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User Reviews for
Canon PowerShot A720 IS Digital Camera
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Excellent mid-range camera
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Reviewed
October 2 2007 11:16:27 PM
48
out of
49
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Great quality pics, Nice zoom |
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| Cons:
Long flash recycle time The A720is has tons of features, a very sharp LCD screen, and a nice zoom. I've always loved Canon cameras but decided to try the Panasonic tmz3 (i think thats the model), which had a 10x zoom, but the picture quality was horrible compared to canons! So, I wanted to go back to the Canon line of cameras. The S series cameras are very nice but a little too bulky for me. I tried the A570 IS but I wanted something with a bit longer of a zoom and ended up with this A720IS. Quality is just what I exected, superb! The LCD screen is much sharper than I expected so I was pleasantly surprised. The 6x zoom seems to be enough, anything longer tends to get blurry anyway, without a tripod or a very steady hand. The only beef that I have with this camera is that when using the flash, the recycle time is VERY long, about 4 sec. Without the flash though, its very fast. I did like that it takes the high capacity SD cards, so I bought a 4GB card so I don't have to worry about running out of space.
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I like this camera a lot
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Reviewed
January 23 2008 10:18:47 PM
22
out of
23
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Great image quality; easy to use; 8 Megapixel; 6X Zoom; Image Stabilization |
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Cons:
Heavy; slow; a little bulky I don't know a lot about cameras. Until this one I hadn't actually owned one since I was a teen-ager. I have borrowed other peoples in the past few years though. The one that I was the most impressed with was a Canon A510. So, when I felt I needed to get one for an upcoming vacation and went shopping online for cameras, I was especially looking for whatever the A510 had morphed into over the past couple of years. It seemed that the A720 was that camera. One of the things I especially liked on the A510 was that the screen could fold around so that you wouldn't scratch it. The A720 has a larger screen - but it doesn't fold. Like the A510, In addition to taking regular snapshots, it also takes movies and, via 'stitch-assist', will take multi-shot panaramas as well. At the same time I bought the camera I bought a 2GB memory card and rechargable batteries - and a charger - and I recommend all of them for this camera. One of the things I had read is that it goes through batteries fast (and it does) and more pixels per shot means less shots per memory stick. But - a 2GB stick is still huge, even for an 8 Megapixel camera. And the batteries are easy to change. As long as I could recharge one set overnight and have another set in the camera - I was fine. The 6X *optical* zoom is handy - most cameras in this class don't have that. When I actually took it on vacation with me, I felt a little hampered by its weight - it pulls my pocket down. And, after I had taken 150 photos or so, and had deleted a few of them, it began to take longer and longer for it to recover from each shot. I think it could benefit from a de-frag utility for the memory card that doesn't involve a re-format.
So - yes - it has some short-comings. But, when I got home and moved the contents of the stick (nice software, by the way, easy to use) to my computer and then printed out some 8.5X11 prints to photo paper on my regular ink jet printer - I was *astonished* how good they look! I presume that the image stabilization feature accounts for how crisp they are - I'm not especially known for steady hands. Plus, using the software that comes with the camera, the 8 megapixel per shot capacity allows me to blow up a portion of the original shot, but still maintain decent resolution. That way I can 'repair' badly composed shots (as it turns out, I take a lot of those...) or even uncover details that I hadn't noticed when I was originally taking the shot. Overall, I'm enormously pleased with my purchase. This camera lets me impersonate a photographer and pull it off - and that's asking a lot from a camera, especially an inexpensive one.
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Very good
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Reviewed
November 26 2007 11:49:38 PM
17
out of
18
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Image quality |
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| Cons:
Shot cycle Outside of the fat that it takes up to 3 seconds to take a picture the pictures are breathtaking and I really like the easy to use features. If ur on a budget but do not want to sacrifice quality this is your camera
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Best bang for buck!!
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Reviewed
April 21 2008 7:47:29 PM
7
out of
7
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Amazing picture quality, great macro, fast operation |
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Cons:
slow flash refresh I bought this camera for $200(Canadian), and it's worth every penny. For what you get I don't think you can get any better than the A720. 6x zoomed pictures look great and the image stabilizer is fantastic. When looking through the pictures there is almost no lag and could not be easier to use. It may not be the smallest camera out, but you also get way more features than smaller cameras at a far lower price.
Highly recommended.
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One of the best point and shoot camera
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Reviewed
February 12 2008 7:21:30 PM
5
out of
5
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Tons of features |
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Cons:
none to highlight I grew up with SLR cameras, and so obviously I am biased on SLRs. However, this being my second digital camera, I have to say Canon 720 IS has lots of features.
1. Great picture quality.
2. Nice zoom (6x) to give you an edge over 3x optical zoom cameras.
3. Great battery life. I was surprised but the camera runs on 2AA and it can go on for lots of pics.
4. Also has an optical zoom.
5. Nice digital screen with sharp resolution.
6. Great to take short video clips. I enjoy the the audio reception.
Overall, I think this is the best buy I made during holiday time.
Great value for your money.
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Beware Of Dumb Reviewers
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Reviewed
June 24 2008 4:23:32 PM
3
out of
3
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Image Quality, versatility, 6X zoom |
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Cons:
Best quality only at ISO 100 First, don't pay attention to the dummies telling you the flash recycle time is very slow. This is true only when you are in a bind and must use alkaline batteries. Get some nice 2500 mah or so NiMH rechargeable batteries with a charger and watch the recycle time drop to about 1/10 that of alkalines and stop wasting money on alkalines which also don't provide as many pictures. Rechargeables also don't slow down as they get used so the recycle time is almost constant.
The Canon A720IS has no peers in its price range so is the only camera worth considering at $200 unless you want a subcompact and will accept just a 3X lens but spend a little more and you get the Canon SD850IS or SD870IS with a 3.8X zoom, 400 ISO, and the best subcompacts out there although they aren't the smallest. It is not the best camera for low light w/o flash but it isn't terrible either and works OK at 400 ASA.
I also have the wide angle adapter which uses a quick bayonet mount and I get great panoramic shots. Thus I can carry a great Image Stabilized camera with a 21-210mm lens system in a small bag for a bargain price.
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canon powershot
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Reviewed
February 9 2008 1:03:17 AM
2
out of
2
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
4
out of 5
Pros:
image quality, features |
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| Cons:
none This camera is a great value. The image quality is incredible and the camera is easy to use. the only drawback to the unit is the shutter lag, although it is adjustable the pic quality will suffer a small amount by increasing the shutters "reaction time". All in all I would definetly recomend this unit.
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Impressive
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Reviewed
February 25 2008 3:01:02 PM
1
out of
2
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
5
out of 5
Pros:
Lightweight, small, easy use |
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Cons:
buttons are different than older canon cameras, have to break that habit! wonderful macro pictures, get as close as a centimeter or so. the manual focus is impressive.
also, the price is especially reasonable.
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A many-featured compact camera
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Reviewed
May 20 2009 7:53:55 PM
0
out of
0
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
4
out of 5
Pros:
zoom range,controls, macro, IS, colours, AA batteries |
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Cons:
2 batteries, lowlight noise, plastic The A 720 IS is a camera that one can carry everywhere offering at the same time many features of superior categories. It has an excellent image quality output, mainly in daylight, a reliable image stabilization system, full manual controls, optical viewfinder. Some problems are: Noise at dark areas and noise-suppression artifacts, plastic body whose finishing tends to ware-out, a difficulty to focus in far horizons (can be done in manual), lack of live histogram and constant battery charge indication.
Conclusion: I use this camera for 18 months now, I have shot about 9400 pics and in general I am happy with it.Really, I do not think that, at the price it cost, I would find any other compact camera to offer as many things as this one!
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Hidden gem if you can still find one.
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Reviewed
April 14 2009 3:17:42 AM
0
out of
0
users found this recommendation helpful.
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Ratings:
4
out of 5
Pros:
CHDK hack for raw processing. Great picture quality. Ease of use |
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Cons:
Plastic body feels cheap. I won't take too much room to describe this camera, but more about about what it is capable of doing when it is hacked with the CHDK software add-on. First, Raw processing in a .crw or .dng format. Far better picture quality than standard jpeg images. There is the ability to do auto-bracketing for HDR images. The CHDK hack also allows you to do time-lapse videos, motion detection, and many other features provided by scripts.
There are ample add on lenses to give wide angle shots, and filters to enhance outdoor/indoor shoot that adds to near SLR capability for a fraction of the price. But, don't expect SLR quality. There is still noise to deal with, even though third party programs can deal with much of this.
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