| Canon PowerShot A710 IS 7.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Image-Stabilized Optical Zoom | ||
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by Canon  Stores images on SD cards; powered by 2 AA-size batteries 3:2 guide masks LCD to display 4 x 6-inch print size; 16:9 format option for still images ISO range up to ISO 800 for less blur in low light while hand-holding 6x image-stabilized optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display 7.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints |
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| From the Manufacturer Along with a 6x optical image stabilized zoom, the compact PowerShot A710 IS is packed with features that make it a worthy successor to the popular PowerShot A700 it replaces. Improvements include a 7.1-megapixel sensor and new photo effects that add to the already extensive creative possibilities. The PowerShot A710 IS maintains many of the features that made its predecessor so successful, including an extensive range of shooting modes, full manual control, VGA quality movie recording, ISO 800 shooting, and a 2.5-inch LCD screen. The PowerShot A710 IS features:
The 6x optical zoom lens achieves a focal length range of 35-210mm (35mm equivalent) while allowing the camera to maintain a small form factor. A real-image optical viewfinder enables framing without the LCD through the full focal range, significantly extending battery life. The PowerShot A710 IS's optical IS has been specifically engineered for this compact format using the expertise Canon has gained since introducing the technology to its professional range of EF lenses. IS counteracts camera shake to reduce blur, enabling photographers to shoot at shutter speeds up to three stops slower. It also allows for steadier shots at full zoom and when using the camera's 1 centimeter (.4-inch) Macro mode. The digital IS control chip processes up to 4000 signals per second, driving precise shifts of the lens element to compensate for any unwanted hand movements. The PowerShot A710 IS's ISO 800 and High ISO Auto mode complement the optical IS by enabling high standards of flash-free shooting in low light or indoor environments. Photographic flexibility The 20 shooting modes include Special Scene modes for help with tricky shooting environments, while Manual modes give the more experienced user complete control over exposure settings. Artistic photo effects can be applied in-camera during and after shooting with My Colors. The PowerShot A710 IS also offers a choice of five movie mode settings including VGA quality movies at 30 frames per second (fps) and QVGA at 60 fps. LCD enhancements Full range of accessories Technologies Explained iSAPS 9-Point AiAF FlexiZone AF/AE Optical Image Stabilizer Digital Teleconverter and Safety Zoom Safety Zoom protects the image from interpolation at high levels of digital zoom, allowing users to extend zoom magnification without sacrificing image quality. What's in the box Full featured in a small package
Good camera. Compact size and weight. Like the 6X optical zoom and the IS. Full set of manual controls. Flash takes a bit long to re-charge. Also, initially many of the indoor shots were grainy (noise) and a lot of redeye. Finally figured out that indoors with less light one has to keep the zoom on the low side. Overall happy with the camera. Very Happy with this camera!
I bought this camera about 2 weeks ago and I'm very happy with the camera so far. It's easy to use right out of the box and the picture quality is very good. I like the 6x optical zoom and the IS really helps with the camera shake, especially when using the zoom. The movie mode is very nice as well. The camera is big enough to feel right in my hand yet small enough to easily slip into a sweatshirt pocket or purse. My two complaints are: the camera ships with a 16 MB SD card-which is a joke, and battery life seems fairly short. Investing in rechargables would be a good idea. I'm now using a 1 GB Ultra II SD card with great results. Overall, I'm very happy with the camera and I'm still getting to know it. I recommend it. Great camera but buy stock in a battery company
Canon has an excellent rep with its digital cameras and the A710 is one of the latest in that long line. It's a great camera...not too small to handle with but small enough to be slipped into a jacket pocket. The zoom works well and the stabilization keeps zoomed photos clear, although a bit grainy at full zoom. Syncing with the computer couldn't be easier...load the included software and you're ready to go. I couldn't believe how easy it was to do this. As stated by another reviewer, the included 16mb card is almost worthless, but I used it to practice and get the hang of the camera operation before loading up a 1 gb card. I took the camera on a week and a half vacation and loved it. At the touch of a button I can see how many shots I have left on the card and how many I'll have if I adjust the size and detail of the photos. This let me reduce photo quality just a bit to get the last few photos at the end of the vacation onto the card. Zoom is quick, but, as stated in another review, the flash recharge takes a few seconds. The large LCD screen is great, but, like most digitals, difficult to see in bright light. This makes the optical viewfinder a god-send, but be aware that the viewfinder shows you a tighter shot that what is really being captured in the photo(watch out for the trend from other camera manufacturers of dropping the optical viewfinder!). There are a multitude of optional settings that I'm still figuring out. One - the night shot setting - is questionable. I get better night time shots with the setting on 'automatic' that I do using the 'night shot' setting. My only problem with the A710 is battery life. Even with the power save function on, I went through a set of batteries a day. Obviously, using the flash a lot reduces battery life and I took many photos inside buildings. I also took 50-60 photos a day, so I was working the batteries from sun-up to sun-down and sometimes after that (I took 600+ photos in 10 days of travel). Rechargables are probably a good idea, but traveling in Europe complicates that....you need to carry a Euro style plug in addition to the battery charging apparatus and lugging all that would be just about as bad as dragging around my big, old Pentax film SLR (the main point, for me, of going digital was to reduce the size and weight of taking the film camera on an extended vacation). The need for all the batteries is the only reason I don't give the A710 5 stars and that's probably not really fair considering the number of photos I'm taking and the conditions of flash use. In conclusion - The A710 takes great photos, is easy to use, figure out, and connect to your computer, has all the features a non-professional photog could want has the megapixels to let you enlarge your photos to at least 8x10 and is reasonably priced. If you can live with replacing batteries frequently in heavy-use situations, I doubt you can do better in this price range than this camera. Exactly what I wanted
First off I would like to say that I am just an average camera user with no special skills and I really do not understand what any of the jargon means when people talk about their cameras. I was interested in this camera for several reasons: 1. It was highly rated in every review I read about it by people that know a whole lot more about such things than me. 2. It uses 2 AA batteries not 4 and not a rechargeable battery. I use rechargeable AA batteries on my own. I really do not like being forced to use the ones provided with the cameras. No matter what they say the batteries will run out and at the most inconvenient time. I can swap the batteries out in an instant or buy new ones. You can't do that with other rechargeable batteries. I travel a lot. I never know if I will have access to electricity to recharge my camera or if I will even have time. For this reason I absolutely insist on AA batteries. This may not be a concern for your standard user but it is to devoted travelers. 3. I am not that obsessed with photography. I wanted a camera that would work "out of the box" and let me learn about the features as I go. 4. It uses an SD disk. This allows me to use the same disks without buying new ones or buying an adapter for my computer. I can use the same SD discs with my mp3 player and my palm pilot. This is why I refuse to buy items using xd discs or anything by Sony and their insane use of their memory stick. Hey Sony the Beta was great but no one bought it. You are going down the same path with your memory stick. The deciding factor between a Sony computer and the Gateway I bought was the memory stick feature versus an SD drive. I did not buy cameras from Sony twice now because of the use of memory sticks. I have told many people about this and have steered them to other brands for the same reason. Compatabilty is very important in electronics. 5. It has lots of cool accessories that I may or may not eventually decide to buy. The main one being the waterproof case. I tried this out at the camera store and it was really cool. It allows divers full access to all of the features on the camera and seems like it is really easy to use. I will be buying it in a month or so for an upcoming diving trip. I will know better after that if it works in the water as well as in the camera store. 6. It has a separate watch battery to store the date and time information. That was a major issue I had with my last camera. Digital cameras go through batteries fast. Having to constantly enter this information gets annoying, especially if I am not wearing a watch. These are my initial thoughts after purchase: Setting up the camera was a snap. Everything seemed intuitive and I had no problems whatsoever. I have taken a few test shots in the various modes and am really impressed. It has a lot of detail that my previous camera did not provide. The camera seems to be the perfect size for me. This camera is big enough so that you can operate the buttons without getting a 4 year old to do it for you. And small enough that it can be used as a handheld camera, fitting nicely in a case around your shoulder. My only complaint on this camera and with a lot of them is the wheel that switches the modes. I really wish they would make these things flush with the camera body. This one is better than my previous camera but the wheel still shifts modes when you pull it out of its case. Other than that one minor gripe I am very pleased with this purchase. Best bang for your buck!
I hope you like this camera as much as I do! I spent about three solid days online/in store researching camera's before I decided that this was the camera for me. There were three things that I really wanted from a new camera: better zoom, image stabilization, and better quality pics. I believe I got all of this and more in this little camera. First, most camera's on the market have a 3X optical zoom- this one has 6x, which gives you a better quality picture further away. I realize there are other camera's on the market that have a better zoom ability, but I did not want to jeopardize size, I wanted something close to "pocket sized." Second, the image stabilization feature is great- especially at night when you are trying to take photo's of buildings, etc. Regardless of how steady my hand was with my last digital, I could never get a night shot to come out- not a problem with the A710. Third, the quality of pictures this camera offers is superb. I have no complaints on the ease of taking pictures. While there are quite a few different settings to choose from, the "basic" manual explains each one in an easy to follow manner (and I am not directions reader). I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for an easy use, high quality camera. Everything you need comes in the box, you can literally pop the batteries and memory card in and you are set. There are many camera's that have a lot of great options out on the market, but I believe this to be the best. Actually 4.5, but I don't think many things deserve a perfect 5
I researched digital cameras for over two weeks and finally decided on the Canon A710 IS for a couple reasons. One)it offered the 2nd largest optical zoom, only surpassed by Panasonic right now. Two) the sharpness and quality of the canon images. Three) the Image Stabalizer (IS), which is absolutely the best on the market right now. I shook my hand violently while I snapped a picture and it was crisp and clear. Warning: the IS does not work as spectacularly with flash, nor would any other IS system, because the camera sets the shutter speed lower to get enough light in and this effects the IS capability. Still works well, though. Four) This Canon camera is sleek, easy to hold, easy to use menu features, manual options, and lots of cool extras (I love the color accent feature). And five) because of all of the excellent reviews on this particular camera. Pros, cnet, customers, everyone had something positive to say and very few negatives. I wanted a camera to capture our first child (Simba, a Shiba dog)and our future first child (hopefully in the next year) when they are active, indoor low-light shots of when we are hanging out with our friends, and have the instant on-hand video camera to catch exciting moments. This camera does all that and more! Very impressed with low-light pictures but was hoping for slighly less red eye (hard to get less red eye, though, with where such small cameras have to place the flash). I was really torn between this one, the Fuji Finepix F30, the Panasonic Lumix TZ1, and the Canon SD800IS. We had a Fuji before that lasted forever and the F30 is said to take the best indoor, low-light photos available in a digital camera right now, but it was hard to find customer reviews on this camera and the optical zoom was only 3x. The Panasonic has the highest optical zoom at 10X, and customer reviews said it was very impressive but I saw quite a few reviews regarding problems in the first few months and a short warranty along with bad customer service. And nothing was said about low-light images, though Panasonic images just aren't as clear and crisp as Canon's. In the end, I decided the extra megapixel was not worth the lower optical zoom, so I went with this one over the 800IS. I have attached some pictures to view. I am very very impressed with this camera. I viewed my pictures hooked up to a 64" TV and they were awesome. The video is also great quality; my stepdad is considering this digital camera with a large memory card instead of getting a new video camera, he was so impressed. The camera is extremely easy to use and comfortable to grip. The only thing I have to complain about is that I am nervous about the error 08 that people have said causes the camera to stop working and the lens to not retract. However, this was not enough to stop me from purchasing it. This is something any camera could have happen if grain or dirt blocks the lens shutting and canon customer service assured me that if it did happen, they would repair it free of cost to me (I would have to pay shipping). Best way to avoid this, keep in a case. I have had it for 4 months and have had zero problems. It uses 2 AA batteries (great for me cause they can be found anywhere) and I played with the camera for almost 2 straight days before they died (lots of pics and video and viewing on screen). Also, my stepmother has the Canon 600. She dropped it and it fell down about 20 feet, hitting multiple rocks along the way. When recovered, the LCD screen was broken so the menu cannot be viewed, but the camera still works and still takes great photos! Amazingly durable. I would recommend checking out [...] for more info. A does it all camera!
You will not find a more versatile camera for the money anywhere. This camera is still selling locally at $399 "on sale" but as usual AMAZON beats them all. As for the camera it offers the best of everything for just about everyone..........Full Auto to Full Manual and everything in between plus the new Image Stabilization feature!!! For those that know how to take advantage of manual operation this sure beats lugging around a full size SLR and for those point and shoot types it couldn't be easier............plus the added benefit of being able to experiment a little as you become more familiar with photography. Canon continues to top the ratings at most of the camera review pages...this one is no exception. Money well spent!!! | ||