Canon Camera Review

When Canon introduces new cameras, you almost always get a flood of them all at once. They often replace much of the line up in one go. Sometimes the improvements are only marginal, but sometimes they can be really worthwhile. Just before the Photokina 2006, the world's largest digital imaging event, the Canon PowerShot A710 IS was launched as a successor to the A700 op. The Canon A710 IS camera gained an extra one million pixels, an improved LCD monitor and image stabilisation. The last feature in particular is a real and very welcome improvement.

The Canon PowerShot A710 IS is the first digital compact camera in Canon's A-series to be fitted with optical image stabilisation. Unlike Pentax, for example, the sensor remains still, but removes moving elements in the lens and vibration blur. A gyroscope measures the movements and the information is sent to a special processor with 4000 signals per second. Once there, a distinction is made between undesired vibrations caused by hand movement and desired camera movements. The processor then guides an element in the lens to correct the movement. Image stabilisation only works to correct movement by the photographer, not that of their subjects. To freeze that movement, you must use a fast shutter speed and to achieve this you must raise the ISO to 800.

The Canon PowerShot A710 IS has 6x optical zoom, just like the A700. The range reaches from 35-210 mm (equivalent to 35mm). This is a superb range, but image stabilisation is absolutely necessary at the furthest tele setting. Converters can be placed on the lens for more wide angle or even more tele. Canon's A-series is always well equipped with accessories and offers beginning photographers an affordable, all-round camera and a possible steeping stone to more complicated work; a (EOS) digital SLR camera.

Canon's A series is an amazing range of digital cameras. They are somewhere between a real compact camera for the average consumer and a compact camera for experienced users, like the G series. The Canon PowerShot A710 IS also contains necessary elements from the top series. You can adjust a lot yourself and there is even an optical viewfinder. This makes the camera suitable for a wide range of users. We tried out the Canon PowerShot A710 IS camera, the top model from the A-series, for a while.

So, if you need a compact camera for an average user, this is the thing for you.