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Canon PowerShot A720 IS Concise Review,
January 2008, Richard Butler
Review based on a production Canon PowerShot A720 IS  The PowerShot A720 IS is a minor update to the A710 IS and is the latest in Canon's popular 'A-series' of cameras offering a strong feature set and good degree of user control at a competitive price. It isn't the smallest or most powerful camera in the World, (or even in the Canon range), but it does a little bit of everything and gives a good degree of control over what the camera is doing, if you want it. This focus on making small cameras that do their job well has seen Canon dominate this sector of the market for some time so it will be interesting to see if the A720 IS does anything to upset this situation. The specification highlights are:
- 8.0 Megapixels and 6x zoom
- Optical Image Stabilizer
- DIGIC III processor with Face Detection AF/AE
- ISO 1600
- 17 shooting modes including VGA movies (30 fps) with sound
- Optional accessories available, including Underwater Case
Key differences compared to A 710 ISAs mentioned above the A720 IS is an incredibly subtle revision of the A710 IS. The full extent of those changes reads something like: - More pixels (8.0 vs 7.1 million)
- Face detection AE/AF
- ISO range extends to 1600
PowerShot A720 IS specifications| Street price | • $210
• £145 |
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| Body Material | Plastic |
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| Sensor | • 1/2.5 " Type CCD
• 8.0 million effective pixels |
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| Image sizes | • 3264 x 2448
• 2592 x 1944
• 2048 x 1536
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480
• 3264 x 1832 |
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| Movie clips | • 640 x 480 @ 30fps
• 640 x 480 @ 30fps (Long play)
• 320 x 240 @ 30fps
• 160 x 120 @ 15fps (Compact mode) |
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| File formats | • JPEG Exif 2.2
• DCF
• DPOF 1.1
• AVI Motion JPEG with WAVE monaural |
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| Lens | • 5.8-34.8mm (35-210mm equiv)
• F2.8-4.8
• 6x optical zoom |
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| Image stabilization | Yes (lens shift-type) |
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| Conversion lenses | None |
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| Digital zoom | up to 4x |
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| Focus | TTL |
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| AF area modes | • AiAF (Face Detection / 9-point)
• 1-point AF (fixed center/FlexiZone) |
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| AF assist lamp | Yes |
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| Focus distance | Closest 1cm |
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| Metering | • Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame)
• Center-weighted average
• Spot |
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| ISO sensitivity | • Auto
• High ISO Auto
• ISO 80
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600 |
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| Exposure compensation | • +/- 2EV
• in 1/3 stop increments |
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| Shutter speed | 15-1/2000 sec (With noise reduction for exposures over 1.3 seconds) |
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| Aperture | F2.8-4.8 |
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| Modes | • Auto
• Manual
• Digital Macro
• Color Accent
• Color Swap
• Stitch Assist
• Movie
• Special Scene |
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| Scene modes | • Portrait
• Landscape
• Night Snapshot
• Kids & Pets
• Indoor
• Foliage
• Snow
• Beach
• Fireworks
• Aquarium
• Underwater
• Night scene |
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| White balance | • Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent H
• Underwater
• Custom |
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| Self timer | • 2 or 10secs
• Custom |
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| Continuous shooting | approx 1.3fps until card is full |
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| Image parameters | My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, B&W, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color) |
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| Flash | • Auto
• Manual Flash on / off
• Slow sync
• 2nd-curtain
• Red-eye reduction
• Range: 30cm-3.5m (wide) / 55cm-2.0m (tele) |
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| Viewfinder | "Real-image" zoom viewfinder |
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| LCD monitor | • 2.5-inch P-Si TFT
• 115,000 pixels |
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| Connectivity | • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• AV out |
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| Print compliance | • PictBridge
• Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and PIXMA Printers supporting PictBridge (ID Photo Print, Movie Print supported on SELPHY CP printers only) |
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| Storage | • SD / SDHC / MMC card compatible
• 32 MB card supplied |
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| Power | • AA batteries
• Optional AC adapter kit ACK800 |
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| Other features | • Optional High Power Flash HF-DC1
• Conversion lens adapter LA-DC58G
• Wide-angle converter WC-DC58N (requires LA-DC58G)
• Tele-converter TC-DC58N (requires LA-DC58G)
• Close-up Lens 250D (requires LA-DC58G)
• Optional Waterproof Case (WP-DC16) |
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| Weight (No batt) | 200 g (7.05 oz) |
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| Dimensions | 97.3 x 67.0 x 41.9 mm (3.83 x 2.64 x 1.65 inch) |
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Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C. | | |
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