Rating: 
Summary: great camera for the price
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Go get one !
Review: 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?
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: This is my second digital camera and probably my last. I had a Kodak Easy Share camera just to see if I would like a digital camera, I am a photographer and thought I would really miss having everything on film. With a new baby, I am constantly taking photos and the digital camera has saved me tons of money. Though I still shoot black and white on film, I have switched over to mostly digital. The Kodak was easier to download the photos to the desktop but the Canon is a much better camera. I takes great photos and the short video clip option is really nice to have. If you plan to take any videos you will definately need to get a larger card, the one included will only take about 15 seconds at the high resolution. I am very pleased with this camera. It is all you need unless you are planning on shooting poster size images. Beautiful quality images and quicker shutter speed than other digital cameras I've tried. Its a great buy. I highly recomend this camera.
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT BUY BEST BUY
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Magnificant
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: This camera is GREAT!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I just bought it recently and found it is really an easy to use camera! Most of the features of it were already listed by other users. I only want to tell another one which might be omitted by the English speakers. I found there are more than 10 choices of languages for the menu on the LDC display. So it is more easier for the people who is not an English speaker to use this camera.
The 3x optical zoom may not be enough for the experienced users.But it is enough for a beginner. And you can use the digital zoom to compensate this shortcoming.Anyway,considering the price, it is a good one.
The quality of the pictures took by this camera is quite good. And it doesn't use up the batteries quickly.
Rating:
Summary: This camera ROCKS!!!!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Problems after only 2 months
Review: When this camera works, its great. I've only had it for two months and just received an e18 message. Turns out that Canon cameras are notorious for this e18 message where the lens will get stuck and it stops working. Do a google search with A70 and e18 and you'll see what I mean. I called Canon and was told that there must be something stuck in the lens. I asked whether this was a factory defect and was told that it could be. I now have to send this relatively new camera in for servicing for something that appears to be a known issue to Canon! Can you say class action lawsuit? I will follow up on this review once I get it back. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will fix whatever defect it came with.
Rating:
Summary: Entering Digital Photography
Review: 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.
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