Digital Trends

Canon PowerShot A720 IS

November 4th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The 8-megapixel PowerShot A720 IS is a boxy looking camera without any of the panache of the company’s Digital ELPH series. That’s not to say it’s ugly just that the Made In China digicam won’t win any beauty contests. The plastic and metal body is primarily silver colored with dark accents on the grip which is very substantial compared to other point-and-shoot models since it holds the two batteries. This one feels right when you pick it up. The camera weighs 7 ounces without batteries and SD card. It measures 3.83 x 2.64 x 1.65 (WHD, in inches) so don’t expect to slip this into a tight pocket as you can with an ELPH.

The front is dominated by the 6x optical zoom which is more powerful than the typical 3x or 4x. This is equivalent to 35-210mm in 35mm terms which is nice on the telephoto end but as from my review of the SD870 IS, you know I prefer a wider-angle option (28mm). Along with the flash, mic holes, AF Assist lamp and viewfinder porthole, there are a few relatively tame decals and logos. On the bottom right next to the lens is a ring release button that lets you attach accessory converter lenses (wide angle, telephoto, close-up).

On the top of the A720 IS is the mode dial, on/off key, speaker and shutter with surrounding zoom control. The dial offers a lot of options not typically found on affordable point-and-shoots—aperture- and shutter-priority as well as full manual. Granted you don’t have all the options of a D-SLR but this camera lets you spread your photographic wings if you want to move beyond Auto or the many scene modes available (portrait, night portrait, landscape and so on). This camera has 12 modes total, a lot less than Olympus or Casio digicams and the menus are rather rudimentary but they get the job done. Canon should really upgrade its menu system to be more helpful for beginners and replacement buyers.

The rear is dominated by a 2.5-inch LCD rated a so-so 115K pixels. The screen worked OK indoors but there was some smearing as you moved from subject to subject. This is one of the key differences between lower-priced cameras and their more expensive brethren since they’ll have 230K pixel screens and faster refresh rates. As for shooting outdoors in bright sunshine, the LCD held up well and I never needed the viewfinder.

Also on the back are the usual controls found on almost every point-and-shoot digicam. On the top right is the mode slider switch to move between capture and playback. You’ll also find a Delete key that also helps you move through manual adjustments, a Direct Print button, Display and Menu. Display lets you get rid of onscreen icon clutter, add grid lines or whatever your heart desires. Menu takes you to the camera’s basic settings. The four-way controller with center Function/OK button lets you adjust the flash (on/off), get into macro and adjust the settings. This layout is straight forward and functional, like zillions of other digicams.

On the bottom you’ll find a compartment for the AAs and SD/SDHC card slot along with a tiny slot for the date/time battery. The left side has a compartment for DC-in, USB and A/V out.

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS comes with everything you need to get started including a pair of batteries, cables, a huge 210-page owner’s manual, software starter guide and Canon’s Digital Camera Solution CD ROM ver. 31.0. The disk has ZoomBrowser EX 6.0, PhotoStitch 3.1 for panoramas, EOS Utility 1.1a and drivers for PC users. Mac heads get ImageBrowser 6.0, PhotoStitch 3.2 and EOS Utility 1.1. Since the camera has no internal memory, Canon supplies a puny 16MB SD card. Of course, you’ll need to budget $20 USD for a 1-gig card as well as NiMH rechargeables for Mother Earth.

After popping in the supplied batteries and 2GB card, it was time to give the A720 IS a workout.

Image Courtesy of Canon