Overview
The Canon Powershot A700 is one of the small band of digital cameras that offers extra zoom lens capacity in a fairly compact body. It has a 6x optical zoom. The Powershot A700 also has six megapixels.
Aside from the increased zoom power the camera also has a full set of manual controls including aperture priority and shutter priority. Therefore this camera is most likely to appeal to anyone who is looking for a fairly advanced camera but would like to retain the convenience of a compact size and shape.
Image Quality
From the tests I carry out Canon digital cameras produce the sharpest photos. The Powershot A700 underlines this position with a series of very sharp shots.
Starting off with outdoor scenic shots the first shot I look at shows a degree of clarity that other cameras find very hard to even get close to. Looking at the building in the centre of the photo the brickwork and the tiles on the roof show a crisp focus that is difficult to beat. Moving away from the centre I can see the Powershot A700 is one of the best models at maintaining focusing levels right up to the very edge of the photo.
All of the outdoor scenic shots show a good range of colours. Blue skies look natural and not overdone, yet still retain plenty of vivid colour. Likewise areas of greenery have plenty of depth to them. These observations are backed up by the dedicated test for colour. This also suggests the colours are well balanced with no single colour being overly dominant.
Levels of detail in dark and light areas of each photo are good too. The Powershot A700 appears to handle levels of glare well and in my tests at least managed to avoid the problem of purple fringing that rears its head with other consumer digital cameras with longer lenses.
I am also pleased with the two portrait photos. The outdoor one was taken in the shade. I used the cloudy white balance setting to add to the colours in the shot. The result shows warm colours and natural skin tones. The indoor portrait is another example of the camera focusing well. Levels of detail are good considering the lighting conditions and the test shows very little evidence of red eye. This does not mean that red eye will never show up in a photo, but it should not be as blatant and as regular as with other cameras.
The other indoor shot of beer bottles is taken in almost complete darkness. The result is excellent. Focusing once again is very good and lighting levels are handled well considering the conditions.
For close up photography the macro shot is above average without being one of the very best. The image is sharp and clear.
Finally the test shots taken using higher ISO settings are encouraging. Both the shots taken on the ISO 400 setting and the ISO 800 setting show a lot less deterioration in picture quality than I am used to seeing.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
I was able to take a single picture in 0.35 seconds and five shots in 9.40 seconds. These are average times.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The six times optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 35 - 210mm in 35mm format. There is also a 4x digital zoom available. For focusing you can select the focusing point and also use manual focus. The macro mode can focus from 1cm away from the subject.
There is a 2.5" LCD screen for composing images and accessing the menu system. The screen is made up of around 115,000 pixels. An optical viewfinder is also available.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.5m. This falls to 2.5m when the zoom lens is in use. The power of the flash can be boosted by purchasing Canon's High Power Flash HF-DC1.
Flash can be set to automatic, always on or always off. Red eye reduction, second curtain synchronisation and slow sync speed are available too. The power of the flash can be increased or decreased to suit the situation. Flash exposure compensation is available too (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments).
To help you take the best possible photos there are a set of predefined scene modes. These are Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Stitch Assist, Movie, Special Scene Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Color Accent and Color Swap. All you need to do is select the most appropriate scene. The camera will then use what it considers to be the optimum settings for the shot.
In addition to the scene modes there are a number of Colour Effects available. This gives you the opportunity to add something different to your shots. The colour effects are Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film and Custom Color.
I would like to have seen a 3:2 aspect ratio. This size is ideal for creating 6x4" prints, but there is not one available. The standard 4:3 ratio can be used as well as a special 16:9 one. This corresponds to the dimensions of a widescreen television. It can also come in handy for panoramic prints.
For when you would like to appear in the picture a self timer is available. The delay time can be set to either two or ten seconds. A custom setting allows you to set a delay time of up to thirty seconds. At the end of the delay time you can fire off up to ten consecutive shots. To help with the exposure a histogram is available. After a shot has been taken you can add up to sixty seconds of commentary to it.
Photos can be fine tuned by using the following controls: Light Metering (Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre or linked to focusing frame)), Exposure Compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments), ISO sensitivity (AUTO, High ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800) and white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom). Continuous shooting is available too. This allows you to shoot a burst of shots at a maximum speed of 2.1 shots per second until the memory card is full.
Full control can be taken with the manual mode or by using shutter priority and aperture priority. Shutter speeds can be set within the range of 15 - 1/2,000 seconds. The maximum apertures settings are f/2.8 (wide) and f/4.8 (tele).
For shooting movies you can select a maximum resolution of 640 x 480. For a standard movie the maximum speed is thirty frames per second. Up to 1GB of footage can be shot at any one time. Using the maximum resolution and frame speed this equates to around 15 minutes. Sound can be recorded and you can zoom in and out while recording is in progress.
A second method of shooting movies is available. This allows you to shoot short (60 second) movies at a high speed (60 frames per second). The clips can be played back in slow motion. This can be useful for analysis golf swings etc.
Canon supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Powershot A700 to a television, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.
The capabilities of the lens can be enhanced with a set of conversion lenses. These are a 1.75x tele converter (TC-DC58N), a 0.7x wide converter (WC-DC58N) and a close up lens (250D (58mm)). In order to fit the conversion lenses you will need a lens adapter (LA-DC58G).
Ease of Use
Any camera that comes with such a wide range of features is likely to take a bit of getting used to. In order to get the most out of the Powershot A700 you will need to be prepared to spend sometime reading the manual and experimenting with the camera.
I find the general menu system and functions available present a bit of a learning curve and are not as intuitive as I find with other brands. Perhaps it is just the number of options available.
The back and top of the camera also look quite busy with the buttons, dials and sliders. You will find controls covering zoom, flash, picture review, focusing, printing and accessing the menu covered in these areas.
Cost
You can pick up a Canon Powershot A700 for around £210. This compares to around £165 for a Panasonic LZ5, £170 for a Nikon Coolpix L1 and £170 for a Fuji Finepix S5600.
I cannot describe the Powershot A700 as cheap. This is especially true when you take into account the Fuji Finepix S5600 offers 10x zoom and a similar set of manual controls. This camera is far more compact and lightweight than that model though.
Style
I would describe the Powershot A700 and other cameras in this series as practical rather than stylish. Considering the set of features it has and the extended zoom it still sits in a compact body. The camera comes in silver and has a useful grip on the front helping you to keep the camera steady when you take a photo.
The camera has dimensions of 94.5 x 66.5 x 43.4mm and weighs 200g.
Batteries and Memory Cards
The camera runs on two AA batteries. Canon estimate that the supplied batteries should take around 100 shots before they need to be replaced. Good quality rechargeable batteries will give a significant increase in the number of photos you can take in between charges.
SD cards are used to store images. Canon supplies a 16mb card with the Powershot A700 as standard. Using this card I was only able to take eight photos before it became full. Therefore I would suggest buying a high capacity card to go with the camera.
Click here to save money on SD cards.
Points I like:
Manual controls
Picture quality
Advanced movie mode
Where it is not so hot:
Small memory card supplied
Summary
The Canon Powershot A700 does not come cheap. It is more expensive than a number of digital cameras with a 10x optical zoom lens. Putting aside the price if picture quality is important this camera will not let you down. Photos are as sharp as I have managed to take. Colours are strong as well. It also has all the features you need if you enjoy photography. All in all the Powershot A700 makes a compelling case to be bought. Recommended.
Canon Powershot A700 Front View
Canon Powershot A700 Back View
Canon Powershot A700 Top View
Sample Menus
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Related Pages
Canon Powershot A700 Review Canon Powershot A700 Specification Canon Powershot A700 Sample Images
Review Date
July 2006
