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The News -
Digital Cameras
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Written by Marko
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Tuesday, 30 October 2007 |
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 The Canon Powershot A720 IS offers a selection of more advanced features and a longer than standard zoom lens. This isn't a sleek, pocket sized digital camera, but it does offer excellent picture quality. The Powershot A720 IS has 8 megapixels and a 6x optical zoom lens. It is a clear step up from a standard point and shoot camera. Image stabilisation is also included in the specification.
Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
All of my outdoor scenic shots show that the Powershot A720 IS is able to produce sharp photos. The first shot is sharper than I am used to seeing from other similarly priced digital cameras. The sharpness is also maintained as you move towards the edges of the shot.
One area where all the cameras I tested on this day have struggled is with sun glare. The Powershot A720 IS sits somewhere in the middle of the group when it comes to handling sun glare and shows a small loss of detail where the sun strikes the boats. One area where this camera outperforms others is that it is still able to produce true blue where the sun hits the boats. Other cameras have a tendency to show some blues as purple.
Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Digital cameras often have problems when the zoom is not being used. The main problems I encounter are that the photos tend to be soft, especially near the edges, while the photos are often dark in places too. The Powershot A720 IS manages to overcome these problems and produces a good test result.
Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Once again the camera manages to produce a crisper shot than many of its rivals are able to. You can also see the advantage of the longer than standard lens.
Outdoor Portrait
For the outdoor portrait I made sure face detection was turned on. I also set white balance to cloudy to match the conditions at the time. This helps to pep up the colours. I am very happy with the result. Focusing is sharp once again as the camera manages to home in on the face. The colours have a warm glow to them and skin tones are about right.
Indoor Portrait
I also used face detection for the indoor portrait. With the flash turned on it is another shot I am pleased with. Canon digital cameras appear to have no problem focusing in these conditions. There was a touch of red eye in the shot, but this was eradicated quickly and easily by using the red eye retouch tool that has been built into the playback menu of the Powershot A720 IS.
Lowlight
Many people prefer to take indoor photos without flash whenever they can. This test has produced a shot that it a little dark and the pink in the skin tones is strong too. I personally prefer the result when the photo was taken with flash on.
Colours
The colours throughout all my test shots work well. The only improvement I would like to have seen was some extra blue in the sky of the third outdoor shot. In that photo with the lens zoomed right in the sky looks greyer than it was on the day.
Macro
This is another example of how well the camera is able to focus. If you are looking for a camera that can take good close up shots as a little side line then this camera would make a good choice.
ISO 400
The Powershot A720 IS handles ISO 400 quite well. Small amounts of noise do start to show, but this compares well with other cameras.
ISO 1600
At ISO 1600 it is a different story. Picture quality has fallen away drastically and I would only use this setting in an emergency.
Overall
The Powershot A720 IS has produced an outstanding set of test photos. On the whole they are much better than those produced by the majority of other cameras.
Shutter Lag
I was able to take a single photo in 0.35 seconds and five photos in 7.73 seconds. The time taken to take a single photo is an average time, but the time recorded for five photos is fast. Turning the flash on makes a big difference and really slows down the camera. I could take one photo in 1.02 seconds, which is reasonable. Five photos took 23.22 seconds. This shows that the camera is slow to recycle the flash and be ready to take the next photo.
Style: With a grip on the right hand side the camera bears a very minor resemblance to an SLR camera. It is too large to fit into a pocket.
Dimensions: 97.3 x 67.0 x 41.9 mm
Weight: 200g
Batteries: Two AA batteries are required. Canon estimates a standard set of alkaline batteries should take around 140 shots.
Memory cards: A 16mb SD card is supplied with the camera. I was able to take 7 shots before it was full. The camera is also compatible with SDHC cards.
Ease of use rating: Average. Any camera with the number of features the Powershot A720 IS has will take some getting used to. You can use it purely as a point and shoot camera if you prefer to, but a bit of time spent getting to know the camera will pay dividends.
Points I like:
Picture quality - viewfinder - value for money - red eye correction tool
Where it could improve:
Slow flash recycle times
Verdict:
The Canon Powershot A720 IS offers excellent value for money. It is hard to match the picture quality cameras in this series are capable of producing. You also have a good selection of controls and settings. The viewfinder and the longer than standard lens all make this camera worth a closer look. Recommended.
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