A professional camera in a small package and GREAT price!
This camera has features that are absolutely unheard of in its price range. It has full auto controls, full manual controls (i.e. Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority, and manual focus), as well as a dozen or so photo effects. They use the same DIGIC processor and AiAF system (5-point) as higher end models, so pictures come out very crisp and clear. Night shots are great as well, thanks to the AF-assist lamp, which is not a standard in other brands. One minor problem with night pictures is the red-eye effect, even with the red-eye reduction mode. This is somewhat expected, seeing how close together the lens and the flash is. However, this can be easily corrected with the included software package.

Another deciding factor for me is their use of standard AA batteries instead of a proprietary battery pack, which can be fairly expensive. In a cram, I can just run to the store and grab batteries off a shelf, or have another set of NiMH rechargeables handy. I also love the body size. I was considering buying a Canon S230, which is one of the smallest digicams out there. However, the ELPH series do not have any manual controls, the flash is weak, has a lower power zoom (2x as oppose to 3x), and they use a proprietary battery pack. The A70 is only slightly large than the ELPH. I actually like the size and the right hand grip on the A70, which gives you better control and balance of the camera.

The A70 is a very quick camera. It takes about 2.5 seconds for the camera to power up and be ready to go. Focus takes about a second, and you only have to wait about 1.5 seconds in between pictures. In playback mode, it takes a little bit over a second to go between pictures in high res mode. There is a lot of information displayed for each picture, with the exception of a histogram. However, once the pictures are downloaded to the computer, you will have access to the histogram.

Other bonuses that I like about the A70 is the Stitch Assistant mode, which helps you make great panoramic shots. It also has a video capture mode (up to 3 min) as well as audio memos that you can add to each picture taken. This camera also supports some direct printing to some printers.

All in all, this is a great camera for a great price! The pictures turn out great, even for a novice. And for the adventurous, there are plenty of manual controls to play with. There is no other camera in this price range that has all these features, combined with the great optics known for in Canon cameras.

Fast camera but not so good picture quality
As some of the reviews on the web have indicated, the newer Canons have a problem with soft focus, almost to the point that the pictures are out of focus. On the plus side, the camera startup time is very fast and flash cycle time between shots is about 3 seconds (very fast). The camera has numerous manual controls, but lack of picture quality makes this camera less than desireable.

Great camera!
A great camera. The quality of the shots is excellent. My last digital camera (Fuji 2600) took nice outdoor shots, but indoor shot had funny colors and the flash was not strong at all. The indoor pictures on this camera are really nice. The size in comfortable to hold and I can put it in my jeans pocket. Also, once you get used to the menu system, it's really easy to use and navigate to quickly switch between functions.

For the price I highly recommend.

You must buy a larger Compact Flash card.

Awesome camera- just the right balance!
I received my Canon A70 about a week ago in the mail. This is my second digital camera- my first being an old Olympus D360-L point and shooter. Thus far, I love my new camera! I can go on and on about it, but I'll try to summarize what I like and don't quite like about it.

Likes

1. Lots of manual controls - shutter speed, real manual focus, white balance
2. Great pre-sets - these let me take great pictures for certain pre-set environments (fast action, portrait, panoramic, slow shutter, etc...) Easily accessible on dial at the top of camera
3. Nice size - not too small and light, so my twitchy hands don't mess it up too much, but not bulky like some of the other cameras with manual controls
4. Battery life - I still have not run out of a charge, during a day or two's use. (Note: I use 1600 mA LiMH batteries and charge them after every day or two)
5. Sharp screen - hi-resolution screen, though not terribly bright in direct sunlight
6. Great looking pictures!
7. Video mode, with sound up to 640x480 for 30 secs, and lower resolutions for much longer.
8. Looks great!
9. Able to fit additional lenses as well as waterproof housing (Not that I'm planning on getting these yet, but its nice to know I have the choice to!)

Not Likes:
1. Takes a bit of time for the zoom lens to extend when turning the camera on.
2. Plastic tripod mount

I've printed my cropped 8x10" photos out on my Canon S600 printer on glossy paper and they look awesome!

Anyways, I really like this thing a lot, so I heartily recommend this to people who are looking for a point-and-shoot, as well as those who are trying to learn to dabble a little bit more with their camera's manual controls (like myself!)

An Excellent Choice
After doing much research on 3MP digital cameras, I decided on Canon A70, and so far I am very pleased with this camera. This camera can take nice outdoor shots, indoor (low light) shots as well as above average night shots. This camera has a fast 35-110mm lens (f/2.8-f/4.8). Please note that many digital cameras out there have 38-39mm lens, which I find a bit limiting, when it comes to capturing scenes/landscapes. This camera has a nice movie mode and offers a variety of modes ranging from fully auto, programmed auto, shutter/aperture priority and full manual control. Also, it is quite user-friendly. In a nutshell this camera is capable of surprising you with its rich feature-set. ... The pictures that I took from this camera came out very nice and sharp. I took some indoor shots - in low light - without flash and they came out very nice and with acceptable level of noise. Minor irritation - this camera doesn't allow setting the white balance in the "full Auto" mode as sometimes I just want to change white balance and let the camera take care of rest of the parameters. However, you can fallback on the programmed auto mode, where camera picks shutter speed and aperture, and you pick the rest. Overall, I highly recommend this camera and it is an excellent choice for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

disappointed
I am regretting buying this camera. I have a Canon scanner which is not compatible with the software for this camera. SO, I am spending several hours trying to set my computer up so I can use EITHER the scanner OR the camera. BEWARE. I can not use both. I have contacted Canon tech support simply to get to this point-there is no software available to fix this glitch.

Also, the zoom control is coming loose after shooting about two dozen pictures. And the viewfinder scratches very easily, even if you are VERY careful.

This is my first digital camera and I am quite disappointed. It simply is not doing the things I had hoped for.

Consumer camera with Pro features!!
Let me start with the picture quality. It is great! Movie has bigger size than the other cameras (with sound too!). Wider variety of white balance, a lot of features like Canon SLR cameras, and the most important thing is the manual capability.

It has AF focusing light, and it uses AA battery so we can use AA rechargeable (cheap in the long run, and you can always use regular one when you really need fresh battery). I hate proprietary batteries, so AA battery is a big plus.

The size is perfect. It is smaller than Canon A40, but bigger than S-series or Elph. Smallish camera looks fun and easy to bring, but you will hate to use it. This one is just perfect.

Macro capability gives high quality pictures, and night scene features is also great. One more thing, it accept 52mm filter with additional adapter. I have a lot of filters for my SLR, so this feature will give you unlimited opportunity to explore photography world. I did my research for weeks before I chose this camera, and I am very grateful to finally choose this.

So glad we picked this camera...
We were looking at a slightly less [costly] 3 megapixel digital camera when the sales guy told us about the Canon. We are SO glad we got the Canon. This camera takes terrific photographs, is easy to use and is rich with features. I haven't seen in any other digital camera at this price range with these features and we've been researching for months. I'm looking forward to learning more about the manual modes and seeing the results in our photographs.

My mother has a Samsung 3 megapixel camera which is much slower and I think our picture quality is much better. We're just THRILLED with the results.

I also love the short movie clips and was able to put together a short movie clip with stills and the video. I think we'll be looking to upgrade the included software but it worked well for starters.

Excellent 3.2MP camera
This camera takes excellent pictures and movies. When I was reviewing cameras to pick one to buy, I read that this camera was nearly perfect in design and manufacturing but had "soft focus" and "purple fringing" problems. I have seen no soft focus problem at all. As for purple fringing, it has appeared in only three of the 600 pictures I've taken so far. In those pictures, it was because the subject in the foreground was dark, the background was very bright, and I had the flash turned off. When I turned on the flash, there purple fringing disappeared. I highly recommend this camera!

This review is for all the wary non-technical buyers
First off, let me tell you that I researched the heck out of digital cameras before buying this one. I read some of the disappointment reviews which made me hesitate....DON'T! I put months into my decision and for the price, this camera is by far the best out there! I PROMISE you will love it. Here are just a few points I want to make.

First:
You are getting a Canon lens with this camera. I would rather have a 1 MP Canon camera (my SLR is Canon and I have never been let down) than a 4 MP of many other brands. The quality you get with the Canon name alone is worth it.

Second:
This camera is VERY user friendly if you take the TIME to figure it out. As for the person complaining about the slow shutter speed, if they took the time to understand their camera they would have realized that the button has two features. Your not supposed to just snap the picture. You push the button half way to focus (which gets you a great picture), once the camera focuses for you it will beep so that you know its ok to take the picture. Thats way you tell everyone to say cheese! The shutter opens immediately upon taking the picture. If you do not take that two step approach, the camera does a quick focus (which usually is not accurate) and then the shutter opens (hence the few second delay)

Third: The person complaining about the software conflicts....it has nothing to due with camera...those are just the brakes of computers...sometimes there is a glitch....the camera is still amazing!

Do not hesitate! Its small, its user friendly, its a Canon, its worth every penny!

perfect camera...so far
I love this camera! I purchased this one after returning a Sipix 3300 camera. I did a lot of research on digital cameras before making this purchase and I don't regret it for a minute. This camera is simple to use and it doesn't eat through batteries like the Sipix. The LCD screen is clear and I can even see it in the sunlight. The instructions are easy to understand too. I haven't used the software the camera came with yet.

Great camera but...
just determine your needs well. This camera satisfied our needs. It has some manual functionality like full manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, and it is fully automatic too. I don't use the movie capturing feature but it may be of help for some people. Image quality is great even using less resolution. another great functionality is the stitch which allows you to create panoramic pictures by shooting more than 1 pictures and then stitch them. I am thinking of getting the water proof case which will make this little camera work under water too.

One thing that i did not like is it uses 4 AA batteries I know some digital cameras of this size do work with just 2. But anyway that's not a big deal after all. It still gets 5 stars.

It does have issues, but I don't leave home without it
Let me get the negatives out of the way first. This camera does have a soft focus, and that can be a problem if you are a precise focuser. About 90% of the time the autofocus picks up what the center of attention should be, but for the other 10% of the time learn to use the manual focus. If you're taking family snapshots, you'll be fine, so long as they're not moving too fast. This leads to the other issue: there's a slight delay (1/2 sec at the highest photo settings) when you take a shot. Most of the time, it's not noticable, but if you're trying to take action shots with precise shutter timing, it'll take some practice. The delay is much, much better than some of the waits I've experienced on older cameras -- sometimes it was a full second or more.

More to the point, if you're a photo perfectionist, then why are you buying a 3MP digital camera in the first place? You should save your money and buy a digital SLR where you don't have the limitations that come with cameras in this range.

All that said... you can have my camera when you pull it from my cold, dead fingers. I've had experience with a number of digital cameras, and I've never had one that actually makes me look like a good photographer. The A70 is a great fully automatic camera, but its manual settings make it the "missing link" between the entry-level and SLR models. I've never seen a $...camera that gives you this much control over your shots -- shutter speed, aperture, focus, white balance, film speed, and exposure are all under your control in program mode. There are a number of presets (e.g. fast shutter, variable aperture and time, and a few more I can't remember right now) that allow you to take control of only the settings you want to control. You can also attach proprietary lenses (with a sold-seperately attachment ring), adding still more flexibility. And, while it does have a learning curve, you can take great shots straight out of the box -- something I couldn't say for some of the earlier digital camera models I've used. If you're looking for a camera that gives you manual control, but you're not rich enough or ready to go for the high-end digi SLRs, give a long look at the Canon A70.

Two other things I should mention. One, it does take 4 AA batteries, but this is a good thing IMO, since it means longer operational time for the camera. Pick up a couple sets of NiMH batteries and a charger. I took the A70 on a four hour hike and one set of fully charged NiMH cells. Never lost operation of the camera. (I didn't keep it on the whole time, but I've used digital cameras in the past that would have petered out an hour in, even with limited operation.) Two, get at least one (preferably two) 128MB or larger Compact Flash cards. The camera will fit 76 large format, super high quality images on one 128MB card.

A bitter-sweet experience
Canon A70 is my third digital camera experience following Fuji and Olympus 2MP models. Most Canon cameras have received nothing but praise, and I bought this one with rather high expectations. Outdoor shots in bright sunlight do not produce the sharpness and color saturation I expected based on my experience with Fuji. If you are planning to take lots of nature photos including trees and shrubbery, perhaps A70 will not be the best choice. Soft focus is very apparent with tree leaves. However, in low light and contrasting light situations, the camera produces excellent shots of people that are even better than the photos I took with my Canon SLR. It will certainly produce the 'wow' you are hoping for. Red eye in flash photos were not a major problem. Besides, the plethora of manual controls not found in any digital camera of its class will please anybody who would like to experiment. Again, the menu system were not as straight-forward as I expected.

The best thing before buying a digital camera is to go the review sites and see the pictures for yourself. I particularly like the comparometer in imaging-resource.com that will display the same picture side by side on the screen taken by two cameras for your judgement. Unlike Canon A40 and the ELPH series, price of the A70 has dropped markedly soon after the debut. Does it tell us something? In my view, Canon S400 probably takes slightly sharper and saturated pictures, but apart from the higher price, it has its own limitations like lack of high-res movie mode, lack of extensive manual control, use of special batteries, etc. I find Canon A70 to perform the best all-around in its price range.

Only camera with full manual under 300!
Pro's
1. Excellent features like 3MP, Video out, AA batteries, movie w/sound etc.
2. Very competitively priced.
3. Manual features like long shutter and shutter/aperture priority mode.
4. Superb battery life, works even on normal alkaline AA's.
5.Uses standard & inexpensive CF card. (not stick or xd card).
6.Good LCD screen, very good ergonomics.

Con's
1. Its effectively 2 inches thick not 1.3, when you consider the battery compartment size.
2. Not pocketable, very heavy with 4 AA batteries and thick. (Canon didn't use just 2 AA's probably to protect their Elph line.)
3. AF assist is just a gimmick, doesn't help camera focus better. The weak beam reaches only a few feet.
4. Soft images and lot of time needed to auto-focus & also shutter lag.
5. Build quality and reliability isn't as good as Elph's (Elph's are made in Japan in Canon factories unlike A70/A60 which are outsourced).

In short, if you want manual features and can live with its weight/size then this is the best 3MP for your money. If size/pocketability/reliability is more imp than manual features then Elph series is much better.

Wonderful Camera.
I owned a Kodak 3700 for some time before my brother took it, so I agonized and researched all the digital cameras I could afford before I bought this... the competition was the Fuji 3800 and maybe the Nikon Coolpix. The 6x zoom of the 3800 was the best part, but its problems reported in low-light photography pushed me to this Canon A70, and boy, am I glad!...Lemme count the ways I love it :

1. [nice] Shape and size. I take it out, and it automatically attracts attention. And it weighs right, and snuggles neatly into my right hand because of the small 'bump' on the right side. ( But I wonder how comfortable lefties would be with this; it might get in their way). And the size is optimal - while I hated the elph's tiny size, the bulkier dig cameras would not fit my docker pants, like the A70 does; and if I leave out the case, it even fits my formal-suit pocket without a bulge.

2.The LCD screen functions as good as gold in low light, back-light, whatever-light. I should know, I played around with a friend's 3800 and found it a challenge to shoot indoors.

3.The picture quality is as good as I expected for a 3.2mp; someday I might be able to shell out [big money] and buy a 5mp, but then, maybe not : the biggest print I would want would be the occasional 8x10, while 4x6 would be regular, and for that 3.2MP is good enough.

4.The time-lag from the button-press-to-shutter-snap is about half-a-second, noticeable but not irritating. I know this exists for all digital cameras, so I have grown to work around this by planning the picture. This means I cannot snap a 2 year old running across the room, but I could always capture an endearing grin while seated!

5.So many modes...! This one is bewildering in the options it gives the user; it even allows you to make it 'fully manual', which would mean you set the aperture, the shutter speed and everthing else. I am not there yet, but this is where I can experiment and learn a bit...;-)

6.Stich mode. This needs special mention. You put the A70 in this mode, and take a series of pics by panning the camera horizontally, and voila, you end up with a fantastic panoramic shot of your room (or a single family photo at a huge family gathering). I am no specialist (as you can tell), but the software took care of the lack of precision in my hands and 'stiched' the photos together seamlessly! I can think of dozens of situations I can use this. I need to re-visit the Grand Canyon now!

7.I tried out the video mode and found it pretty nice, though unnecessary in a digital camera; what's the camcorder for...?

8.The software provided is awesome. I rarely depend on bundled software with any gadget, but Canon has persuaded me that they must have a great software division. Not very bulky, and extremely useful and bugfree.

9.Lastly, the optional accessories are also great : the A70 allows a lens adaptor which means you could attach other lenses you want; and there is also an 'underwater-case' which would allow you to shoot inside the swimming pool. As soon as I get some money to splurge I am getting that, just for the experience!

The wish-it-was-better list :

1. The 3x zoom. I wish Canon had an A80 (or whatever) with at least 6x zoom. Would have been worth the price.
2. Red-eye reduction. I managed a bunch of great frontal portrait pics without red-eye, but once in a while it does fail, as reported by many others. I am told the design of the camera needs to change before it becomes fool-proof (the flash should be at a distance from the lens).
3. I never bothered using the bundled AA batteries; just bought rechargeable NiMH; What was Canon thinking, non-rechargeables with a digital camera?! Maybe they should not even bother with batteries, and reduce cost by some $ ;-)
4. Similarly, the 16MB Compact Flash is too small; I bought a 128MB rightaway which allows me 135 pics in Superfine, highest resolution mode.
5. I am also told that the memory usable (Compact Flash Type I) is slow and outdated. It should be at least Type II, if not a totally different and faster type. For now I am fine with the small time-lag.

To Summarize, go ahead and buy this. You will enjoy shooting pictures with it!!!

Great Camera for the price
I bought a Powershot A70 from a Gateway Country store and have no complaints about it. This camera takes excellent photos and has more features than you will probably ever use but its nice to have them. And even though this camera has a lot of features it is very simple to take photos with. I also enjoy the movie feature mode that allows you to take up to 3 minutes of video with sound. (Although you will have to buy a 256 MB memory card if you want to record 3 minutes worth, I purchased a 128 MB card extra and between the 16 MB card that comes with it and the extra one I bought I will never need more memory.) The software that comes with the camera makes downloading photos from the camera very easy. Also I found the AV cables to be rather handy. They allow you to plug your camera into your TV or VCR and view the photos from your camera on your TV in full screen. And there are other accessories that are available for this camera that you can purchase such as a wide angle lens, lens for greater optical zoom, a waterproof case that will allow you to take you camera underwater! For all the features you get with this camera I don't think you will find another camera that can compare to this one in the price range.

Whoa!
Really 4.5 stars. The only bad thing is that some of the pictures have looked blurry or soft (but you can just delete them and take them again.)and the LCD screen has looked fuzzy a few times.

All the good stuff overshadows that, though. The camera has preformed very well in the inside(bright and dark rooms. Dark are excellent.), outside, and in dark outside scenes. I took 6 pictures the lunar eclipse last night and they are all crystal clear.

It powers up very quickly and the menus are easy to navigate. The digital zoom is very useful in far away subjects. There is no delay if you focus first by pushing the 'shoot button' halfway down.

I spent 3 months comparing and looking at digital cameras and I finally chose this one. I am extremely pleased. I hope you will choose this one too- you won't be dissapointed!

This is a good camera for any newbie photographer
This is my first digital camera and I like it alot. It is simple to operate and takes very good pictures. The bundled software is also vey easy to use. The red eye levels are very high on this camera which should be expected because of how close the lens is to the flash. The macro mode works very well and I especially enjoy the movie mode which takes some very nice avi movies. It would be nice if you could adjust settings in the movie mode on the fly but the camera does not allow for it. Regardless, this is a terrific camera, do yourself a favor and pick it up along with a nice big memory card to capture all those great memories.

An advanced camera for a point-and-shoot price
I consider myself a knowledgeable amateur and I wanted a digital camera that would let me manipulate shutter speed, aperture, etc. The A70 has these features and will accept other lenses (wide angle, telephoto, macro) if you decide to expand later on. It's also suitable for novices who think they might want to experiment later.

The menu structure is easy to navigate through. I love the speed at which the camera powers up and takes shots. As with any digital, there is a lag, but it's minimal. The thick instruction manual is a little daunting at first, but the Quick Start guide gets you going quickly. Do read the manual, though, because it would be a shame not to learn all the tricks this pup can do, such as stitching together panoramic shots. The autofocus works well, and even though it sometimes reports trouble getting a fix in low light, it almost always delivers a satisfactory focus. Manual focusing is easy to do, if you decide to resort to it. The macro mode picks up stunning detail on the highest resolution setting. The LCD screen is tiny, but it has high resolution and crams a wealth of status and mode information into the space it has.

I got about 4 hours of shooting time out of the supplied alkaline batteries the camera came with. You'll definitely want to get a set of NiMH rechargeables, but it's nice to know that alkalines will keep you shooting in a pinch. The camera's structure seems pretty robust, although the plastic lens over the LCD screen is probably not scratch-proof. Buy a case. The bundled software is excellent, too. I've deleted all the other photo software on my computer and now I just use Canon's.

My biggest complaint is the power-saving feature, which shuts the camera down a little too soon for my taste. It would be nice if you could set the power-off time to whatever length you want. Also, it's a little hard to remember what the two LEDs next to the viewfinder are telling you. There's no brightness control on the LCD screen, so it can be a little hard to see in bright sunlight, but you can always fall back on the optical viewfinder.

If you just want a point-and-shoot camera, the A70's full list of capabilities may not excite you, but you'll still appreciate the high 3 megapixel resolution. If you're an advanced amateur who occasionally likes to pretend you're a pro, to my knowledge, the A70's advanced features can't be beat at this price.

A value for money camera for photography beginners!
I bought this camera 20 days ago from amazon.com for slightly more than the current price and have taken about 500 pics with it already in all lighting conditions and have been happy with the results. I love taking closeups of my daughter and Canon offers 12 modes in all including a closeup potrait mode which is very useful. I am quite happy with this camera as it offers manual control along with the usual Canon features and it is easy to create some special effects. I am just learning photography and this camera has a great price with good features for this purpose.

The software is easy to use and if you have Windows XP it downloads the images through the scanner and camera wizard even if you dont wan't to use the software that comes with the camera. I have used the photostich software the most which is quite easy to use, and took some great pictures with it. The image and video software is also quite easy to use and gives good results.

The only drawback to me was that this camera is not as small as the ELPH series and I have to carry it in my handbag instead of my pocket to avoid creating an ugly bulge. But it is still small enough to whip it out quickly and take shots. ...

Update after 6 months, Oct 2003:
For the price and the features this camera is still hard to beat. I still maintain my opinion above after taking about 2500 photographs. This camera has been tested to have the greatest number of shots from the 4AA batteries it uses. And I usually am able to take anywhere between 350-500 pictures with one set of rechargaeable Ni-MH batteries. I have used the sepia tones in the special effects to take some very special pics and many landscapes with the photostitch software.

The full manual controls for this price is a good deal and I have been happy playing the rookie photographer. If you just want to point and shoot you probably do not need the features on this camera and you can go in for lighter versions, but if you want to be a little creative its a cheap first camera to have which lets you play around with different modes and manual controls. The movie mode is quite good too and with a larger memory Compact Flash card you can make respectable clips to send off to your friends.

The only small complaints I have are that there is a time lag between when you press the button to when the picture gets taken and its hard to take action shots. But this is a feature of all Canon digital and film cameras and if you have used one you know what I am talking about. The other problem is that sometimes the Autofocus does not give as good pictures as my Canon 35mm film camera - Powershot used to give. But at these times I am glad that I can set the white balance manually!

Flickering LCD and Blurry View Finder
I read all the wonderful reviews and bought the Canon A70. However, when I finally received the camera yesterday, the LCD screen flickers and the viewfinder is blurry when at full zoom. What a disappointment...

I have an older Canon A20 for business and have always liked it. The newer A70 is smaller with more features, but feels flimsy to me. The zooming mechanism is noisy and appears cheap. Maybe I was just unlucky and got a bad A70 that was damaged in shipping? I've decided to get another type of camera at a local camera shop this time.

Better than I could imagine
Excellent camera. Everything is great about it: very good optics; intelligent software for focusing, flashing, aperture and time; very good resolution, intuitive system of menus and user-friendly software for downloading images or films (yes, films!) to your computer.

You should order at least one 128MB card and a set of recharchable batteries.

Very nice design
I just received my A70 today and within 5 minutes I was taking shots and recording video clips! The shots I have taken are much better that I expected. This little camera is great. It's size is not too bulky to carry around, but not so small that you feel like you are going to loose it. I can't comment on the durability of this camera, becuase I haven't had it very long. I can only hope for the best, but so far I am not disappointed!

A Great Camera
I purchased the A70 after some intensive reviewing of the current cameras in this low to mid-range price catagory.
I had narrowed my choices down to two canidates the A70 and the Nikon 3100. With the Nikon I really liked the sample pictures I saw taken with it and its recessed LCD screen, but it lacked the plethora of features the Canon came with.

Post Purchase...
I could not be more happy with it! It takes super clear/sharp pictures (Just as good as the Nikon samples I saw).
The non-recessed LCD screen is not that serious a problem with normal/thoughtful handling.
The extra features and the complete manual control the canon offers really makes for a fun camera someone can grow with.
Its size is perfect-fits right in the palm of your hand.
And the images download easily via the USB port into the computer.
Oh, did mention it takes great pictures?

I had debated a long time on which camera to purchase, and need not have worried. The Canon A70 is a bargain.

Great Digital Camera
This is my first digital camera purchase, so I did a lot of research to find the best camera for [the price]. I can say with certainty that this camera fits the bill! It is 3.2 Megapixels, which some may not feel is enough, but unless you are going to print out photos larger than 8x10 I don't see any reason you would need a higher resolution. In fact, most of the pictures we take aren't even at the highest resolution possible.

The 16MB CompactFlash card that comes with this camera is way too small. Look at getting at the very least a 128 MB card, or even a 256MB or 512MB card.

I don't have any complaints about this camera. In dark situations, the LCD becomes very grainy, but the pictures you take look great. Red eye reduction works wonders as I have yet to see any red eyes from pictures I've taken. In the sun, the LCD similarly gets sun circles, but those are not apparent in the final image when you take a picture. The shiny chrome finish around the LCD is a little hard to deal with in the sun, but it's easy enough to get used to.

I highly recommend this camera. It's geared toward the point-and-shoot consumer, but it has settings and the ability to add attachments for the more avid photographer.

It doesn't get any better than this.....WORTH THE MONEY!
Pros: Broad feature set for the money; speedy and efficient performance; accepts accessory lenses.

Cons: Flimsy-feeling CompactFlash compartment cover; distracting reflective frame around LCD.

I bought this camera because I needed a digital camera that had a good set of features without breaking the bank. This one fit the bill perfectly. Not only is Canon known for its reliable cameras, and this camera is no exception. While there are cameras out there with more features, nothing comes close to the features/value combo that this camera delivers. The pictures take so far have been great. There has been a bit of purple friging when taking high contrast photos, but I read many other types of review and knew about that. This is no big deal, however, becasue comparable camera in this feature range also suffer this problem. If this is an issue for you then don't buy this camera. Pony up and spend some more money in order to eliminate that problem. The software suite included with this camera is also decent. All in all I would say to those of you that are considering this camera to go out and buy it without hesitation. Good quality, good price, and good pictures will make you a happy photographer.

IMHO the best back-up for a traveling pro
In case a fellow pro is reading these reviews, I would heartily recommend the A70 as a back-up. It resembles the Olympus XA that so many of us loved in the past.
I am writing this because the strong points of this camera are not easy to spot from the material aimed at the amateur market.

1. I can use the same cards as with my G3, which is my official travel camera (I am also a writer, so no SLR's for me, thank you). I can just switch the card from camera to camera and download material any which way. This might work with the SLR's, too, but I haven't tried.
2. The picture quality at ISO 50 is actually quite usable, at least in a tabloid. At first look it is difficult to tell it apart from G3. Don't crop, though. The other ISO's have massive noise, but I use them anyway in special situations.
3. The wideangle add-on lens is no Summicron, but it is passable and very small. I have both the A70 and the wide tucked in the corners of my minuscule bag, so in case of a catastrophe, I still have a 24-105 mm camera to work with.
4. The waterproof case is a marvel. ... Okay, it is not a Nikonos, but it is a small, lightweight thing that gives me the option of taking splashy pictures on the go.
5. Then there are the obvious advantages: AA/Nimh batteries, tv/av/manual modes, single-point and manual focusing and other normal Canon stuff.

The disadvantages are naturally enormous from the professional point of view, but we are talking back-up here.

The competition is surprisingly scarce. First I gravitated towards the S50, but it has several shortcomings. No wideangle, no AA batteries and non-pocketable size. It doesn't support a proper flash any more than the A70. What's the use of having better resolution, if the camera is not in your pocket/the battery is dead in Ouagadougou/the shot calls for a wide perspective? Don't know about you, but I use 35 mm for shooting official state buildings, and not much else.

The Elph/Ixus-series is a lot worse. Sure, they feel better and are a couple of millimeters smaller, but they are hopelessly tyroesque.

If there are more options, I haven't found them. Please, correct me if you have better knowledge.

So the A70+wideangle+waterproof case gives me a rather complete emergency gear in a truly portable package. And, yes, I have indeed fallen in love, so I'm carrying the thing everywhere in my vestpocket.

Excellent choice for the amount of money spent
At the time this review is written, Powershot A70 is the best digital camera someone can get for this amount of money. After doing some research, by comparing to other digital cameras at the same price, the choice was easy . A70 outstands them all. The image quality is very good for 3.2 mpixels, the manual mode is excellent for such a cheap camera, and it is possible to use extra lenses from Canon. The only problem is the Red eye effect which is quite intense with this camera. This is not very important of course because it can be corrected with the use of software. Another drawback is the use of 4 batteries, where other 3.2 mpixel cameras use 2 batteries. Last but not least the flashcard included is way too small and the purchase of a bigger one is mandatory.

In a few words :

Pros : good quality, excellent manual mode, excellent video mode

Cons: Intense redeye, small flashcard, 4 batteries required.

I highly recommend this one, it's a great buy.

LOVE THIS CAMERA
Im a novice with digital cameras and this is actually my first one. It is sooo cool. so many excellent features!! and it is pretty easy to navigate too. Buy it!

The Best 3.2 - Point N Shoot out there.
Hi,
I Desgin Web sites and do graphic design for a living. For the past few years, I have been using my high resolution scanner to get film images onto my computer and then upload them to my web server. But within the last month I have been using Canon's Powershot A70 to reduce work time.
But I did not only purchase the Dig Camera for Web site building...(seeing as how you probably don't need anything more than 2.0 Mega Pixels for viewing images on a computer only). But since our old SLR camera broke (dropped it and never worked since), I wanted something to get good prints as well.

Well, judging by the reviews, I figured I shouldn't write something without doing my homework as well. Also, I didn't want to write this after using the camera for one day. So I gave myself quite some time to play with it to give this review more detail.

I would love to make a PRO vs. CON list, but to be quite honest, I haven't found any CONS.

So, For the Features this camera has, the quality of the name and the lens, and the price you pay, you couldn't find a better camera anywhere.

It has a great 3.0 Optical zoom, with a combined digital zoom, you can get up to 10X focus.
It's the perfect point and shoot, but doesn't limit itself to beginners only as it has several (12) shooting modes...plus a manual mode where you can change the shutter speeds and aperature level.
With the movie mode (which includes sound) you can choose three levels, which also includes the 640x400 AGP mode. I recommend trying out that setting and burning your videos on a CD and watching them on your DVD player. (pretty cool)

The Digital zoom is hardly noticeable at all when I used the "Super Fine" setting....and that was at Max zoom.

It has an easy to use panorama function where you can take 360 degree panorama shots. It also has a fairly simple stitch program in the software bundle to automatically put together your panorama shots into one using artificial intelligence...bla bla bla stuff.

I agree that the 16M FC is barely sufficient if you want to take plenty of pictures. I would also recommend getting a card between 128 - 512...just as a suggestion...but that has nothing to do with the camera itself.

Other than that, The camera is perfect, the quality of canon images are awesome, and battery life lasts quite a sufficient amount of time. Although I will always recommend that you get rechargables, not because the camera sucks up the juice (because it doesn't), but rechargable batteries are better for the environment. To give you an idea of how long the batteries last, I used the camera for about three straight days of constant picture shooting, movie making and lots of uploading to the computer. Overall I took about 600 shots (with a variety of different quality), and about 12 minutes messing around in moving mode...and the batteries finally started to give...

so, battery life is exceptional.
and that's about all I have to say

Its not a joke.the Canon A60 performed better than this
I was really surprized..I returned my Canon A60 to get an A70 cos I really loved the results from the A60...and guess what the photos from the A60(2 MP) are 100 times better that the A70. The view finder too had dust particles inside it...
One of the reasons may be that the A60 was made in Japan where as the A70 was made in Malasia...so try and grab an A70 (if u must) that is made in Japan:)

money well spent =)
I just got this camera about 2 months ago and I absolutley love it! The pics come out great every time and although I haven't used the movie mode much, the times I did I was very well satisfied. The software that comes along with it is very user friendly and the features of the camera itself aren't too difficult to maneuver. A few friends have purchased digital cameras and in comparison it seems like this camera offers the most features within this price range. I would definitely recommend this camera, never leave home without it!

My perfect Compromise
This camera is the perfect compromise for my needs. It is compact yet easy to handle and the controls are in a logical layout and similar enough to my film camera that I don't fumble when switching.

It has full PHD Modes (push here dummey), yet gives me full manual control when I need it.

The resolution is adequate and the images I get don't make me wish that I had used film to record the image.

I now have a camera that goes with me all the time so I don't miss that shot of a lifetime.

ACCESS IN LATVIA
This is the product I want to buy but my problem is that I am currently travelling in Latvia and need a camera as soon as possible. I will be spending a few days in Riga next week and want to know if it's possible to have the camera delivered to my hotel there.

happy camera user
This camera is a wonderful machine. Well priced and packed with features and capabilites. Small, light weight, and very versitle. Sound and picture quality are wonderful. video is awsome for such a small device. Takes some getting use too if used other digital cameras before. would not recomend this as a camera for kids as it could be fragile and is a little too expensive to be tossed around. but still a great deal. recomend getting lots of memmory cards or a few very large ones at least, you will need them for all the pictures and videos you will take.

Manufacturer Quality Control is very bad
After reading some other reviews before me, I guess that the Quality control at Canon (Malasia) is very bad. Most of our friends who rated 1 star seem to have similar QC complaints.

[For the cost], A70 clearly has best features than any other 3 MP DC in the market. Also, professional reviews have been the best for this camera.

I got mine after a long wait and I started learning the operation of the camera. I even took a few snaps of my Kitchen (photo had lot of shades, they were just experimental shots though).

Next day when I switched the camera on, nothing shows up in the LCD except for some default menus. This happened in both shoot as well as play modes. I spent about 4 hours reading the manual to get it right but had no luck.

I just returned it and order a new one. Lets hope this one works.

Fantastic manual controls, not-fantastic lens
Basically my headline says it all. I love this camera's ability to set f stops, shutter speeds, ASA/ISO speeds, under/over- exposure etc etc. Particularly useful to me is the ISO 400 setting -- set the camera there you can take lots of pics indoors without a flash (like film cameras usibg hi speed film, the images will be grainy, but useable).

The main problem is the lens. It performs overall less well than my 2 previous digital cameras (Fuji 2400 and 2800, which regularly gave me tack sharp pictures). This lens gives you OK shots, but often without that extra edge of definition, despite the high number of pixels. There is a fair amount of flare at large apertures, and the program modes like to keep the lens wide open and aim for higher shutter speeds. One workaround to this problem is to use the aperture proiority mode and to stop the lens down to f 4.5 or so.

I am keeping this camera because of all the creative control it gives me, but I still have a Fuji 2400 in my desk drawer when I need to take a really sharp product photo for ebay.

great controls, alright photos
This camera offers all the manual controls you need, plus several preset shooting modes to simplify life, at a very cheap price!. Because it uses 4 AA batteries instead of specialty expensive lithion-ion batteries, you can shop around for the cheapest recharble nimh's. Also because it uses the Compact Flash card, these cards are readily the cheapest out there, and availble in large sizes, plus any multi card reader usually has the compact flash, because it's the most used card in electronics. the camera itself is a bit bigger then u'd assume, but can fit funnily in most kahki pants pockets- jean wearers beware if u wear semi fit to tight jeans.

The photos this camera takes can be quite exellent, although as with all digital photos, extra sharpening is advised(around 80%-100% i'v found is adequate). Also purple fringing is very noticible in shorts with high contrast in light levels.. such as fireworks. Colors are perfect matches, while it may seem like those kodak cameras can take better looking photos, it is because kodak uses a special algorithm to make the colors more saturated and whatnot, in other words, kodak manipulates the colors of images so they look better then real-life, whearas canon photos are 100% exact color matches nearly all the time. ISO 50 to 400 are available , but once again i advise not to use higher then iso100 because images become significantly noisey with extreme film grain visibility.. "iso" is the light sensitivity of the camera to take brighter pics in lower light levels, but at the cost of grain and noise(grain and noise are pixels of unnaturual colors within the photograph, that cause the photo to look very "digitally processed).

The camera comes with a new digic proccessor which speeds up the focosing tremendously, and allows for faster operations in general.. for example the time it takes to turn the camera on is about 2-3 seconds, and the time the camera actually takes the picture after u press the shutter release button is unnoticeable. with about 2 seconds between single shot images, but u can also use drive mode, where u hold the shutter button and it can take about 10 pics at 2pictures per second. then u need to wait 6-10 seconds for the images to write to the memory card.

The camera now has 5 focusing areas within the image, and the camera chooses the best ones to focus with, this may be quicker and easier some of the time, preferably i turn this off and just use the center box to focus so that i know what the camera will focus on myself.

the ability to manually focus is very helpful, because u can set the focus to infinity for fireworks or landscapes without relying on the "landscape" preset mode, also it allows you to prefocus on a spot so u can take photos quicker for fast action events.

Almost forgot a big detail-movie mode. this camera offers VGA resolutions of 640 by 480 pixels, at 15 frames per second. you can take up to 30seconds of video at a time with this resolution, or u can use lower resolutions for 3 minute video clips at a time. personally i love this! i always use the larger resolution and end up filling my camera with more movie clips then photos at parties or special events! the files are saved as .avi extentions and can be played using most all movie players such as windows media player. Also if u have windows xp, and have downloaded the windows movie maker 2, you can use this clips to make a pretty darn good short film to help you remember those special and fun events in life!

This camera is a great find, and buy for the manual, preset, and auto modes it provides along with canon's reputable brand name(canon by the way makes all the parts to their camera's themselves, in other words, canon owns all facilities used to make their cameras). The photos this camera takes are great and may be printed without any need to enhance the images afterwords.. but it's advised to use an autoimage correction, and some sharpening and see if the picture looks beter afterwords. And if the pictures u take look a little, dull in the colors, just use the "vivid" setting and make ur colors stick out more!

***recommendations:
You need to buy at least 1 or 2 4 packs of AA rechargable Nimh batteries, with a charger.
You'll want to buy a case of some sort for this camera,
Buy a Compact Flash card! this is very serious! i would recommend transcend 32x cards or lexmark 32x and up cards. i use a 256mb card, and still find it's not enough space for all the video clips and photos i take!
Take the time to buy a compact flash card reader for your computer while your at it, this allows faster write speeds from the card to your computer, and does not drain your camera's batteries.
Invest in a microfiber cloth to clean your lense, if someone touches the lense(whenever i let someone hold my camera they end up pressing on the lense without knowing it, because they are used to larger film cameras!). DO NOT USE GLASS CLEANER ON THE LENSE, OR AN ORDINARY CLOTH, glass cleaning solvent contains chemicals that can harm and damage the lense special chemical coatings, and an ordinary cloth scratches the lense even if u cant see the scratches by looking into the lense. personally i find just buying a microfiber cloth and using ur breath's moisture enough to clean the lense, without needing to buy a special lense cleaning solvent.
u may want to look at the sony dsc-p8 or p-72, the kodak dx6340, minolta dimage s404, or olympus d-560 zoom.

Happy user
I've had this camera for about a month and I must say it has not dissapointed. If you are comparing costs though, I would include at least a couple of items you may find necessary. A set of rechargables and a higher capacity CF card. I have found the 3.2 MP number to be very acceptable even when printing larger formats. What this means is that when printing a full size 8.5X11 page, you'll get the same quality from this camera as a 5 Megapixel. The higher megapixels will only help if you are thinking of printing poster sizes. One thing I have not liked is the response time when taking pictures. If you really like to take action photos, this camera may not do the trick. When you snap a picture, you have to allow .5-1 sec for it to autofocus. I think you can get around this by disabling some of the auto-functions, but you need practice to get those shots right.

Digital Camera #3
+ all the features I wanted and then some
+ easy to use point and shoot mode but other features to play with
+ a generation ahead of my last digital
+ burst mode is great for capturing a baby on the move
- I'm getting more blurry pictures than with my old Kodak
- the camera can turn off with the lens open if it runs out
of batteries and each time I never saw any warning that I
was running low

photos from jersey
i want to buy a canon digital camera but having difficulty
arrangeing shipment to jersey uk can you help?

Great deal on a very solid digicam.
After all the years and all the digicams I've owned, borrowed and/or tested, I've come to believe that the Canons are the most reliable of the lot. While the "A Series" may be Canon's entry level lineup, they may also be their very best value. They are well built and sturdy enough, not too large to carry easily in a purse (and in fact a bit easier to grip than are the Elph models, therefore making them easier to hold steady), and they offer enough adjustable features for 99% of the digital photo takers whom I know. Happily, the A70 will also function nicely in the automatic mode for folks who just want to point and shoot.
The combination of an optical 3X zoom plus a 3 megapixel resolution is truly ideal, a place where I think most users will find their "sweet spot" in digicams. The 3X (true) optical zoom is powerful enough to make itself useful in many non-portrait settings (sightseeing, sports, etc.) and the 3 megapixel resolution is more than adequate for computer viewing and storage, emailing, website posting and for printing crystal clear enlargements up to 11" x 14". Of course, the A70 offers all the expected niceties, such as easy connectability to your PC, good battery options (including disposables and rechargeables) and an almost infinitely expandable memory. Then there is the price; certainly the A70 is competitive with all other 3X/3Meg cams. This is a good enough digicam that hardly anyone who gets one will likely be the least bit disappointed.

Awesome Camera!!!
I bought this camera as an upgrade from my Sony Mavica 75. The Canon A70 is an excellent 3.2 mpix camera. Not only are the photographs of 35mm quality (depending on your printer, upgraded that about a year ago), but the camera has several point and click functions. For the seasoned photographer, the manual controls (manual focus, aperature settings, shutter speeds, etc.)are outstanding! The camera is loaded with functions galore, hence the 230-page manual. Invest in a 128 meg or higher compact flash card, the 16 meg fills up quick. No camera bag is supplied, I bought one for $10. Need to invest in 2 4-packs of rechargeable NiMH batteries and a charger, the cost of regular batteries will add up quick. This will be the last camera that I need to purchase for a very long time.

Solid, no-nonsense, easy-to-use camera
The Canon A70 Powershot is my first digital camera. Before this one, I owned a Canon EOS 35mm and spent hundreds of dollars a year on printing photos. However, I wanted to save on photo printing fees, share photos with friends and family over the web, and still enjoy the features that used for years on my EOS. I wanted to take photos in night and dim light situations as well as daytime and wide scenery, and enjoy the creative expression I had with the EOS. Going digital with the Canon Powershot was the most sensible move I could have made.

Things I like about this camera:
- the 3 megapixel resolution allows printing of very clean, clear photos on glossy paper;
- colors are natural-looking, vivid and realistic
- the ISO setting of up to 400 makes it easy to take photos without flash
- CompactFlash cards are cheaper than the other alternatives on the market
- the software included allows easy transfer of photos via USB
- power-up time is minimal
- the camera is a comfortable weight, and feels like a more expensive camera to the touch
- battery life (when using standard rechargeable Ni-MH AA batteries) is more than satisfactory for the casual photographer (I take maybe 50 photos a week, most without flash but with the LCD on, and only have to recharge once a month or so)
- photos taken using digital zoom, while looking grainy on the LCD, end up with surprisingly crisp clarity overall

Things I dislike:
- no 800x600 resolution setting (sometimes 640x480 seems too small and 1024x768 too large for photos shared over the web or used in PowerPoint slide shows)
- inept redeye settings (it never seemed to work too well for me - is there something I'm missing?);
- photos taken in sepia seem a tad yellowish for my taste (possibly a problem that could be adjusted in printing)
- the meager selection of LCD display background and sounds
- camera cannot read or display photos from a CF card that have been edited and resaved in a separate PC application (the LCD just shows a question mark)
- slightly flimsy focus knob/level (I would have preferred a bit more solid feel)
- removing the CF card requires a bit of a trick to get the lid off (it's fine once you get used to it, however)
- focus cannot be adjusted while recording video, and the sound quality of the built-in speaker is comparable to a cheap child's toy
- some purple stripes appear on the LCD in certain lighting conditions during shooting (these do not appear in the final photo, however)

All this said, for the main reasons why I bought this camera, I haven't regretted the purchase. (But for sharing photos over the web, the single most aggravating point is the lack of a 800x600 photo resolution setting! Alas, that is what Photoshop is for...) The camera is simple enough to use, feels sturdy, takes photos that are of excellent quality, and the benefits of this camera far outweigh the disadvantages IMO. Although I'm no expert photographer, I feel like I have purchased a product that will satisfy my basic needs and my creative needs for years to come.

The Best Beginners Camera
I have to admit that this is not my first digital camera, but the one that I had previously was very difficult to work with and broke after 6 months, which is why I ended up buying this camera. I had to go searching through many cameras and finally decided upon this one after reading the reviews here on Amazon and then checking it out at the store where I purchased it.
It is amazingly simple to use the first time around. By just turning it on and playing with it, you can figure out just about all the basics right away, which is why I say it is an awesome camera to have for a beginner (which is how I classify myself). It comes with so many features that at first I didn't think were really necessary, but now I feel I could not live without them. Every picture that I have taken has come out perfectly, which is saying a lot because I go off roading all the time and you get to see some of the most beautiful animals in their natural habitat, but you have to be quick to take the pictures of some of them which is why the "moving" feature is awesome and other times the animals are far away which is why the zoom is great! It does well even in poor lighting and at night. This camera is very easy to hook up to my Mac but unfortunately is not that compatible with the iPhoto program, but that is okay because the program that it comes with is very easy to use!! Overall I would have to say that this camera has not let me down yet and I don't forsee it doing so. Just remember these two magic words: rechargable batteries!!!

rocks
had this camera for a month fo shizzle my nizzle 12032093 buy it buy it

What a great camera
This camera is amazing. After using a sipix 2.1 and a very expensive Nikon 995 I'm glad to say this is probably the best camera you can get for the price. The picture quality is great. It is a very easy camera to use even if you've never used digital before. CompactFlash memory is great and cheap. I do wish they gave at least a 32 meg card though instead of the 16 meg card. The software included is easy to use and has a lot of cool features to add to your pictures. The ability to shoot short video is also great. Although you will probably need a bigger memory card if you plan on doing this. The LCD display is very clear and the red eye feature is very cool a lot of other digital cameras don't have. If you are looking for a great digital camera at a reasonable price go with this one. I looked into many other cameras before deciding on this one and can say this is probably the best thing you can get for just casual picture taking.

Great choice for the point and shoot photographer
Just spent 3 weeks on vacation and after 237 pictures, I am still on my 2nd set of AA batteries. I used the new Ultra Duracell batteries designed for this type of application. I have been using disposable cameras prior to this purchase, and wanted a digital that was just as easy to use...and this camera is a great choice. Software is also user friendly, I have not had to refer to the manual yet on sending the images to my computer and setting up slide shows and e-mailing photos. Very satisfied all around...and there is so much more this camera does...if I ever decide to take advantage of all its features.

target experience
I may just seem to be a teenager... But I work at a target as a level 2 over electronics... the Canon PowerShot A70 Digital Camera 3.2 mega pixel is the best digital camra that Target carries at this time. its a mix of good quality ... zoom, sofware, and camra, along with a good price. I wouldn't recomend anything else.

A delightful little camera!!!
I ordered my Canon A70 from Amazon less than a month ago and I'm truly happy with my choice! It arrived on time and in perfect condition!
I did a lot of research prior to buying this, my first digital camera! My original first choice was the new P8 from Sony, a nice camera indeed, but the more I learned about the Canon A70 the more I liked it.
There were a couple of things that really influenced my decission. The first one was the fact that Compact Flash cards are far cheaper and more popular than Sony's Memory Stick. I bought a 128mp card for $24.99, a fraction of the price I would have paid for a similar card for any Sony camera! The second thing was the fact that this Canon uses simple and easy to find AA batteries, which means that if my camera ever runs out of power (and I'm caught without a spare set of rechargeables) I can easily find batteries for it at any place!
I love the many features of this little camera, and believe me, it has lots of them! One other thing that I really like about it is that you can use it both as a completely automatic point and shoot camera or as a completely manual one! I've already taken several photographs, and I'm amazed with their quality!
It is not as small as other cameras, but it is small enough to be quite comfortable and easy to carry around! And it's quite stylish too!!!
I truly believe that nowadays this camera is the best deal in its class! The only problem with this camera is finding one...It's selling like hot-cakes!!!

Mega-Wonderful Camera
Let me start out with this that no camera will ever be the perfect camera for every single person. With that said, I have to say this very loud and clear... the Canon Powershot A70 and the lower model A60 as well are the best cameras available in their price range. The only difference between these two models is the megapixel size A70 = 3.2MP and the A60 = 2.1MP size. The A70 a great camera for a photography novice like myself, but it also has tons of powerful features for camera buffs. As others have stated this camera uses standard consumables such as AA batteries (always easy to find) and Compact Flash memory (easily the most common memory card format, I've even seen CF cards available at the grocery store). This camera is definitely designed for the masses and it shows because it sells out as soon as it hits a store shelf. I was lucky enough to get after searching for over a week. Several other stores were sold out and had no idea when theyÂ’d get one in stock. ItÂ’s h

amazing value with room for creativity - plus 3MP resolution
this camera is perfect for people who are starting off their digital camera career. it will work as a point and shoot but this is a camera you can hone your creativity on. when you're ready to experiment, the A70 provides a high degree of manual control for a camera at this price point.

pros:
- very nice resolution
- 3x optical zoom lens
- amazing manual control for the price: manual focus, selectable ISO sensitivity, and exposure (aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual)
- good metering and good tonal balance - maintains shadow detail
- good natural light white balance, strong and balanced colours
- AF assist lamp helps auto-focus for low light situations
- nice layout of controls and easy to understand
- very nice build quality - feels more expensive than what its price would suggest
- bright, detailed LCD monitor
- good shot-to-shot times, quick start-up time too
- movie clip mode up to 3 minutes
- low noise at ISO 50 (keep in mind that ISO 50 for this camera is actually ISO 100 for everyone else; likewise, ISO 100 is in reality closer to ISO 200, etc)
- impressive battery life plus it uses non-proprietary AAs (but i'd recommend buying rechargeables)
- excellent value - no one else offers this feature set at this price level

cons:
- slight chromatic aberrations visible
- AF Assist lamp doesn't have enough power at telephoto zoom
- moderately underexposed flash shots
- RAW format not supported
- no histogram available - useful to see if photos have correct exposure
- distracting mirror finish frame surrounds the LCD monitor
- competition is lighter and smaller, but also does not give the same amount of manual control
- the supplied 16MB CF card is not adequate - be ready to shell out more $$ for more memory

i was surprised by this camera. at its price point, it has the most features among cameras available today. this camera will work well with beginners (but who'll want to spread their "creative" wings later) but will not disappoint more advanced photographers on a budget. definitely a camera to add to your short list.

An excellent Camera
I've owned this camera for 2 days, and already I've had a blast with it. I previously co-owned an Olympus D-550, but decided to buy a second one just for me.

It has great battery life (well, for a digital camera at least). The pictures come out very good, and it has very nice optics (interchangeable lenses [not included] which is a nice feature). It also uses compact flash, which is way better than smart media. It's very cheap and you can get up to 256MB of storage space for this camera.

The only real con is that it doesnt support uncompressed images (like TIFF files). That is really something I would've liked to have, although the jpeg superfine compression it uses is practically lossless.

Another small quirk is that there is no battery meter. It only tells you when you are about to run out (maybe 5 minutes of life left?). But it lasts so long, you really don't have to worry about it.

There was one other thing that bothered me, but was not actually a problem, was how the picture on the LCD got lines through it when zooming. The lines disappear when you stop. At first I thought this was an issue with the LCD, as it looked suspicious. But not to worry, according to a Canon technician this is normal.
It is neither annoying nor do the lines interfering with viewing your subject. However new owners might think there is something wrong with their camera. Good quality batteries helps alleviate this problem.

As with all non professional digital camera's, the autofocus/auto shooting mode doesn't always work correctly... This model works extremely well, but of course is not perfect. But one should keep in mind that for 300$ this is by far superior to almost others out there under 500$. Autofocusing by most digital camera's are distracted by anything that emits glare or is very shiny/light reflective. The canon can be fooled, but it generally works even under tricky conditions. But of course Canon gives you a very complete set of manual features to adjust for these conditions. Most of the time this is not needed... I find it hard to match the "auto" mode quality with my own settings, a very big positive.

The ergonomics are also wonderful, it's very comfortable to hold and unlike other cameras you don't feel like you are going to drop it.

Although I have mostly listed some negative things about this camera, this is no where near a bad review. The camera is wonderful, and the best 3-4 MP camera you can buy IMO. The clarity of the pictures and their color is wonderful. I really don't see how anyone could be disappointed with this camera. In all likelihood every non professional user should be thrilled with it.

This is the best camera I've tested yet.

Entering Digital Photography
After many months of research, decided to purchase the Canon A70. The camera has provided an excellent entry into digital photography. The features on this camera are excellent. Can't believe how much flexibility in picture taking can be included in such a small package.

I was concerned about the small camera size due to my arthritic fingers, but it has been easy to handle and control.

Battery life has been excellent. The stitch picture feature is exceptional. Really happy with the camera with one exception - the shutter does not respond as fast as my Nikon N6006. Will try the recommended method of partially depressing the shutter to allow camera to make adjustments before taking the picture.

Picture quality has been great and processing the digital pictures thru a flash card reader easy.

This camera ROCKS!!!!
While [$$] still isn't "chump change" to me, it is a bargain for this camera.
When you open the box and take the camera out, you're surprised at how small it is but then, you're surprised by how solid and natural it feels in your hand. Even though the body is plastic, it has a sturdy feel to it unlike some other cameras in this price range.

Once it's in your hands, you pop in the 4 AA batteries, the compact flash card and, away you go. Put it in AUTO mode and you have a nice 3MP point and shoot camera that responds very well to varying light conditions and circumstances.

In other modes you have control over; white balance, exposure compensation, Drive (Single shot, continuous shooting, self-timer), ISO speed, Light Metering, Image Quality and Photo Effect (Off, vivid color, neutral color, low sharpening, sepia, black & white) The other modes are:

P-this mode is the same as AUTO but you have control over the above mentioned options.

Av-Aperture Priority, you set the f-stop, the camera sets the shutter speed.

Tv-Shutter Priority, you set the shutter speed, the camera sets the f-stop

M-full manual, you have control over shutter speed, aperture, flash output, and focus.

In addition to that, there's six other modes; Slow Shutter, Fast Shutter, Landscape, Night Scene and, Portrait. In these modes, the camera sets shutter and aperture to the appropriate settings for each situation. Also included is a Stitch mode which lets you take a series of photos and then combine with the software for a panoramic effect.
The last mode on the camera is Movie Mode. In Movie Mode, you can record at 3 resolutions; 640 X 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120. In the largest format you can record for 30 seconds and, in the other two formats, you can record approx. 3 minutes. Movies are recorded with sound in the AVI format but unfortunately, you can not use the zoom while filming in this mode.

Performance

When you power the camera up, it takes about 3 seconds to warm up before it's ready to shoot. Once it's ready, you push the shutter down halfway to lock the autofocus and then depress the shutter fully. Now you have a pic! You can review it on the LCD if you want any where from 2 to 10 seconds. The LCD screen measures 1.5 inches and fairly clear and easy to see but it would have been nice to control the brightness.
Next move inside to take some flash pictures. Here you'll use the autofocus illuminator to help the camera focus in low light. There's a small orange light on the front of the camera under the flash, when you focus, it comes on to make it easier for the camera to focus. This eliminates the long focus times that some other camera have in these situations if they can even focus at all. Also inside, you'll appreciate the fact that Canon put a decent flash on this little guy. It has a working distance of about 13 feet at the wide angle setting.
Picture Quality is very good. Pictures come out sharp with accurate color tones. I do get red-eye sometimes in indoor shots but, not always and, not to the point that I would consider unacceptable. I have yet to have any incidences of "purple fringing"

Overall, a VERY solid camera!

This camera is GREAT!
First of all, WOW! I bought this camera for my girlfriend for her birthday. She and her family are really into taking pictures of everything: their pets, each other, anything! Never having even seen the camera in real life I bought it off Amazon at a great price.
I'm giving it to her with all the extras (a usb card reader so you don't have to plug in your camera, rechargeable batteries w/ charger and a 256 mb CF card.) I will be giving it to her in a couple of weeks, so I decided to make sure everything works ok. BAD MOVE!!!! I love it so much! I am not much of a picture guy and I've used it for a couple of days and have already taken nearly a hundred pictures! It is a great piece of work. It's great to be able to see a picture on your computer within 5 minutes of taking it! I'm going to have to get me one.
The quality is great! When you get the focus right, which isn;t TOO hard, the pictures look professional!
This camera is great and I recommend it very highly!

DO NOT BUY BEST BUY
I love this camera so far....

My beef is with Best Buy. I bought this camera at a Best Buy in Michigan, 4 hours from where I live in Canada and specifically asked if I could exchange it at a Best Buy in Canada. They all said NO PROBLEM. Turns out I needed to exchange it and to my chagrin I am unable to do it. Ya I could return but what a frekin incovenience...and they will not componsate me either.

Absolutely Magnificant
I have been long awaiting my first Digital Camera purchase. I have been putting it off for well over a year now because I just could not find a camera that I fell in love with. That was until I saw the Canon A70 one day at work. I started playing around with it and immediately liked it. As I worked more I played around with it more, and before I knew it I had decided which camera I would purchase when eventually purchased a camera. The first thing you will notice about the A70 is how comfortable the camera feels while holding it. The camera is extremely easy to turn on, and selecting one of the 12 different shooting modes is perfectly placed for your thumb. The zoom is more than enough for me at 3.2 digital and 3X optical. Taking/viewing pictures is as easy as any other camera I have ever seen, and the battery life is what is excpected from 4 alkaline AAs(I havent used Rechargable batteries yet). There is no lens cover to worry about because there is a shutter that comes over the lens when you turn the power off. The software that come with the camera is above expectations so far, but I have not used it incredibly extensively yet. The Canon A70 does have a movie mode, and it works fine for short clips. I also have the Canon ZR45 so I do not use the movie mode on the A70 that much. Everything you need to get started come with the camera, including a strap and a 16mb Campactflash memory card. Another nice thing about the camera is that it takes the CF card. They are by far the easiest to find and cost far less than a number of other memory cards. The Canon A70 is a great buy for the money at an MSRP of $$$$$. I would definitely recomend the A70 to newcomers of the Digital Camera world and even to people looking to upgrade from their current camera. The A70 is a SOLID 5 star camera.

Go get one !
I'll keep this short, because there are lots of other reviews for the techies. In a nutshell, I'd simply say if you want a digital camera that point and shoot, the A-70 can't be beat for under $ 300 --- probably not for a lot more dollars, either.

I have a huge old Sony Mavica FD-91 that has been a good, reliable workhorse. I like Sony in general, and looked at several new models before coming across the Canon A-70.

I started to buy one at Amazon.com, but then I saw it was coming from Target (no free shipping!), so I said what the heck, I'll just go there and get one. No luck, they were out, and could not say when they would get more. Circuit City and Best Buy had the same story.

Back to the internet, and found a lot of the camera suppliers were also out. So back to good old Amazon.com. When I did the deal, their supplier had changed to Office Depot, but they had some in stock and I got mine in just a few days, for about $ 8.00 shipping.

Canon has a nice package, including the camera, USB cable, a cable for hooking the camera up to a TV, four AA batteries, a stingy 16MB compact flash card, software, and about four pounds of manuals. I found the manuals to be nicely done, better than what I'm used to from Sony by far.

The camera is just jam-up. For most of us, just leave it in "auto" and start shooting. For shutterbugs, it has a number of features that will allow special settings. It operates on four AA batteries, no high dollar jobs like many other cameras use. I invested in rechargeable 1800 mAh Nickel Metal Hydrides, having been forewarned by other reviewers. I also stuck in a 512 MB card so I won't have to screw around changing them, or at least not very often.

I think the A-70 is a great design --- the battery box forms a natural grip for right handers. The optical view finder is far enough left so that if you use your right eye, you nose won't get the back of the camera greasy. No lens cap, it has an automatic eyelid, sort of. Only a 3-X zoom, but c'mon, we're talking a $ 299.00 3.2 Megapixel camera here! The "feel" is good and solid. The little LCD on the back is sharp and clear, and there are a minimum of buttons to deal with --- what is there is easy to use.

So, if you are a first time digital camera buyer, this would be the one I'd recommend. It is small enough for a purse, or to slip into a trouser pocket, so it will go anywhere with minimal fuss. It's cheap, takes great pictures --- even videos if you want --- what's not to like?

great camera for the price
I have just purchased the canon powershot A70 - my first digital camera. I love it. I have gotten a ton of great pictures in every type of setting and in different types of lighting. The clarity of the pictures has been great. Most of my pictures have been taken on Auto but the manual features have been easy to use and simple to learn. I would recommend this camera to anyone who wants to get great pictures of their family and record trips or special occasions.

Great camera, but not to be knocked around
I really have enjoyed my A70. I don't know that I think of it as a point a shoot though, at least in the way many people do. I think that too many people think of "point and shoot" as "toss and bounce". This is a precision insturment, and should be treated as such. Your total investment on a camera like this after you buy memory cards, case, rechargable batteries, better photo/imaging software (Photoshop Elements is great!), and any other desired accessories can be in excess of $500. Treat it like that and it will be fine. If you want a camera to toss about, buy a Kodak or Fuji that won't make you want to cry if it gets broken. If you are wanting a digital camera that you can customize to take pictures the way you want, is flexible, but will also let you just snap off quick quality pictures when you don't want to have to think, the A70 will do the job well.

Why not 5 stars? I don't understand why a camera at this price point can't focus as fast as a [cheap]35mm AF Minolta "point and shoot". I have played with a lot of 3MP cameras (Nikon, Olympus, Sony, etc), and none of them focus as fast or as accurately as my cheapy Minolta, especially in low light. I couldn't give any digital cam that I have tried that is priced under $800 five stars for this reason. I would give 4.5 stars if I could.

Awesome Camera with a great price!
bought this camera last may... i was thinking about buying the ixusv3 because of the steel casing but at the last second i changed my mind because i read about the a70. The advantage of the A70 over the Ixusv3 is the manual controls... the manual controls help me tweak the image. thus producing pictures that u feel should show ... :)

btw i bought this with a viking 128mb CF card!

Good: Movies; Bad: Purple Fringing
I agree with the positive reviews here. I have taken some really nice pictures. But one qualification: It does have a significant problem with "purple fringing": a very bright patch next to a very dark patch in your picture will sometimes have a purple halo around it. I know this is common in cameras with higher pixel counts, but I don't know how this camera compares to similarly priced models. It can usually be removed with a time consuming procedure in Photoshop, etc. This problem could apparently be solved if the A70 used a better interpolation technique in the camera.

They say the problem can be dimished by using a longer focal length (zooming in) or a lower ISO, but even this does not always work. But to be honest, the movie mode is so awesome (better than anything else out there for the price), that I am willing to put up with this problem.

BTW, I also recommend "Complete Digital Photography" by Ben Long if you want to know how digital cameras work, how to take better pictures, and even how to choose the right camera.

And the movie mode is awesome at VGA resolution--shown on my 19" TV, it looks a lot like a really good super-8 movie. The sound quality isn't bad either (mono, of course). Downside: only 30 seconds, and the camera will not adjust for lighting conditions during shhoting.

So Far So Good
Took me long enough to get this one. In fact I went ahead and ordered the A60. But then the A70 finally came. Gave the A60 to my sister. I have mine set on medium resolution (which is what the A60 is) and my pictures come out just fine. Instructions were simple enough. Too many steps have to be taken to set it on auto shutter release, but what the heck. Don't use it that often anyway. Thrilled I had it when our grandson was born. Taken lots of pictures already. so far ir has performed flawlessly and the picture quality is great. I would and have recommended this camera to relatives and friends.

Cannon Powershot A70 3mp Digital Camera w/3x Optical Zoom
I am very pleased with this camera---The pictures turn out really good---The only problem we had was the memory card only holds a few pictures---So be sure and get a larger one for it---I think anyne would like it--It's small, but very good.

Cannot complain about this camera
I bought this camera a couple of months ago despite some reviews I've read online about battery life, etc. The battery life was certainly not a problem with NimH batteries. I took dozens among dozens of pictures before I had to change the batteries. If you leave the camera on for hours and are taking pictures all day long then maybe the battery will not last for more than two days. But if you are like me and take a few pictures here, turn the camera off, then say an 30 minutes later take another few pictures here and there, etc. Then the battery should last for weeks. It did for me!

It also takes great pictures in the dark. I had a digital camera years ago and in low light it was terrible. With the canon I turned off all the lights and had only the TV on and it still took great shots.

It even takes short movie stills. Not bad.

All in all, I cannot complain about this camera and I'm quite happy with it.

HORRIBLE QUALITY
About a week after I purchased the camera BRAND NEW, the LCD screen went dark for no reason and went on and off with no pattern at all. I sent it in for repair (I had to pay for shipping) and they returned it two weeks later "all fixed." ONE DAY AFTER I received it back the LCD screen turned dark again and the whole problem came back, not to speak of the scratch on my camera from the repair process. I had a lot of respect for Canon products before this but now I am totally apalled by their poor quality.

I LOVE THIS CAMERA!!
I AM A NOVICE DIGITAL PICTURE TAKER. I RESEARCHED NUMEROUS CAMERAS BOTH ONLINE AND IN RETAIL SHOPS, SOME SPECIALTY. WHEN CHOOSING A CAMERA I RESEARCHED FEATURES AND USAGES(RECOMMENDED) THIS CAMERA IS COMPACT, EASY TO USE, UPLOADING IMAGES WAS A BREEZE~ I DO RECOMMEND SOME RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES AS YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH PICTURES TAKING BECAUSE OF THIS CAMERA. I KNOW IM ADDICTED TO IT..I TAKE MY LIL POWERSHOT WITH ME EVERYWHERE~ THE SOFTWARE IS PHENOMINAL AS WELL! IT COMES WITH USB AND AV/AU, AND BATTERIES... RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX YOU CAN BEGIN TAKING PICTURES. THE ZOOM IS SUPERB ALL MY PICTURES HAVE COME OUT WONDERFUL...YOU CAN REVIEW AS YOU SHOOT AND DELETE, TWIST, ALTER, AND SHOOT PANORAMIC AS WELL...WHAT NEEDS EDITING CANON PROVIDES THE SOFTWARE TO DO WITH. THE EVEN PROVIDE TEXT ADDITION, FRAMES ND MORE!
WANT A CAMERA INVEST IN THIS ONE!! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. OH AND DID I MENTION THE EXCELLENT VIDEO WITH SOUND~ AMAZING

excellent product
This is the latest model in this mellenium.Everyone in the world over should strive to own one.

killer camera
I haven't even begun to get into the finer details of this camera but just fooling around with the automatic setting is producing some outstanding pictures. I like the way it sits in my hand and it is easy to hold steady with just one hand. I cannot believe the clarity.
Worth every penny so far. I don't know how it will hold up, time will tell, but for now: THIS THING IS GREAT!!!!

Cannon A 70
Great camera. Easy for a beginner, just point and shoot. With it's advanced features an advanced user can use it like a full function SLR. Great definition in photos.

My First Digital-Great Choice!
I can sum the experience I've had with the A70 up in four words: I Love This Camera! I researched digital cameras for about a year, and learned a lot about them in the process. My reasons for buying this camera came down to a few: I wanted a camera that could go totally automatic for my "point & shoot" Wife, but that could go fancy for me. I wanted a camera that actually felt like a camera in my hand, vs. some of the "mini-digitals" that I've seen.

I've taken over 200 photos so far and am still using the AA batteries that came with the camera. I rarely use the LCD display to frame the photo, using the viewfinder instead. I purchased a SanDisk 256mb Premium Quality card. It cost $10 more than the standard 256mb card and is well worth it.

I've tried the direct connect USB cable to download images from the camera to my computer. It was quick, easy, and worked very well.

Of course with some flash shots you get some red eye, but that's easily edited. For outside photos, this camera takes shots with colors so vibrant the images are almost three-dimensional.

I really can't find anything with this camera that isn't perfect.Even the directions are clearly written and very easy to follow. What a buy! I'd recommend this camera to anyone who wants a quality product that is easy to operate and takes great photos.

Excellent Camera - Value for money.
Excellent Camera - Value for money. Used during my Hawaii trip and was amazed by the output. Not too expensive, but provides most of the features you look for.
Bottomline, the quality of the pictures is clear enough for human eye. Not sure, how someone can convince me to buy something more clearer for double the cost.

No Complaints
I've had this camera for about a week now, and I love it. So what that it didn't come with rechargeable batteries and a charger. I bought this separate myself using energizer rechargeable batteries and it cost less than the set offered by Canon. I've tried all the effects and settings on this camera and they all work great. It's also nice to be able to print directly to my printer and not having to plug the camera into my computer. I highly recommend this camera. It's the best for under $500. I got mine for $289. Need a camera without having to worry about film. Get this one.

Value-packed
I am an amateur photographer (vacations, get-togethers, etc.) and I have owned a Canon A-10 for several years and it met all of my needs valiantly. I received the A-70 as a gift (which I researched) and have been playing with it for a few months now, before writing this review. All I can say is: WOW! You'd be hard pressed to find such a a great camera packed with so many features at such a great price.

What I like the most:
-Canon reliability and superior lens
-small size (smaller! than the A10)...really fits in my pocket
-no lens cover to worry about
-super-sharp pictures (both for web-publishing and up to 8X10 prints...SUPER!)
-fun movie function let's me take all the video that my friends could bear to watch (I've only reached up to 3 minutes so far)
-VIVID color
-the numerous manual feature options, which are allowing me to learn more about photography and experiment at my own pace

What I found useless in this package:
-while it's nice that it runs on AAA's, there's no use packaging with regular batteries (only useful in a pinch...you need NiMH rechargeables!)
-the accompanying memory card is nigh-useless...I carry it on vacations in case I fill up, but really, if you want to have fun you need a minimum of 512MB for peace of mind and room to make lots of mistakes and throw in a few video clips

BOTTOM-LINE: after months of research and endless reading, all roads led me to this camera and it is WELL WORTH IT! This will keep me busy for the next couple of years exploring and learning. In the meantime the AUTO options produce FANTASTIC pictures, and the video clips are great. QUALITY wrapped in a FUN, EASY and TRULY COMPACT package.

ALSO, as a Mac-user, this camera is completely Mac-compatible and a snap to use...plug-and-play in OS X...my dog could download pictures it's so ridiculously easy.

Dust, dust and dust. Poor focus, heavy, so so picture
I returned the camera the next day, even I had to lose the gift card of $50.

3 pieces of dust on the top of the lens once I opened the package. And one piece of dust under the lens.

fuzzy focus. Picture is just so so. The camera is very heavy with the 4 AA batteries.

Japanese camera is not as what I thought before. The 1 M kodak I bought 3 years ago takes sharper picture than this one.

I would rather buy Samsung Digimax 4500, digimax 3500, Digimax V3 and digimax V4. They also have full manual control. And they are much lighter.

Size is everything...
Pros: Photo quality is excellent, and the features are ruling. The movies look good, and I haven't had any technical issues with it. Compact flash is a nice storage medium.

Cons: This is a very heavy camera, and the end part is quite big, preventing it from being carried in a pocket (I don't carry a purse).

Final thoughts: Excellent for photographing your friends in bars (and making new ones!) Having said that, I would have rather had a smaller camera with the same features for the same price. Maybe a Pentax or the Digital Elph....

Great Camera Terrible Customer Service Beware of Waranty
This Camera takes great Pictures the colors are vivid and it is easy to use. I purchased an underwater case for it which leaked and ruined my month old camera. Customer service was rude, blamed me and then tried to bargain with me to fix it for $ instead of the $ that they initially requested. The underwater case has a 7 DAY WARANTY and the camera is not covered for water damage. My father had a similar problem with his $Nikon digital which just stopped working for no aparent reason, they claimed it was water damage and tried to bargain with him to buy a rebuilt one for $. So beware of bad customer service. Canon's customer service has all bad unreasolved reviews at the Better business Bureau.

Lots of great features make for digital fun
This is my first digital so I'm no expert, but I've had nothing but trouble-free fun with this puppy since August. My wife and I took it on a cruise to Alaska and all our friends have complemented us on the pictures we took using the A70. The all-automatic setting makes pictures totally easy for the novice and the manual settings allow you to experiment. The user manual is pretty good at explaining basic operation and features and the free software helps you get your shots on your computer for editing and uploads.

Only two complaints: the visual display is very hard to see in daylight (use the old fashion viewfinder) and be sure you get rechargeable batteries. That huge sucking sound you hear is the power draining out of your alkalines.

Very Pleased
I was looking for a small good quality digital camera for around $300. I wasn't sure whether to get the canon a70 or the Kodak EasyShare DX6340. I read reviews anywhere i could. I saw some pretty discouraging reviews of the canon. Although, i liked the size and the layout. I also heard from friends and family that i should definitly go with the canon. That the lense was crystal over kodaks glass. I'm very glad that i chose the canon. It takes amazing pictures and i couldnt be happier! I strongly recommend the canon a70 to anyone looking for a great little camera.

Great compact camera!
I got one in October 2003 and it makes images as good as my $4,000 DSLR. You can see my comments in detail at http://kenrockwell.com/canon/a70.htm and examples of photos at http://kenrockwell.com/best

I LOVE it! Runs forever on a set of batteries, easy to use, great results. Caveat: like all cameras, it is an artists tool. No camera just makes great photos all by itself.

Ken

WONDERFUL CAMERA
This is my first digital camera, but I have had experience with others that family members own. I did a lot of research to determine what I wanted out of a camera and the A70 had all the features I wanted. I have had it for about three weeks now and love it. The insrtuction manual isan easy read, so easy that when I was finished reading it I was taking pictures like a pro. The quality of the pictures is excellent. The options allow you to take pictures in all sorts of settings, and lighting. It's portability is awesome. I fit it into the lapel pocket of a jacket and it fit perfectly. I HIGHLY recommend this camera even though it is a bit pricy.

Great Camera
I won't belabor points other have made. I just want to say in my expirience this is a great camera. Takes outstanding point and shoot photo's with no adjustment, however if you want to control aperture/shutter speed, etc you have the option.

As someone knew to photography it gave me many options.

Consider buying a tripod and rechargable batterys as well

Mac compatible & easy for a techno-novice
I bought this camera after doing a great deal of online research and reading Consumer Reports. I wanted a simple, point and shoot camera that *could* do all the fancy stuff if I decided I wanted to learn how to use those features. This camera fit both needs--and was very highly recommended by many reviewers, including Consumer Reports.

I've had the camera for about four months now, and I am completely thrilled with it. It takes fabulous, clear pictures--pictures of runners came out just as clearly as those of kids trick or treating in the dark--and the camera is easy to hook up to my Mac with a cable. If you use a Mac, you can easily import the photos into iPhoto. One thing I would recommend to any purchaser--pick up a memory card with more memory than the card that comes with the camera. You'll use it.

I have read very little of the manual, and was able to figure out the camera with ease. I'd recommend this camera to anyone who wants great photos without trying to learn a complicated camera (though this does have the bells and whistles if you want to take advantage of them!)

GREAT VALUE, BUT CONSIDER CANON'S OWN S-230
The A70 is a very decent entry-level digicam with the usual benefits that come from any Canon family camera: excellent options for a point-and-shoot lightweight camera.

But, if you are looking for your first digicam purchase and a smallish camera to carry around, I'd recommend you to also consider at the sleek S series line from Canon, or the smaller Nikons, or more recent versions of the Minolta Dimage.

Since I am recommending AGAINST the A70, I'll focus in this review on what is NOT necessarily so cool about this camera --

(1) The A70 comes with 3.2 megapixels. The S230 comes with 3 megapixels. Not that big of a difference especially if you consider the somewhat heftier price tag for A70.
(2) Images are not as vivid as the S-series cams. The feel of the pics is a bit blurred (soft focus) and need sharpening in a photo-editing software. Quickly gets tiring.
(3) You'll find the camera is prone to the dreaded "E18 error". Google for it.
(4) Uses AA batteries, which means shorter usage time than Lithium-ion.
(5) When you zoom in in dark surroundings, without Flash, the pictures have a problem with horizontal lining that is a pain to get rid of.
(6) Miniscule memory card included with camera forcing purchase of upgrade immediately.
(7) The ON-OFF button is a pain to operate in this design.
(8) Frequent purple fringing, plus red colors appear frequently as purples in the pics.
(9) Speaking of which, there is red-eye galore, even with the red eye reduction setting turned on.

I'm speaking of a 2003 model and while you read this review, Canon may have released a newer series of these digicams. Caveat Emptor. I evangelize Canon in general but this cam I'd recommend you to stay away from. However, do consider some of the other excellent value for money offerings from Canon, including, as mentioned above, the S230, the S400 etc.

Poor Quality Control?
My first A70 did a very nice job for a few weeks until it failed without warning. The camera simply died completely after writing two black "photos" to the memory card. Perhaps the replacement camera will work flawlessly for years to come. Canon can ill afford hundreds (or even dozens) of customers writing personal accounts of catastrophic failures of their products. In my opinion, this model can only maintain its classification as a good value if at least 99.9% of the units shipped remain failure-free for at least two years in the field.

triple failure
Having waited 4 months before coming to the US from the UK in order to get a better price for the A70, I waltzed into my local shop to purchase my long sought after little gem.
Having got it home and excitedly unwrapped it,I tinkered with it for around 10 minutes and then turned it off-much to my dissapointment, only one of the blades of the lens shutter closed. After having come to terms with my misfortune, I returned the camera to the shop and promptly obtained a replacement. Dissapointment then turned to downright disgust, as the function button on my substitued A70 completely failed to work-nothing, not a whisper. Holding my head in my hands, I once again returned to the shop and after much deliberation I decided to give it one more shot (excuse the pun), assuming that the laws of probability would prevent any additional grief; alas, as the shop assistant was telling me how they had sold thousands with no problems, the third camera showed the exact same symptoms as the first-only one of the shutter blades closed properly.
Now it is likely that my misfortune could never be equalled but a word of warning to those purchasing this model: you may want to buy it in a shop to prevent yourself from having to send anything to a mail-order company in timbuktu and never seeing your camera again. Secondly, check, check, check it out in every possible way before taking it home, at least for those problems which I mentioned.
Best of luck. I know I will need some.

Amazing Digi Cam for everyone!
The Canon A70 Digital Cam is just Amazing. It's easy to use and has so many shooting modes and features. 3 min video time and endless shots once you've got the right Compact Flash.
It comes with a 16MB card but i recently bought the 256 MB and now I'm able to take about 530 pix at the highest resolution. I just love this camera and would recommend it to everyone!!!!!!!!!

There lots of Pros about the cam and i suppose some Cons, like blurred images once in a while, but truth is ; i'm still reading the manual so its a lot of stuff to play around with.

Overall , this is a damn good Digi Cam and trust me, Once you buy it and you see what it can do, you'll see how every dollar you spent on it is Soooooooooooo worth it.

I now have so many pictures on my PC and i use it daily to catch all the great moments i've been missing in the past.

SHOUT OUT TO CANON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love My Canon A70 just love ittttttttttttttttt

You should get one too!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent Digital Camera and Night Shots!!!
After reading other reviews with inaccurate information, I had to write a review to correct them. Here are few things to keep in mind as you read. Foremost, it should be noted that in almost any magazine you pick up, the Canon Powershot A70 is always rated #1. Second, the information I am providing has been gathered based on a comparison and my experience with other camera's in its field, more noteably the Fuji Finepix A310, Nikon Coolpix 3100, and lesser models such as the Fuji Finepix 2650 and Nikon Coolpix 2100.

To begin this camera has a wealth of features that other cameras do not, so if you are starting out on a digicam it has auto mode and if your a pro or trying to be one, then your all set in that department as well.

A few readers mentioned that it takes bad pictures in the dark or low-light conditions. I would be interested to know what setting they used to take those pictures because I have gotten perfect pictures, sometimes better than with good lighting. In a few scenarios, I have chosen to use no lights rather than use lights for the photograph.

In addition to being able to take pictures in both low and high lighting pictures, the Canon A70 produces very, very little image noise, only a few red eye images (which can be edited on a computer) and out of approximatley 100 photos that are taken produced only 3 unfocused pictures.

With the wealth of features, the excellent image quality and the long battery life, it is not difficult to give the Canon Powershot A70 5 stars!!!

Lack of low light autofocusing...
Canon is really making a BIG MISTAKE by not improving on its low light autofocus ability. This is another Canon that takes GREAT daytime shots but is incapable of focusing in low light (even with the assist beam). Even my puny Sony U30 can focus in low light, and its only a 2.0 mp (though not a very good resolution). Sometimes it even lies and double beeps that its focused but its not! Don't get this camera (A60/70/80) or most Canons if you take dark indoor or a lot of night shots, they CANNOT FOCUS in low light!

The images are also a little soft. They require a bit of sharpening to make them decent to view. Nice that there is enough resolution to make it sharp but you "have to" sharpen.

Its everything I heard it was.
Im enjoying my third day of play with this camera and looking forward to more. Im a weird combination of photo nut and tech geek so I decided to finally take the plunge and replace my dead point and shoot with a digital camera. Being anal I decided to do some serious research before choosing one. I decided to stick to 3 mp because Im dreaming of getting a digital SLR down the road and didnt want to sink too much money into this.

It seemed that everywhere I checked every serious reviewer raved about this camera. What finally sold me on it was the fact that it had a lot of advance features that would allow me to tweak my photos (aperture priority, etc..), movies with sound, autofocus assist for low light situations, and would still be simple enough for my wife to snap shots of the kids quickly. All I can say is WOW! I didn't even have to crack open the manual for the first 2 days. I printed out some 4x6's at a Kodak kiosk just to check the image quality and Ive got to say that Im very impressed. There is no way (at that size) to tell the difference between this camera and a regular film point and shoot. If you want beautiful 4x6's, the ability to tweak your settings, and ease of use in a digital camera I would run out and grab this.

UPDATE: It's now been a good month and a half and I still dont have a real complaint. Buyers should be aware that the battery life on this camera is EXCELLENT! If you're put off by the idea of having to buy AA batteries get yourself 8 rechargeables. You'll always have a spare set charged up. And if you're ever traveling and run out its easy enough to get regular AA's anywhere. Try that with a proprietary battery. For those of you worried about the 3 megapixel just keep one thing in mind...It will only be a problem if you try to blow it up larger than 8x10. How many of you have ever felt the need to do that?

I mentioned the ability to tweak earlier. I'm happy. You get most of the options that you normally have to buy an SLR in a compact camera size. All you semi-serious photo people should seriously consider this just for that reason. Many of the other digital point and shoots are just too dumb and would have frustrated me. OK...one problem is red eye. But I knew that going in just b/c of how physically close the flash is to the lens. But that's what photo software is for. Other than that the camera is everything I though it would be....a very useful quality digital camera for a very reasonable price.

The "A" line cameras are perfect for the point and shoot
I am completely satisfied with the camera. I would recommed you read your manual before you begin taking pictures. I was amazed by some of the features it does have. I also like the fact I can use regular batteries in it. Make sure you invest in a rapid charger and couple of sets of rechargable batteries.

It's not perfect taking pictures in low light. I still did receive some red eyes even with red eye reduction light on.

I would recommend this camera.