Canon PowerShot A720 IS review

Canon's PowerShot range may not be the most glamorous, but it includes some great value cameras for keen photographers.

The A720 IS is the best example to date. Its chunky plastic body, AA battery compartment and low resolution 2.5 inch screen help to keep costs down, but the optically stabilised lens with 6x zoom, and full manual control over focus and exposure settings, are unheard of at this price.

The low resolution screen isn't ideal for manual focus adjustment, but while you're attempting it the centre of the display shows a digitally zoomed close-up that makes reasonably accuracy possible. Manual exposure settings are better, as the preview image's brightness reliably predicts the outcome of your selected ISO (sensitivity), shutter and aperture settings, and also brightens up when the flash is activated. Canon's menu system is easy to navigate, and the Direct Print button can be reassigned to something more useful, such as ISO setting. Performance is up to scratch, at two seconds to switch on and capture a photo and 1.7 seconds between subsequent shots.

Image quality was fairly typical of a low-cost 8 megapixel camera, but at today's high standards this isn't a criticism. We found there was enough detail for A4 enlargements, and colour reproduction was dependable. Auto settings coped well with tricky lighting, and face detection produced flattering portraits. The Hi ISO mode was needed when shooting indoors without flash, and resulted in quite a lot of noise (graininess), but these photos were at least good enough for viewing onscreen.

You can get better image quality for this money if you choose Samsung's NV8, reviewed last month. However, the A720 IS will help photography enthusiasts - including those looking for a compact sidekick for their digital SLR - shoot more creatively, and ultimately get more interesting pictures.