Canon PowerShot A710 IS

...buy a compact camera from Canon was almost obliged. I have already owned an EOS350 (Rebel XT in the US) since 2005 and I wanted to simplify as much as possible my life: the number of cables I have to bring along and the number of applications installed on my PCs. When a year ago I decided to buy a low-budget video-camera I bought the cheaper one from Canon (MV790) which used the same battery as the EOS 350. Have you ever thought how much things are ...
...say I would not buy Canon products if I would not be happy with their products. I also like Canon internet support, bundled software and post-sale assistance (Italy in my case).


- Camera Selection criteria
So I decided to replace my Fuji E550 (very good product) and buy a Canon compact camera. So I looked for the professional reviews of Canon cameras on some web sites. These are the features I was looking for:
more

- Premise
My decision to buy a compact camera from Canon was almost obliged. I have already owned an EOS350 (Rebel XT in the US) since 2005 and I wanted to simplify as much as possible my life: the number of cables I have to bring along and the number of applications installed on my PCs. When a year ago I decided to buy a low-budget video-camera I bought the cheaper one from Canon (MV790) which used the same battery as the EOS 350. Have you ever thought how much things are simplified by having to carry only one battery charger and in case of emergency being able to swap the batteries? That was great for me (and you also save on additional batteries that usually cost a lot).

Sorry for the long premise but I wanted to explain the background of my choice. Perhaps photo purists would like to hear about technical specifications but for these matters you can found on epinions.com or other web sites all the information you need. Needless to say I would not buy Canon products if I would not be happy with their products. I also like Canon internet support, bundled software and post-sale assistance (Italy in my case).

- Camera Selection criteria
So I decided to replace my Fuji E550 (very good product) and buy a Canon compact camera. So I looked for the professional reviews of Canon cameras on some web sites. These are the features I was looking for:

- Light / Small size - when possible I bring with me my EOS 350 (Rebel XT) but I always want to have something that just fits in my pouch or pockets when I do not need or I cannot bring an SLR
- Good photo quality, needless to say
- Basic video features
- AA Ni-Mh batteries or NB-2LH (the one of EOS 350)
- Focal length at wide angle less than 35mm (35mm equivalent) welcomed
- Price less than 250-300 euro

The G7 was too big (and expansive), not an option at all. The A640 was a possibility but I did not like the 4 AA batteries that make the camera bigger and heavier. When I went to Mediaworld (the local electronic shop) and tried the handgrip of some cameras I really liked the A710is as it was very compact, the case though made of plastic appeared solid, the viewfinder was pretty good(considering the size of the camera) and it mostly matched all my specifications.

- Display (good)
The display is a 2,5" LCD, brightness automatically changes according to the external light conditions (clever), resolution is 115K so it is average (could have been better). In bright light conditions, as most of the other cameras, the view on the LCD could be not easy. However the viewfinder (with no dioptre adjustment) is quite good, for sure better than the Fuji E550.

- Lens, CCD and Zoom
The lens and 7 Mpixel CCD gave good results in almost all my shots. Only rarely I have noticed some vignetting in the corners. The optical stabilizer is really great as it will reduce to a not negligible level the risk of obtaining blurred photos. What I have not fully appreciated is the quality at ISO 400: noise is quite noticeable and for this reason the great advantages of the optical stabilizer are to a certain extent reduced. ISO 800 is quite bad from my standpoint. The Fuji E550 was much better on this respect. This is pretty strange as on the EOS350 (with same Digic II processor) the quality at high ISO resolution is really good (not bad even at ISO1600).

When looking for the camera I would have preferred a wide angle camera (28mm or at least 32mm as minimum focal length) but the 35-210 zoom range (maximum aperture respectively f2,8 and f4,8) is for sure great as it gives you really lot of flexibility when taking photos.

The 7Mpixel CCD is more than adequate for me as the maximum need is to print A4 pictures. However I think that also A3 prints will be of good quality (never tried). Files sizes at 7 Mpixel with standard quality (the best is superfine) range from 1,5 to 3 Mb.

The Macro function works really well and it will allow you to shot to objects as close as 1cm. You can get very good macro pictures.

- In use
The camera is activated pushing the on/off button on the top. Roughly in one second you are ready to shot, so it is quite fast. The mode dial, also on the top, offers the usual range of settings: fully automatic, Program, Tv (shutter priority mode), Av (Aperture priority mode), Manual, Video mode plus some other custom modes (indoor, snow, underwater...). I guess somebody is using these modes because in 5 years of digital photography they only caused me some headaches when I discovered that the dialler position was changed inadvertently. A good point, at least for me, of the mode dial is that it needs some force to be rotated and that should allow to avoid unwanted changes (pulling it out from a pocket for instance). Maximum exposure time is limited to 15s, this allows to take pictures also when in the darkness (of course a tripod is needed). Minimum exposure time is 1/2000s. A burst mode is available allowing to take roughly 2 pictures per seconds.

On the top of the camera you have the shutter bottom and the zoom control. Zooming from wideangle to telephoto is also quite fast, less than 2 seconds. Overall handling and handgrip is pretty good for me. On the front size you will find the LCD, the selector that allows to shot photos or view photos, a kind of joystick and four buttons with lot of functions. Though I found quite easy the learning curve in order to understand all the meaning of the different buttons I have still the feeling that Canon engineers should work a little bit more in the reduction of buttons with more clever software programming/overall logic. I have the same feeling also with the EOS 350, are 10 buttons plus joystick really needed?

Pity there is not a dedicated button for ISO setting (can be set from ISO 100 to 800 or Automatic), however I have found particular useful the one that allows to manually compensate the exposure from -2 to 2 stops with 1/3 steps. Most of the parameters are set by pushing the central joystick button (also names Function selection). A menu will allow you to easily set ISO mode, bracketing, White Balance mode, shutter mode resolution and other settings. Focusing can be automatic (9 points are available) or manual. You can decide to have fixed focus position or use the intelligent camera system. Focusing is fast, also when you are in the darkness a special red light allow the camera to focus quickly.

The picture format like all other compact digital cameras is 4:3 instead of the 3:2 of SLR cameras. The flash is quite good for such a compact camera and according to Canon its range is from 0,5m to 3,5m (wide) or 2,5m (telephoto). For my needs it is sufficient, somebody complained because the charge time is somewhat slow (around 10s, probably due to decision to use only 2 AA batteries). That is of course not good if you want to take indoor photos, frankly speaking that was never a problem for me as I mainly take pictures outside.

Photo resolution can be set at 3072x2304, 4 Mp, 3 Mp, 2 Mp, VGA and there is also a widescreen mode 3072x1728 that simply crops the image. That could be also done when post processing the image but I found this setting useful in some cases as it saved me the time of cropping the image on the PC.

On the Fuji E550 there was a nice feature: when pressing a button a grid appeared on the LCD allowing to better align horizontally or vertically with the landscape for instance. There is not a similar feature on the A710is.

- Video recording
You can record videos with maximum resolution of 640x480 at 30fps with mono audio. Maximum recording time is slightly less than 9 minutes at the highest resolution as there is a 1 Gb limitation. The recording format is MJPEG (AVI file), so it can be easily processed by software like Virtual Dub and you can further compress it by using for instance divx or xvid video codecs. In this way you will reduce the size of the video up to 5 /10 times saving lot of space on your hard disk. I found the video recording capabilities more than adequate for my own purposes. While recording you can also zoom in or zoom out, this is made step by step and is not smooth as on a normal video camera (but I was not expecting that of course).

- Memory
The A710is uses SD (SecureDigital) cards. They are the cheapest and more common memory types. That is definitely a good news. In order to access the SD slot you have to open the battery cover. I used 1 Gb and 2 Gb microSD branded Trascend with adapters without any problem. At the highest quality (7 Mp super fine) a 1 Gb memory will hold around 300 pictures.

- Battery life
With 2300mA AA batteries I am able to shot around 200 photos. I noticed that when the camera warns you that the battery level is low your time is almost over, a few photos and then the camera will gently automatically switch off asking you to replace/charge the batteries. I would have preferred to have some more margin. Like for the SD cards the usage of AA rechargeable batteries instead of custom batteries is to my standpoint always a pro when choosing among different models.

- Manual
The case contains a simple manual (quick guide) to start playing with the camera. The full manual is found in the enclosed CD ROM or it can be freely downloaded from the website. Both the quick-guide and the full manual are quite well organized even if I admit I only looked at them a few times.

- Software
This is one of the reason why I decided to switch from my Fuji to a Canon. I particularly like the Canon suite of software and the regular support (upgrades) given on the web site. Main programs are Digital Photo Professional (EOS only), Zoom Browser and Photostich (that allows to join many photos to obtain a bigger panoramic photo). I enjoy a lot using Zoombrowser as it gives you nice ways to look and classify your pictures, examine photo parameters etcetera.

- Accessories
You can get wide angle and telephoto converter, close-up lens, external flash, soft case, waterproof case. I never bought accessories for compact digital cameras but I would be quite tempted to get the waterproof case to take pictures when snorkelling.

- What you get in the box (in Italy at least)
You will find the camera, USB cable, CD ROMs with full manuals and software, alkaline batteries (good for your TV remote control) and A/V cable. So the first thing to do after buying the camera is to get SD card (2Gb is advisable) and NiMh AA batteries.

- Conclusions
I fully agree with people saying that the digital camera (or more generally electronic components) turnover is getting ridiculous. In fact the A720is is already out with 8 Mpix (instead of 7), ISO 1600 (instead of 800), DIGIC III and other improvements. That means that quite likely the prices of the A710s could drop and I am sure that below 130 pounds (or 200euro) the A710is will be a great "value for money" camera. It allows to take high quality pictures and it has most of the features that both a beginner and a semi-pro user can ask for (considering its size and its weight of 270grams including batteries).

You can see some pictures taken with the A710is (and EOS 350) on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/7714175@N06/ 

...less