respects.

1. It only has two AA batteries and thus the flash takes yonks to recycle - so you miss decent shots. The screen is blank whilst the flash recycles so you can't alter settings for your next shot. 4 batteries please Canon.

2. The A600 series cameras had the flip out LCD display which was really useful. The fixed LCD screen on this camera can only be seen (showing reasonably realistic colours) from a narrow range of angles making it hard to check exposures, focussing points and colour when taking low, high or awkward angle shots.

3. When using portrait mode the focussing is less inclined to make the background out of focus than on the A600 models. This makes many 'portraity' type shots look untidy as the background is all too clearly visible.

4. There is simply too much glass in the zoom lens. It struggles to let enough light in most of the time and many shots come out underexposed as a result.

5. The LCD screen does not show colours very accurately. So, you must shoot at several different exposures and sort out the best when at the computer - OK if sessioning something but not very confidence boosting if you're going for a quick shot. The image on the LCD display always seems too over exposed.

6. The Image Stabilisation feature doesn't seem to do much useful.

7. The flash is too powerful (even on its lowest setting) for use as a fill in flash during daylight and can't be adjusted as such. This washes out shots that would use fill in flash to show texture in an image e.g. bark on a gnarly tree.

I've found my enjoyment of photography and my enthusiasm for attempting interesting and different shots, as well as sessioning objects or scenes, has waned massively since I've had this camera and I very rarely take use it.

I say go for the A640 with the four batteries, flip out LCD display and 4X optical zoom and be happy with a decent tool that does an excellent job.

Great camera, would recommend.......2007-08-19

After weeks of reviewing many different camera's, always came back to A710 IS. Bought it for my parents, wanted a simple point & shoot (auto)
with the option of loads of manual settings if chosen. Small enough to fit
in a normal size pocket, sealed lens & flash, with a vgood 6x optical
zoom. It takes good quality photos & movies, it's not too heavy (2x AA)
batteries. 2 batteries may be the reason for a poor flash recharge, upto
10 secs. So get some good rechargeables 2700 mah?

Be careful who you buy from, to quote another reviewer "avoid Pixmania like plague" I didn't and paid the price.
Bought the camera from Pixmania, as it had a small scratch on it, I returned it inside "the 14 day's" and had to wait 68 day's for a refund/replacement, then had to pay a new higher price. Zero customer service, "avoid Pixmania"

A near perfect compact digital camera. Highly recommended.......2007-08-07

I reserved writing this review until I had taken several hundred photographs in order that I could use the camera in many varied circumstances before passing judgement. Hopefully this will give the potential buyer a more worthwhile and accurate overview.

I previously owned a Canon EOS350D digital SLR camera and was not altogether happy with its variable and soft photographs that almost all too often needed post processing in Photoshop. Digital SLR's are also very bulky cart about and therefore difficult to keep handy for those more impromptu shots. Considering the SLR kit's huge price tag I was really most disappointed and recently sold the whole kit.

I then spent three months carefully reading reviews of potential compact digital cameras and downloading and studying sample photographs.

Since I wanted more than the modest 3 times zoom that most digital cameras feature the choice was fairly limited. In consideration were the Ricoh Caplio R6 (nice zoom range but a bit too small and photographs too soft and fuzzy); the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TX3 (nice size but limited creative controls, and photos quite noisy & indistinct); Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 (Huge zoom, but a bit large and spoiled by smeary, spotty, poor quality images); Canon Powershot A630 or A640 (Nice handling, great images, but zoom a tad short); Canon Powershot G7 (Good images, nice zoom, nice handling, but very pricey considering that the A710IS is so much cheaper and has almost equally good image quality).

I am pleased to report that the Canon Powershot A710IS was ABSOLUTELY THE RIGHT CHOICE.

The images are consistently crisp and sharp, usually well exposed and have good accurate colour. The camera, for me, is also the perfect size weight and shape. Not so small that one has to fumble with miniscule size and buttons, and not so large (like a DSLR) that it's troublesome to carry around. The A710IS is also has a great shape with a nice hand grip and is perfectly balanced, which helps keep it stable in order for good steady shots.

Personally I think image quality has to be the prime consideration when buying a camera (after-all that's what a camera is for - to take great pictures!) and I would give the A710IS 9.5 out of 10.

I would knock off the half point simply because nothing is ever perfect and the Powershot A710IS cannot be either: Very occasionally the auto exposure system will get the exposure wrong - it's not such a problem when a shot is underexposed as it could be lightened later on, but when a shot is overexposed bright highlights get blown out. Most digital cameras can suffer with the problem of 'blown out highlights, and the A710IS is no exception. However in either eventuality it is easy to remedy since (like all digital cameras) you instantly see the resulting photograph in the rear screen and the A710IS also includes a very useful histogram, just like a DSLR, so if the shot is wrong - just retake it and the A710IS invariably gets it right given a second chance - or the user can make manual adjustments - I found the easy to use Exposure Compenstation control very useful in such circumstances - this allows the exposure to be adjusted up or down slightly, as necessary.

I found it quite amazing at how accurate and fast the autofocus system was. I felt that it was actually better than that of the EOS350D.

One of the greatest things about the A710IS is the inclusion of Canon's remarkable Image Stabilisation system. I was finding my self taking very usable photographs in low light without using flash and without resorting to higher than ISO 100 speeds at shutter speeds down to 1/25th second (I think that I could have used even lower shutter speeds with success, but I have not tried so far).

One test report (Trusted Reviews) for this camera complained that the flash illumination was uneven and that it concentrated the light in the centre of the photograph. This must have been a fault on the review sample, since I have found the flash to be very even indeed, providing as good a flash illumination as one could reasonably expect from any small digital camera and better than most.

For those interested in image noise, then I am happy to report that at 'normal' film ISO speeds of 80, 100 and 200 ISO there is no problem with noise if you are considering 10" X 8" or A4 prints. True there is a little more 'grain' than a DSLR, but then a DSLR costs considerably more and has a VERY much larger sensor. I do not see this as any kind of issue with the Powershot A710IS.

I did not need to use a higher ISO speed than 200 since, as mentioned previously, the Image Stabilisation is so effective that one can successfully use quite low shutter speeds. I feel that I.S. gives about a three stop advantage - which is like increasing the ISO speed from 100 to 800 ISO! Quite superb in my estimation.

The VGA video (something not available on any DSLR) is a great feature to have and works very well indeed. The video quality is excellent and very smooth. The only factor that marks it down slightly is that there is a slight humming noise on the recorded audio. This is only really apparent in very quiet scenes and does not detract from the video when there are other sounds like speech or music being recorded. This has been mentioned in other reviews and is probably caused by the mechanics of image stabilisation or auto focus. I do not think that it poses any significant problem and is certainly nothing to be concerned about.

Apart from the superb photographs that the A710IS produces, it is also an excellent camera to use. Handling is first class, and the features and controls are second to none - from fully automatic, to all manner of creative and manual controls. There is something for everyone here. The major bonus over a DSLR is that it can easily be carried anywhere and be ready to shoot at all times.

Overall the A710IS gets a 100% recommendation and a great big thumbs up.

Also to be very highly recommended are:

Lowepro Apex 60AW Digital Camera Pouch - fantstic quality and perfect size. HIGHLY Recommended.

SanDisk SecureDigital Extreme III 2 GB SD Card - blisteringly fast write speeds.

Uniross AA 2700mAh Ni-Mh Rechargeable Batteries.

SanDisk ImageMate 12in1 USB 2.0 - very fast & versatile card reader.

Canon A710, Small, but perfectly formed.......2007-07-13

As soon as I picked up the A710 I felt comfortable with it. Having owned A Powershot A70, it was easy to find all the controls. The A710 is light-weight and fits nicely in your hands. It was simple to start using it straight away, including the accessories. The cable for putting shots on the TV was simple to plug in with no reference to the manual (although probably not recommended). This sent the kids wild with excitement at seeing themselves on TV. The basic manual is on paper and CD. The advanced is only on CD. Personally, I found that having the advanced manual on CD was useful as I was able to put it on my computer screen in big type and work through it. I think that some might find it irritating not having a little book to peruse.
I cannot fault the picture quality from this little camera. 7.1MP is quite sufficient for all my family photo needs. The 6x optical zoom is extremely useful for capturing moving kids. The image stabilisation works well. Even the video footage is remarkably good and looked great on the TV screen. My only whinge is that the screen came with a dead pixel and I was just too lazy to send it back for that.

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