Canon Powershot A710 IS Review
Review Date: October 28th 2006
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 7 megapixel Superfine quality mode, which gives an average
image size of around 3Mb - 5Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available on the Canon Powershot
A710 IS which you can select at any time if the camera is
in any of the creative shooting modes. Here are some 100%
crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
There is no discernible noise at the slowest settings of
ISO 80 and 100. ISO 200 is beginning to show a little noise
and there is slight blurring of detail to help hide it. At
ISO 400 noise is quite evident and the camera blurs detail
further, although it's still a usable speed. ISO 800 is very
noisy and should only really be used as a last resort.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little
soft at the default setting ideally and benefit from some
further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You
can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your
tastes via the My Colors menu option.
File Quality
The Canon Powershot A710 IS has 3 different file quality
settings available, with Superfine being the highest quality
option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of
the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon Powershot A710 IS dealt exremely well with chromatic
aberrations well during the review, with only very limited
purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain
high-contrast situations, and only in a handful of test images.
Macro
The Canon Powershot A710 IS offers a Macro setting that allows
you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera
when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows
how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact
flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Canon Powershot A710 IS are Auto,
Manual Flash On / Off, Slow Sync Speed and Red-eye Reduction
. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a
distance of 1.5m.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (210mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, neither
the Auto or the Digital Red-Eye Reduction option caused any
red-eye.
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100%
Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Canon Powershot A710 IS maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds,
which is great for night photography. The shot below was taken
using a shutter speed of 15 seconds f/8 at ISO 50. I've included
a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise
reduction, so for example at the 8 second setting the actual
exposure takes 16 seconds.
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Night Shot (100% crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Canon Powershot A710 IS has an anti-shake mechanism,
which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds
than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld
shots of the same subject with the lens set to the same focal
length, aperture and ISO speed. The first shot was taken with
anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here
is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.
As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are
much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature
really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing
a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Overall Image Quality
The Canon Powershot A710 IS produced images of excellent
quality during the review period. The 7 megapixel images were
a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening
setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an
application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can increase the
in-camera sharpening level. The Canon Powershot A710 IS dealt
very well with chromatic aberrations, with slight purple fringing
effects appearing only in high contrast situations. Macro
performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as
just 1cm away from the subject. The built-in flash worked
very well indoors, with little red-eye and perfect exposure.
The night photograph was also very good, with the maximum
shutter speed of 15 seconds long enough for most situations.
The 1/2.5 inch, 7 megapixel sensor used in the Canon Powershot
A710 IS produced clean images at the slowest ISO speeds of
80 and 100, with slight noise at ISO 200 and more noise and
blurring at ISO 400. The fastest ISO speed of 800 isn't really
worth using unless there is no other choice. The Canon Powershot
A710 IS also offers a very effective optical image stabilisation
system, making this camera suitable for the majority of lighting
conditions.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon Powershot A710
IS have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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