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Reviews : Hardware : Digital Cameras : Advanced Compact Digital Cameras

Digital Cameras Buying Guide: There are many makes and models of digital cameras on the market. Read on to determine the right digital camera for you. Read more...

Advanced Compact Digital Cameras

Canon PowerShot A700

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Canon PowerShot A700 4.50

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RRP

$579.00

Review Date

Wednesday, 19th of April, 2006

Features

Camera Resolution : 6.0 MP

Digital Zoom : 4x

ISO Speeds : 100

ISO Speeds : 200

ISO Speeds : 400

ISO Speeds : 80

ISO Speeds : 800

Optical Zoom : 6x

What's Hot

Great shots, Quick, Lots of features

What's Not

No exposure controls in most modes

The Final Word

Another great Powershot entry by Canon, the A700 fulfils all the requirements of an advanced model, offering lots of functions, superb image quality, a big zoom and decent battery life.

Notes

# This product is no longer available directly from the manufacturer. It may be available in retail and distribution channels, or second hand. The price displayed is the price at review time and the last available recommended retail price.

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Imatest Digital Still Images

All of our cameras are tested using Imatest, which provides standardised benchmarks that can be directly compared across models. By generating a specific score we can give you hard facts to support our reviews and make sure you make the best decision possible.

SFR Test for Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration StepChart for Image Noise ColourCheck

Sharpness

Sharpness is potentially the most important element of a picture. The sharper a shot, the more depth and clarity it will appear to have. Sharpness is a term used to describe the boundary between one section of colour and another. The more defined this border is, the sharper the shot. It is measured by comparing the distance it takes a pixel to change from one colour value to the other. All cameras will blur to some extent, but in good models it won't be noticeable until you really zoom in to extreme levels. The higher the value, the better the camera; anything over 1300 should be considered excellent.

Chromatic Aberration

Cameras with Chromatic Aberration are often attributed as having poor sharpness, but this is not the case at all. Chromatic Aberration is caused by light refracting at incorrect angles as it passes through the lens. It occurs around the edge of a shot and presents itself as colour fringing, which can destroy the clarity in those areas. Chromatic Aberration is measured in terms of its distance from the centre. A lower percentage is good. Anything below .05 should be considered fairly good.