I Love This Camera! ~ Canon PowerShot A70

Author's Rating:

Pros: Loads of features, easy to use, affordable and sturdy

Cons: none really!

The Bottom Line: 
Loads of features, easy to use, affordable and sturdy

Author's Review
Up until a month ago I had never used a digital camera. I had hoped to purchase one for a couple of years, but somehow it just never happened. Then I realized that I had 57 rolls of film to be developed. Photographs of Christmasses past, of holidays enjoyed, of children and pets and friends and it was all going to cost me an arm and a leg to get developed and hopefully it wasn’t all lost due to the age of the film. Obviously it was time to step into the digital world. I was not about to let the film development procrastination bug get me again….I was moving into this millennium with a digital camera! I did a lot of research, I talked to friends and relatives, and I decided on the Canon PowerShot A70.

Out of the Box

The Canon PowerShot A70 comes with:

4-AA alkaline batteries
1- 16 megabyte Compact Flash Type 1 Card
wrist strap
USB & A/V cable
Quick Start Guide
Complete camera instructions and a software manual
Two Software CD-Roms (both Windows & Mac compatible) which contain the drivers and software for the camera, as well as organizing, editing and photo printing programs

Canon PowerShot A70 features:

3.2 Megapixels
3x optical zoom
3.2x digital zoom
1.5 inch LCD monitor screen
Variable shutter speed (15 to 1/2000 of a second)
Exposure and white balance controls
flash: on, off, auto, red-eye reduction
14' flash range
self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds
Photo size and quality: 640 x 480 up to 2048 x 1536, quality from normal to superfine.
Video: 160x120 up to 640 x 480 – shoot up to three minutes of video at a time.
Various replay modes and languages
Customizable sounds and graphics

The Canon PowerShot A70 is what I consider to be a perfect sized camera. I know there are smaller cameras out there, but for a first time digital camera user I want to be able to feel like I’m holding something more substantial than those tiny little numbers I’ve seen. Not only that, but I do feel that I can handle this camera more easily and I’m able to read the dials and select my options more easily if I can see them more easily. And to be perfectly honest, I’m a bit of a klutz, so something that’s a bit larger will be a bit easier for me to hold onto. The camera weighs .48 lbs and measures 1.2 inches x 2.5 inches x 4 inches. The buttons, dials and switches are all easy to reach, but still quite easy to read.

The body of the Canon PowerShot A70 is what some might be concerned about, being a metallic looking plastic, but it does seem to be quite sturdy to me and if I’m comfortable with it, being the klutz that I am, I wouldn’t think that others would be too worried about it either. Okay, I’ll admit it, I have dropped it a couple of times, and I haven’t seen any signs of damage. It works just as well as it did before the mishaps.

When I first used my Canon PowerShot A70 I found it quite easy to open and close the battery door, it’s very secure, closes tightly, and will definitely keep those AA batteries in their intended spaces. I do find the cover on the flash card to be a little worrisome, however. Its held on my two little plastic hinges and my first thought when inserting the flash card was that if anything was going to break on this camera, this was it! But so far I haven’t been overly concerned since I can’t see having to change cards very often in the future. So that will just remain a “closed door” as much as possible.

I also had reservations about the Digital A/V Out cover, but the rubberized material here seems to be quite strong, so I doubt there will be any problems with it and it will certainly keep that area clean. All in all, the Canon PowerShot A70 is really a very sturdy and well-constructed camera.

I’ll admit that I’m what you might call “technologically challenged”, so my first experience with this camera might have been my last except for one small fact. The Canon PowerShot A70 is incredibly easy to use right out of the box! Sure, I wasn’t Ansel Adams, but I was up and running, taking pictures that I would be proud to show friends and family, within minutes. The Quick Start guide can get anyone up and running in no time, and the detailed manual is very easy to read and follow. The camera has an “auto” mode which has given me great results, but you also have several other modes to choose from, including portrait, landscape, night scene, fast and slow shutter, and stitch assist, as well as movie mode. Within minutes I was taking pictures, replaying them, locking the pictures I wanted to keep (to save me from accidentally deleting them) and deleting shots I didn’t want.

Installing the software onto my Mac was a breeze as well. Just following the prompts and selecting the software I wanted to install took only a few minutes. Then it was just a matter of connecting the USB cable to my computer and my camera, and uploading my pictures. It was all so easy, even for me!

I’ve used my Canon PowerShot A70 for a little over a month now, indoors and outdoors, at birthday parties and family gatherings. I’ve taken outdoor night time shots (Halloween trick or treating) and daytime pictures in the snow, and I’m very happy with the quality of the images as well as the ease of operation of this camera. I’ve played with different modes and settings and, although I’m very far from mastering all the features of this camera, I have absolutely no complaints with the results. I’ve got lots of nice clear pictures of my daughter’s birthday, great memory shots of my princess’ first trick or treating experience, and it didn’t cost me a penny to have the film developed. The Canon PowerShot A70 will pay for itself in no time, and I’m so happy about the instant results I have now that I’m using a digital camera!

The Canon PowerShot A70 is a great digital camera for a beginner, but I think that it has enough features that even a more accomplished photographer will be happy with. I expect I’ll be developing my skills quite a lot using this camera, and it will be keeping me busy learning new techniques for some time to come.