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Canon PowerShot A70 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot A70 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

List Price: $399.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great Camera, Bad Company
Review: It's a great camera, but hope you never need support. The Canon support structure is bad and nearly non-existent. Very difficult to get to them. I have major problems with my Windows 98SE system and their TWAIN driver and after a week and four or more tries I finally got an email response that said it's a windows problem and they won't help (WON'T not CAN'T). The TWAIN driver doesn't work with my OS and it maybe my old hardware as well as the OS but everything else I try works. It's just their attitude and difficulty getting them to respond. By the way, the camera works okay on Windows XP. Just beware if you have older Hardware or OS - Support is basically not available or helpful and the TWAIN driver may not work or it may hang your system.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super camera
Review: I own a Canon D30 and 10D and bought this camera for my Daughter, and I find myself asking her if I can barrow her A70, when I don't feel like carrying a large camera, it takes great pictures, eazy to use, great on battries, that's a big plus, I love ours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent metering, focusing and color rendition!
Review: This camera fulfills all its claimed specifications and shows that 3.2 megapixels are quite sufficient for producing really good images. Although the AA batteries are more bulky than the rechargeable battery on the S400 Powershot, it's great to be able to slip in instant replacement batteries, rather than be possibly stuck when the rechargeable one goes flat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Cam...
Review: I bought this and ive had it for a while... ITS AWESOME.. i carry it everywhere, they say your best camera is the one you use the most... and this is the best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Its everything I heard it was.
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Old to Photography-New to Digital
Review: By way of background, I've been using Nikon SLR's for nearly 30 years and have quite a bit of experience with film photography.

I've been avoiding the switch to digital just as I avoided the switch to auto-focusing until earlier this year.

After quite a bit of research, I decided on the Canon A70 as it seemed to offer the features I needed at a price that made sense. I really didn't know if I would enjoy digital or not so it wouldn't be much of a writeoff if I decided to stick with film. In fact, I've been a die-hard Nikon user but couldn't find an offering from Nikon that compared to the Canon A70.

I've had the A70 for a few weeks and taken several hundred photos. During that period I haven't picked up any of my film cameras.

Although it's only been a short time, I'm finding digital to be a revelation. The instant feedback I get on the LCD screen means that I don't have to worry about whether or not I "got the shot".

Pros:
Available manual metering with ability to customize flash output
Sharp lens
Seems pretty sturdy for a plasticam (it's not all metal as the ads would lead you to believe)
Takes AA batteries...4 of 'em! I'm using 2000ma Powerex NIMH batteries and would recommend them to anyone.

Cons:
In any of the auto modes, the flash is a little too powerful for subjects within 8 feet.
Hunts for focus in low-light situations. So does my Nikon N80 so that's not just Canon's problem
Cheap 16mb CF card. I bought a 256mb SanDisk with the camera and would recommend that you do too.
Software is suitable for only simple tasks. The red eye remover is a joke. I'm ordering Adobe Elements 2.0 from Amazon today.

Overall, I'm still learning about digital photography but find it very enjoyable and relatively simple. I'm sure that my film photography experience helps with the last part but the A70 is really a point and shoot camera even though I don't use it that way.

I can't imagine a better camera for the money. I'm considering the purchase of a digital SLR which will probably be a Nikon so that I can use my current lenses. If I were starting from scratch I could just as easily go with a Canon.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Canon A70 good cam
Review: This camera has good and bad points like I am sure many others. It is up to the customer to decide what matters. I bought mine last april for the event of my daughter's birth - and after much deliberation.
The camera is well-built. I had little problem at all with its robustness. It holds well in your hand too.
As for photo quality it is very good - even excellent for indoor flash shots ( I have to differ with other customers on that). In fact flash shots are its strength. They are nearly irreprochable. Outdoor shots are good.... but I have noticed purple fringing on high contrast shots ( especially on branches of trees etc). Not to concerning as you'd have to be particular to it. However the lens flare is more irritating ( if rare). Bright light can cause rings of light ( yes you read correctly) like a western movie.
That is a shame as the quality of the pictures are very good and noise is inexistant on most iso 50 shots - canon should have spotted this bug....
But such a good alrounder, fast snapper that lens flaring is relative...
Would I buy it again? Maybe, probably try another cam as others have come out and built on canons strong points ( manual control etc).
But a sure value....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Just what I was looking for - 3MP & runs on AA cells
Review: The A70 is just what you need if you are looking for a 3 megapixel camera that runs on AA cells. The AA cells add bulk, but I didn't want a camera dependent on a finicky and expensive to replace proprietary battery and charger. To avoid spending a fortune on alkalines it's advisable to invest in at least a couple sets of NiMh's and a charger. I can get about 45 min operation with the LCD display on and a set of 1800 mah NiMh cells - estimate only about double that with alkalines - but LOTS longer life with the display off and the camera auto-power-off enabled. In an emergency I can just crack open a pack of alkalines.

Warning - no low battery indicator!

You will also may need a larger CF card if you plan on more than day-tripping with the camera at higher resolutions. It's about 17 shots per 32 MB card at full-res, LOTS more at lower res.

Beautiful pictures though - as some reviewers have pointed out Canon pix are a little "soft" on some subjects, but this is a matter of taste and can be adjusted in software. Flash pictures have tended to be a little washed out but I haven't decided yet whether it's any worse than other point and shoot cameras I have used. I have had fairly good luck with the autofocus in darkish locations, even with the AF assist beam turned off - hint - my technique is to shoot at wide angles with flash so the depth of field is better and focus isn't as critical.

All in all, I couldn't imagine a more suitable point and shoot camera for my needs, although I'm still keeping the analog A-1 around for wet weather conditions.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Poor Indoor Autofocusing...
Review: This camera definetly has a problem with indoor autofocusing. While the little red light was shining (focus assist thingy) it still could only focus 2 out of 20 times in my house. I had to return it because 90% of the time thats where I take pictures! I would definetly say to not buy this camera if your an indoor shooter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Digital Camera and Night Shots!!!
Review: 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!!!


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