Canon PowerShot A700

Reviewed May 2006

Introduction

The new Powershot A700 now crowns the A-series cameras, Canon’s most economical line of Powershot cameras. The A700 is equipped with a 6-megapixel CCD, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor and a 6X optical zoom.

The A700’s top supports the 2-stage Shutter Release, positioned directly on top of the grip, and is surrounded by the Zoom Control.

The zoom lever, in addition to controlling the focal length in the capture modes also serves when the camera is set to the playback mode. Pushed to the wide angle side, /, it presents images as thumbnails — an index view — placing 9 images on the monitor. Pulled to the telephoto side, /, it allows zooming into an image up to 10X.

Two controls are located to the left of the shutter release, both embedded into the surface of the camera. First is the Power Switch, and near the back and protruding sufficiently to be rotated with the thumb is the Mode Dial with a green LED that not only indicates the camera is on, but also serves to identify the mode to which the mode dial is currently set.

The Mode Dial has 11 positions, each of which corresponds to a capture mode. As is common on Canon cameras, the modes are organized into two groups on the dial and separated by the simplest shooting mode:

The Auto mode takes care of all settings, but allows the user to select the image size and quality, the flash mode, the self-timer, or choose whether the sensitivity should be High or Low.

The Creative Zone modes are grouped above the Auto mode:

	Program AE lets the camera select the aperture and shutter speed, but provides full control to the user over all other parameters.
	Shutter Priority makes it possible to choose the shutter speed from a range that extends from 1/2000 sec. to 15 seconds while the camera selects the aperture.
	Aperture Priority allows selecting the aperture — f2.8 through f8 — while the camera matches it to a shutter speed.
	Manual Mode provides full control over the camera, while the camera indicates the difference between the metered exposure and the user’s settings using the exposure compensation indicator, displaying the compensation value in red when the settings for aperture and shutter speed will result in an incorrect exposure.

The remaining modes, arranged below the Auto mode, are part of the Image Zone:

	Portrait Mode uses a large aperture to shorten the depth of field, thereby capturing a sharp subject in front of a blurred and non-distracting background.
	Landscape Mode uses a small aperture to maximize depth of field, but this often results in a slower shutter speeds that may require the camera to be stabilized.
	Night Scene Mode uses a slow shutter speed (1 second maximum) and the flash to capture a subject standing in front of a night time scene. Sensitivity is automatically controlled.
	When the Mode Dial is set to this position, the right and left arrows of the 4-direction control (see further) allow selecting one of 8 additional Scene Modes: Night Snapshot mode adjusts sensitivity so minimize the need for a tripod when capturing subjects in front of night scenery. Kids and Pets mode optimizes the shutter speed so as to capture quick movement. Sensitivity is automatically controlled by the camera. Indoor mode sets the white balance to tungsten and uses the flash only if it absolutely necessary. Foliage mode accentuates greens and reds slightly so as to give plants and trees a more sustained colour. Snow mode takes the reflective nature of snow on the metering into account by compensating the exposure. Beach mode also takes the reflective effect of water into account so that both subjects and water are captured clearly. Fireworks mode captures a 2-second exposure with the focus set to infinity. Colour Accent allows selecting a colour in a captured image displayed on the monitor, and saving the image with only that colour while all others are changed to black and white. Colour Swap allows selecting one colour in an already captured image, and then replacing it by another.
	Stitch Assist allows capturing a series of contiguous images with the same brightness so they can be assembled later with a computer into a panoramic image using the software included with the A700.
	The Movie mode allows capturing any of 4 movie types: Standard can be set to capture either a 640 x 480 pixel image or a 320 x 240 pixel image, and either frame size can be captured at 30 or 15 frames per second. With this mode, the optical zoom is turned off, but the 4X digital zoom is available. The maximum recording is 1 GB. Fast Frame Rate makes it possible to capture a video sequence with a frame size of 320 x 240 pixels at 60 frames per second and for a maximum running time of 1 minute which, when played back, appears slow motion. Compact is designed to capture video at the smallest file size possible so it can be sent as an e-mail attachment. The frame size is 160 x 120 pixels at 15 frames per second for a maximum recording length of 3 minutes. Two more modes, Colour Accent and Colour Swap, are similar to those of the still image mode (see above) allowing either a colour to be retained while all others become black and white, or one specific colour to be swapped for another. Whatever mode is used, sound is recorded monaurally, and the optical zoom is locked at the first frame as is the focus. White balance and exposure are dynamic however, and are adjusted continuously as the recording progresses.

A simple optical viewfinder is provided near the centre of the upper back of the A700, in case the monitor is difficult to see, as when there is too much light falling on it. Moreover, it can also be used to economize power.

The optical viewfinder is flanked by 2 LEDs: the upper lights green when the camera is ready to take a photo, or blinks when some internal process is in progress. It also lights orange when the camera is ready to shoot with the flash on, and blinks orange when the flash is charging. The lower indicator lights yellow solidly when the camera has focused, or blinks yellow when it has difficulty focusing.

The primary viewfinder for the A700 is the 2.5 inch, 115,000 pixel LCD monitor that occupies most of the camera’s back. While its resolution is only average it benefits from a very fast refresh rate that provides the user with a very smooth and fluid image.

At the top, a simple Mode Switch serves to select either the capture or the playback modes.

Directly below are two round buttons labelled with black and white icons, that indicate their functions in the capture modes (black), or in the playback mode (blue).

Next is the 4-direction control which rings the FUNC. SET button. The 4-direction control serves to navigate either the menus of the A700 or review photos. In addition, its up and down arrows make it possible to adjust the flash and the focus mode:

The up arrow serves to select the Flash mode: Auto, Forced On, or Forced Off. Red-eye reduction is available, but must be turned on in the capture menu first. (See the Characteristics section for more information about this menu.)

	The up arrow also supports a Playback mode function, speeding up image review by jumping groups of images, the specific jump mode being selected with the up and down arrows: Jump 10 images Jump 100 images Jump to the first image of each shooting date Jump to a movie Jump to the first image of each folder
	The down arrow selects the Focus mode, either Macro or Manual. Macro focus allows the A700 to focus on a subject that is from 1 to 55 cm (0.4 inch to 1.8 ft) from the lens when the zoom is at the wide angle end.
	And when pressed a second time, the button starts the Manual Focus mode, which requires the use of the monitor as the camera automatically magnifies the centre of the image to assist with focusing. Finally, the down arrow also provides a Auto Focus Lock function (AF-L) when the shutter release is pressed halfway and the camera has auto focused.

The button at the centre of the 4-direction control, FUNC. SET, serves to confirm selections made in the menu and to call up the Function Menu which contains basic image capture settings.

This menu can be displayed in all capture modes, but offers the most settings when the camera is set to P, Av, Tv or M:

• ISO Speed: Auto, Hi (High ISO Auto), 80, 100, 200, 400 or 800 ISO.
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten (incandescent), Fluorescent (warm-white or cool white), Fluorescent H (daylight) or Custom (measured under ambient light conditions using a white surface as a source of the white point).
• Drive Mode:
  • Single: default, captures one image each time the shutter release is pressed.
  • Continuous: 2 frames per second using Large/Fine image quality and size).
  • 10 second Self-timer.
  • 2 second Self-timer.
  • Custom Self-timer which can be set to release the shutter 0, 10, 15, 20 or 30 seconds after it has been pressed, and the number of shots to capture from 1 to 10.
• My Colours: provides control over the way colours are recorded:
  • Off: the default, uses the normal colour settings for the A700.
  • Vivid: accentuates colour saturation.
  • Neutral: decreases colour saturation.
  • Sepia: captures the image with sepia (brown) tones.
  • Black and White: captures a gray scale image.
  • Positive Film enhances reds, greens and blues.
  • Lighter Skin tone: lightens skin tones.
  • Darker Skin Tone darkens skin tones.
  • Custom Colour allows adjusting freely contrast, saturation, sharpness, colours (red, green and blue) and skin tones.

• ± Flash: with the Tv and Av modes flash exposure can be compensated over ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments. While when the A700 is set to the Manual mode, or when the flash is set to the Manual mode in the REC. menu (see further) its output can be adjusted over 3 steps (1/3, 2/3 or full power).
• Metering Mode: serves to select the metering pattern:
  • Evaluative
  • Centre Weighted
  • or Spot.

• Compression selects the image quality: SuperFine, Fine or Normal. This option is replaced by Frame Rate (30 fps or 15 fps) when the camera is set to the Movie Mode.
• Recording Pixels: serves to set the image size (see the Characteristics section of the review) or the frame size for movies.

Moreover, when the A700 is set to the Playback mode, and an portion of an image is shown magnified on the monitor, the FUNC. SET button when pressed retains the magnification level while allowing moving from one image to the next using the right and left arrows.

The last two external controls of the A700 are positioned next to each other, below the 4-direction control. On the right the MENU button displays the menu related to the current camera mode (see the Characteristics section of the review for more information about the various menus of the A700).

On the left, the DISPLAY button controls the monitor On-Off, and the information that is superimposed on it during the capture modes, and in the playback mode.

With the A700 set to a capture mode, the default presentation provides a high level of detail about camera settings: AF point, capture mode, drive mode, ISO, metering, compression/resolution, flash mode and battery charge. Pressing the DISPLAY once removes all the superimposed information with the exception of the AF brackets. Whichever information display is used, however, the shutter speed and aperture are indicated on the monitor when the shutter release is pressed halfway. Moreover, if selected in the menu, a composition grid can be superimposed on the monitor.

Set to the Playback mode, the default presentation displays the image with its file name, its position within the group of images in the folder, the image size and compression setting, and the date and time at which it was captured. And, as with other recent Canon cameras, an orientation sensor makes it possible to playback images the right way up if they were shot with the camera held vertically.

Pressing the DISP. button once reduces the image so it fits in the top left corner of the monitor, making room for a histogram to be displayed below while the shooting date is shown at right (capture mode, ISO, shutter speed and aperture, exposure compensation, flash compensation, white balance, metering mode, image size and compression). Pressing the button a second time removes all superimposed information, leaving the image full-screen.