Vivek’s Blog

Earlier this year, my trusty PowerShot A75 suffered a lens misalignment which caused the camera to become myopic - no kidding. It wouldn’t focus at anything. Camera stores were looking for $200 for repair while Canon was asking for $85 + shipping minimum. I decided, I’d just wait it out and get a new one later in the year. Well, that wait came to end last month when I finally settled for the Canon PowerShot A710 IS camera. Read one to find out what I think of it. There’s a gallery at the end for you to look at.

Design & Features:

I was wary of getting another A series Canon since they all look pretty much the same. But, their performance has always been stellar and they offer great bang for the buck. When Canon announced the A710 in September, I knew this was a camera worth getting. It looks different because of the metallic-gray finish and the black strip for grip in the front. The sensor on this camera is capable of capturing 7.1MP. The camera comes with 6x optical zoom which is more than what cameras in this class usually offer (3x/4x). The zoom control is located around the shutter release button and is easy to use. The LCD is a spacious 2.5 inches but at 115k pixels, isn’t the sharpest around and is hard to read in bright sunlight. But it gets the job done on most occasions. You could also switch to the optical viewfinder - a rarity on compacts these days. Be careful though, the viewfinder does not show you all that the lens is seeing - probably around 80%. One feature that sealed the deal for me with this camera was the Image Stabilizer. The camera uses optically stabilized lenses to reduce blur from shakes and vibrations. For someone like me who has shaky hands, this is a terrific feature. You can get blur-free pictures at high shutter speeds which would otherwise be pretty difficult without a tripod. You get full manual controls on this camera and can change shutter speed, white balance, ISO, etc. under Manual Mode. It also comes with several preset Scene modes for ease of use. Modes are controlled via a rotating knob located next to the On/Off button. The speaker is also located next to the control knob. Next to the LCD you can find all the other controls like Menu, Flash control, etc. All are easily accessible and unless you have ginormous thumbs, are comfortable to use. Anyone who has used a PowerShot before will instantly recognize a familiar menu system. To the right of the unit there’s a rubber cover protecting the DC In, A/V Out, and miniUSB connectors. The bottom houses the tripod mount, batteries and SD Card slot. This camera uses two AA batteries and according to CIPA standards, can run for a good 360 shots. As usual, Canon bundles a skimpy 16MB SD card with this camera which is pretty useless for a 7.1MP camera. Get at least a 1GB card and you’ll be set for 400-600 images. A high-speed card is recommended for faster performance.

All in all, the camera feels sturdy and fits in my hands very well. The grip on the front helps keep it from slipping and everything is within easy access. PowerShot faithfuls will find this camera extremely easy to get used to

Score: 9/10

Photographs:

Now let’s get on with the photographing, shall we? After all, this is a still camera! In good lighting, the camera produces sharp images with minimal noise even at higher ISO settings. The camera can go from ISO 80 to ISO 800 although 800 is usually pretty noisy. Colors are produced accurately and the scene modes let you have some fun with images. For example, there’s the color accent feature which focuses on a particular color of your choice, desaturating everything else. Or there’s color swap which lets you swap out a particular color for a different one. Sure, you do this in Photoshop but it’s fun to do it in-camera! I still haven’t worked out how to make best use of Color Swap but I’ll learn soon enough. In Manual mode, you can choose a shutter speed between 1/2000s to 15s. The slow shutter is good for night shots. However, you need really steady hands or a tripod to make best use of them. The IS will not save you at really slow speeds. With 15s worth of light, you can get some amazing shots in low light. I’ve noticed that PowerShots generally do a great job with nature photography. They really shine in outdoor shots of trees, plants, flowers, etc. Not to say that shots of humans and man made objects suck, but just that nature offers better shots here! And with the kind of campus we have here, I had a blast taking nature shots. The flash is pretty strong and I try to avoid flash in general, trying slow shutters and low f-numbers instead. I think flash sometimes imparts an unnatural look to the image. But like I said before, you need steady hands for low shutter speeds.

Score: 9.5/10

Videos & Connectivity:

The camera has a bunch of video modes for you to choose from: Standard takes 640×480 videos at 30fps, a Fast mode that takes 320×240 videos at an impressive 60fps, and a Compact mode for 160×120 videos at 15fps. In standard, you can choose 640 or 320 resolution at 30 or 15fps. Unfortunately, videos take up a lot of space and for some reason , Canon limits you to 1GB videos - which is about 8 minutes worth at the highest quality. If you have a 512MB or 256MB card, you’re limited by how much free space you have on your card. For 1GB+, the size limit applies. You can zoom is during video recording only for the standard mode. In other modes, the zoom is locked. In general, videos were good. I don’t have any worth uploading but will do so once I do.

As mentioned earlier, the camera houses a miniUSB connector which is full speed USB2.0. You ca hook up your camera to PCs and Macs. Haven’t tried it on a Mac, but on XP SP2, you plug the camera in, and XP recognizes it as the Canon PowerShot A710 IS and lets you transfer pictures and videos easily. No need for any drivers/software. Transfer is quick thanks to the full speed USB2. You might want to get a memory card reader or DC adapter if you’re worried about draining the batteries during large transfers.

In summary, videos are well done except for the size limit and connectivity is hassle-free.

Score: 9/10

Conclusions:

So, in conclusion, I think this is a great camera for the price. If offers manual controls, a generous 6x zoom, an optical viewfinder, and image stabilization in addition to strong image performance. I can easily recommend this camera for anyone looking for a compact that offers manual controls and good image quality. It’s also a good alternative to those bulky megazoomers as it offers a near-identical feature set. Canon’s official MSRP is $399 although retailers such as NewEgg and Amazon are selling it for way less than that. I bought mine for $329 about 2 weeks ago from NewEgg. Right now, it costs $329 on NewEgg and $336 on Amazon.

The camera lost points for the low-res LCD, size-restricted movie mode, and the paltry 16MB SD Card.

Overall: 9/10

Pros:
+ 7.1MP with Good image quality and low noise
+ 6x zoom
+ Image Stabilization
+ 2.5″ LCD & Optical Viewfinder
+ Runs on 2 AA batteries
+ Full Manual Controls

Cons:
- Low resolution LCD
- Restricted Movie Mode
- Slight red eye
- Skimpy 16MB bundled card

Gallery:
NOTE: None of these are clickable. Why? I’m lazy. Check out the entire gallery here: Canon PowerShot A710 IS Gallery