We've been handing out digital camera buying advice for some time now, and of late we've been recommending the Canon A720 IS to anyone who has a budget of around 12 to 14K for a consumer camera. It just hit us a couple of days ago that we still hadn't posted a review for it...so here goes!
A successor to the popular PowerShot A710 IS, this one features the same boxy (yet compact) design. Measuring 97.3 x 67.0 x 41.9 mm, the A720 IS is a wee bit smaller and tips the scales at 200 grams (the same as the A710 IS). It has a two-tone plastic and metal finish (with much more plastic being used than metal).
Powered by the DIGIC III imaging processor, the A720 IS gets an 8 MP CCD with 6x optical zoom lens (35 to 210mm eff.) and optical image stabilization (IS).
The IS sensors detect the tiny movements of your hands while clicking a picture (this movement is known as "camera shake"), and shifts a lens element to compensate for this motion, which results in a much sharper image at slower shutter speeds than one could get on a camera without IS.
The 2.5-inch LCD at the back has a maximum resolution of 115,000 pixels and can be used for viewing photos and videos, and as a viewfinder as well. Also present is an optical viewfinder that will help you save on battery life when shooting outdoors.
Other features include PASM shooting modes, an ISO range of 80 to 1600, support for conversion lenses, and a 640 x 480 (30fps) movie mode.
The Bundle
PowerShot A720 IS camera
512MB Secure Digital card
Two AA alkaline batteries
Wrist strap
USB cable
A/V cable
CD-ROM featuring Canon Digital Camera Solution, Apple QuickTime, and drivers
Printed Manual
Still i felt 720IS is better than 590IS in 590 IS i cant add my telle converter lense or additional zoom or wide angle lence but in 720IS its possible sir
and both are 8 MP and 720 is is 6 x zomm more over the local market price for that is around RS 8500
I own an A720IS and I am trying to come to grips with its awesome power. If this is the state-of-art of a compact camera what who needs a DSLR. This is my second digital camera, I am thrilled
The quality of the pictures of Canon are very nice. Their Camera needs two improvemnets. One is that the video recording should be in MPEG4 format which is adopted some of the new entrants like Sanyo, because the AVI format takes up lot of space/memory. While reviewing one can zoom the picture, but there should be an option to save the zoomed picture and print, which is not there. Canon should incoporte these functions. There is need to improve the LCD resolution
While Canon A720Is is generally a truly fine digicam of 2007- but for 2008- Canon is missing a trick or two- it is churning out Digicams with HARDLY WIDE 35-105; 35-140, 35-210 mm zooms- but now Panasonic with its zoom range starting from wide-28MM to 100, 120, 150mm is fast making available what consumer wants - a truly wide zoom lens. Wake up canon before the behemoth that Panasonic is- takes over your market share!!
Rightly said. It is time for Canon to take note & offer wide angle. One more thing is that Canon offers only 640X480 (30 FPS) while competitors have started offering HD Video Recording Capabilities.
Good point,besides on other important features like LCD size and Zoom range too Canon seems to be slow in catching up. 3 inches screen will shortly become a standard and a 10X zooms are not uncommon. Canon can not keep riding on brand visibility and service network,
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