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Canon PowerShot A720 IS

Canon PowerShot A720 IS 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 Canons popular A-series of cameras offering a strong feature set and good degree of user control at a competitive price. It isnt 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 zoomOptical Image StabilizerDIGIC III processor with Face Detection AF/AEISO 160017 shooting modes including VGA movies (30 fps) with soundOptional accessories available, including Underwater CaseKey differences compared to A 710 IS

More pixels (8.0 vs 7.1 million)Face detection AE/AFISO range extends to 1600PowerShot A720 IS specifications Street priceBody MaterialSensorImage sizesMovie clipsFile formatsLensImage stabilizationConversion lensesDigital zoomFocusAF area modesAF assist lampFocus distanceMeteringISO sensitivityExposure compensationShutter speedApertureModesScene modesWhite balanceSelf timerContinuous shootingImage parametersFlashViewfinderLCD monitorConnectivityPrint complianceStoragePowerOther featuresWeight (No batt)Dimensions

Plastic

• JPEG Exif 2.2• DCF• DPOF 1.1• AVI Motion JPEG with WAVE monaural

Yes (lens shift-type)

None

up to 4x

TTL

• AiAF (Face Detection / 9-point)• 1-point AF (fixed center/FlexiZone)

Yes

Closest 1cm

• Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame)• Center-weighted average• Spot

• +/- 2EV• in 1/3 stop increments

15-1/2000 sec (With noise reduction for exposures over 1.3 seconds)

F2.8-4.8

• Auto• Manual • Digital Macro• Color Accent• Color Swap • Stitch Assist• Movie• Special Scene

• 2 or 10secs• Custom

approx 1.3fps until card is full

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)

"Real-image" zoom viewfinder

• 2.5-inch P-Si TFT• 115,000 pixels

• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed• AV out

• PictBridge• Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and PIXMA Printers supporting PictBridge (ID Photo Print, Movie Print supported on SELPHY CP printers only)

• SD / SDHC / MMC card compatible • 32 MB card supplied

• AA batteries• Optional AC adapter kit ACK800

200 g (7.05 oz)

97.3 x 67.0 x 41.9 mm (3.83 x 2.64 x 1.65 inch)

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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