Reviews for Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Consistently great pictures with plenty of features

Strengths: Reliable, sturdy body, color fidelity, optics, metering

Weakness: Flash a bit underpowered

I've owned a lot of cameras and the S70 is by far my favorite compact one, along with the Canon 20D.
I could go on and on about the amazing range of features packed into the S70's compact, sturdy little body (I droped it on a rock from my tripod during an hiking trip in Yosemite and the camera just has a small scratch). The quality of the procduced images is simply fantastic: the optics are superb; they are quick to focus and produce razor-sharp photos. The metering, too, is excellent, even in high-contrast situations. And the color fidelity is among the best i've ever seen in a digital camera, at any price.
This camera also boasts a true wide-angle lens, which is great if you photograph landscapes or architecture. And at a whim, the S70 can be a fully automated "point and shoot" or the next-best-thing to a fully manual SLR. I also love the thick plastic cover over the LED screen on the back!
The flash is perhaps a bit underpowered, which can contribute to the "red eye" some other reviewers complained about. I've noticed this to be a problem only in very low light, though, and it's my only complaint (and a minor one, at that!).

If you're looking for a rugged, reliable compact digital camera that consistently captures great images, look no further than the S70.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Wide angle, compact size, sharp pictures, good macro range, very simple to use menu. 7 mega pixels

Weakness: Flash in darker or dark rooms make this ring (from the flash) around the corners of the picture.

Superb image quality, ability to shoot in full darkness, great range of shutter/aperture controls in automatic and manual modes, very convenient layout of control buttons, 28-100 mm fast lenses, and short charging time are the strongest points of this camera. Many of these features came from much more expensive digicams and are not available from another manufactures for this price and in such small size of the body.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: great picture quality, simple to use, fairly small, supports CF cards

Weakness: body scratches easily, could use a larger zoom, bundle does not include AC adapter

This is my 3rd Canon digital camera. However, my most recent camera was a 4 Mpixel Sony Cybershot. I couldn't wait to switch back to a Canon camera again! The Canon S70 gives me consistent sharp and well-lit pictures. Under similar conditions, my Sony camera would produce blurred images every so often, or the flash would leave a shadow around the person in the picture. Not so with the S70.

I considered buying some one of the more expensive Canon cameras, but settled for the S70 because the small form factor is still very important to me. Make sure to get a case for this camera, as the black metal finish scratches easily.

A minor annoyance is that the wrist wrap sometimes prevents the retractable lens cover from opening fully. The first thing this happened, it took a while to figure out what was going on -- the lens cover appeared to be completely open, so for a moment I thought the camera was broken!

It is great to be able to transfer the pictures to the PC using a fast USB 2.0 connection. The Canon software is good, however I still prefer to use the MS Digital Camera Transfer Wizard in many cases. Fortunately, it is possible to configure Windows XP so that it lets you choose whether to run the Canon software or the Digital Camera Transfer Wizard every time you plug the camera in to the PC.

Another minor annoyance is the camera only comes with a stand-alone battery charger. This means that if you plan to have the camera plugged in to the PC for a long time, you may have to buy the optional AC adapter/charger.

Although I like the wide angle of the camera lens, I found the zoom to be a bit lacking. Many times I have wished I could zoom a bit more. In spite of these minor annoyances, I still think the S70 is one of the absolutely best cameras in its class, and when the time comes to buy a new camera, it is likely to be Canon once again.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Image Quality Ease of use Portabe viewing on TV or PC

Weakness: None

The Canon PowerShot S70 is one of the nicest cameras that I have ever tested and bought based on Quality. I tested in comparison a Sony CyberShot DSC-P73 4.1 Mega Pixel camera and the Sony did not give very good color highlights with red and contrast. On the other hand the Canon PowerShot S70 was excellent when I took pictures of bright red items (my car) no distortion and the fine picture mode enhanced all the details of each picture that I took. I would recommend this camera to anyone who wants a quality digital camera.

The only thing was different about this camera was that when the Canon PowerShot S70 is connected to your computer via USB 2.0 it is not treated as a drive so if you use your CF card for other things besides pictures you cannot send or receive through the camera. and you may have to install the drivers to transfer pictures from the camera to your PC (for me I didn't have to).

Also, you will save a substancial amount of money buying this camera that has a Compact Flash Type I and II standard. Along with the excellent photo quality the Compact Flash Cards are much cheaper then that of other cameras that use other card types. I also bought a Hitachi 4GB Micro Drive for $207.00(There is also a $50 mail in rebate) which was another reason for choosing this camera (Sony's largest competitor card is the 2 GB High Speed Memory Stick PRO Media MSX-2GN at $699.99). This would also be a nice motivation to get this camera.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Excellent resolution Low noise at ISO 50 and 100, not bad at 200 and 400 Excellent metering, color and dynamic range Very clean, artefact-free images Wide-angle zoom (28 - 100 mm equiv.) Excellent range of controls Solid build quality, nice me

Weakness: Some purple fringing visible at wide-angle or maximum apertures Some corner softness at wide-angle and maximum aperture Lens slow at telephoto (F5.3) Auto focus can be slow Low-light focus unreliable - especially at long end of the zoom LCD moni

With an MSRP of $599, the Canon S70 presents an excellent value for families wanting a small camera that can be used by photographers of every experience level, and capable of producing large high-quality images. Its 7-megapixel images are stunning both in terms of resolution and quality, allowing you to make 8x10-inch prints of a heavily cropped image, or 13x19-inch prints of the entire shot.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Wide Angle, 7MP in a small form factor, good battery life, image quality is excellent

Weakness: LCD usage is a joke in daylight, chromatic aberrations at wide angle in sunlight, barrel distortion at wide angle, flash vignetting at wide angle, manual focus difficult w/ LCD size

The flexibility in taking shots with features like AF-point/center auto-exposure, manual focus, slow flash synchro, gives it access to similar subsets of features as the G series, all in the small form factor of the S series. The size is definitely a plus. Although not as miniscule as the ultra-compacts, it still can be toted easily on the belt using the camera case accessory.

The USB 2.0 compatibility is a plus. However, I usually take the CF card so as to save battery life on the camera (the AC adapter accessory is rather expensive for file transfers). Also, the rubber panel over the AV & USB ports is rather flimsy, wouldn't want that to fall off so quickly.

The battery charges very quickly after a full drain, about 1-1.5 hours. Battery life itself is fairly good. I can get a few hundred shots in a sitting, depending on how I use the camera. Of course, a spare battery is recommended for crucial events.

My two top concerns are the moderate barrel distortion, flash vignetting, and chromatic aberration at wide angle. Given the small lens, this is an inevitability, but it's definitely something to consider before purchasing.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Wide angle. RAW format. Black color, Small size, Best quality of picture, Good macro range. Best picture at night.

Weakness: LCD does not work in bright daylight and is too small: movie Mode only has 3 minutes.

I think this camera is good for business and family. Small size, black color and amazing details make it very cool and a little professional. I got this camera yesterday. However, I spent 12 hours on it. The quality of picture amazes me. Though the color is not as vivid as Sony F818, the picture does not miss any detail because of 7-megapixel. The 28mm length gives us more range. The battery is better than the battery of S50. However, the LCD does not work in bright daylight and is too small: movie Mode only has 3 minutes.
To conclude, it is a good camera for business and family.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Intuitive UI Solid Feel Nice Packaging

Weakness: Price

The Canon S70 is a nice point and shoot camera. The automatic light sensor seems to be only okay. I was hoping it would be better than the S400 and S500. The cool feature is the storage of images in RAW format. That is really the biggest difference between the Digital ELPHs and this camera.

I have noticed that saving RAW files does take some time to save 7.1 MB. Additionally, using a 256 MB CF will only store 33 photos in RAW format.

I plan to test the camera will higher transfer speed CF like the SanDisk Ultra II and the Extreme CF.

Overall, I am happy with the performance of the camera.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Takes very good pictures. Fairly small and easy to use.

Weakness: S70 has trouble focusing when zoomed in, or in low lighting. Even in good lighting, S70 takes ~1 second to focus.

This camera is great for its price, and generally takes amazing pictures. The pictures are extremely sharp. Color seems much better than comparable Sony cameras.

Focusing is not as fast as Sony cameras. The S70 is still pretty fast (it only takes about 1 second to focus).

Wish it saved to RAW format in the Automatic modes. This is only a minor issue because the highest quality JPEG format is nearly as good as RAW format.

Camera is solidly made, and pocketable. Not ultra small, but small enough to frequently carry around. The front metal cover shields the lens much better than other digital cameras. There is no sliding metal shield to cover the LCD screen, so a light case might still be appropriate.

Overall, the S70 is a very good camera and takes great pictures.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: lens, features

Weakness: none

This is a great digital camera. It's good for someone that just wants to point and shoot or switch it into manual settings to get creative pictures. It's not as small as some of the other cameras out there but it is still light and compact. The quality of the pictures are fantastic.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Canon picture quality, nice soft colors

Weakness: a bit bulkier than my Sony P150

Canon S70 Every home needs one of these. I had read the review from www.dpreview.com... a website i trust. and i am happy that i made this choice. now i need a digital rebel for my telezoom lens.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: size, style, good value for the money.

Weakness: not crazy about the battery life.

canon has put together a complete package with the s70. excellent quality pictures in a convenient professional packaging. The ability to manipulate the different controls was easy and quick to learn. can put in coat pocket without any undo bulk.

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: Very good Quality of pictures - 7.1 Mega Pixels.. and easy to use the camera...

Weakness: may be little heavy into the pocket... compare to the small ones that are coming these days..

Very good Quality of pictures - 7.1 Mega Pixels..

and easy to use the camera...

may be little heavy into the pocket... compare to the small ones that are coming these days..

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Canon PowerShot S70 7.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

Strengths: 7.1 MP camera. Compact metallic body. Decent picture quality

Weakness: Blurred images. Poor white balance. 3.6X zoom

Looking at buying between the S70 and G6, I bought the S70 to test it for picture quality. I liked it because of the compact size and was hoping a picture quality in comparison to the G6 since it was only $100 cheaper. Much to my dismay, I was unpleased with the picture quality that I would rather spend another $100 more for a better camera. I have the older Sony V1 and it performs much better at a cheaper price than the S70.

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PowerShot S70

In our round-up, nearly every camera here took good pictures. If size is a factor, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P150—with its compact form, light weight, and 7-megapixel pictures—should fit your needs the best. We really liked the Casio Exilim EX-P600’s striking and innovative Ex Finder, but for the same price, we prefer the Canon PowerShot S70’s pictures and RAW capability....

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