The next step in Canon Powershot development after the 500 and 600 series, is the A700 series.
The A700 model incorporates 22 shooting modes from fully automatic to fully manual to achieve optimum results for any photographic application.
The new camera Canon Powershot A700 is also compatible with optional wide angle and telephoto lens converters, as well as a close-up lens and a wireless flash unit like its predecessors. The LCD screen goes larger to 2.5-inch (with Night Display and Grid Line Display), an improved direct printing function that permits greater flexibility in print settings. The number of effects included in the menu got some extra features: Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, and Vivid Red; lighter and darker skin tones, and positive film effects; colour accent setting turns all colours but the one selected by the user to monochrome (My Colors mode).
Technical data of Canon Powershot A700 include: an 6x optical zoom, 1/2.5″ 6MP CCD (the first of many cameras launched in 2006 to use this size), ISO 800 mode (another first time feature), 1cm macro mode (wow for a compact). Plus, the recording time remains looked to 3 min for 160×120, 15 fps.
Some say that in its class, Finepix E900 is currently the only compact digital camera that beats the Canon Powershot A700 and I belive this.
Acording to dpreview, the most important improvements of Powershot A710 after A700 are:
-> Higher Resolution (7MP vs 6MP)
-> Image Stabilization
-> New ‘Safety Zoom’ (advanced digital zoom function)
-> 60fps (QVGA) movie mode
-> MyColors effects in playback mode
-> Playback overexposure warning
-> 3:2 overlay on live view
-> Marginally lower battery life
-> SDHC card support
-> Slightly reduced continuous shooting speed (1.7fps vs 2.0fps)
-> 10g (0.36oz) heavier
