~~ DO A CANNON BALL WITH CANON POWERSHOT A710 IS DIGITAL CAMERA ~~

I just can't keep up with what is new on the market! It seems like whenever we get used to technology, another comes in to takes it's place. We have several Canon cameras in our home. Some we use around the house, for holiday pictures, family events, cute things that the kids do. Others, we take to sporting events, vacations, action shots. The Canon Powershot A710 IS Digital Camera belongs to my 12 year old son, who was given this as a birthday gift, and we allow him to use it for HIS fun, not ours. I did try it for the week over Christmas and my memory card was filled to the max, and no stores were open! This is a beautiful camera, and the pictures are stunning. As one in a series of cameras, Canon is setting the series up with a row of cameras similar, but each has it's own unique set of features. Included in this photography army are: A640, SD700 IS, SD800 IS and S3IS. This handles a bit different from the other cameras I have used, it is a bit heavier, and solid, with a rubber grip! Perfect for my son not to drop it, as we have dropped cameras before and it has been a sad sight!!

My son wears glasses for far sightedness, so the 2.5 inch LCD display to view photos and decide if you are going to keep them is nicely lit for him. I had not trouble using it either, except if you are near a light, you can not really see the screen very well, and that includes when you are in the sun. The displays are 115,000 pixels and is very sensitive to the surroundings, whether it is night or daytime. SO you want to use the camera?? On the top, like most cameras, you will find the power button, the shutter button, mode dial, and zoom controller. On the front of the camera, there is the optical zoom finder that is 5.8 ~ 34.8 mm in range. The flash is right next to it. The color LCD screen with all of the exposure modes and display,print, delete and menu button are.

The variety of modes that you get to select from are auto, program, program, shutter speed, aperature priority mode, manual, movie and special scenes. Special scenes is my favorite, as well as my son's favorite, with the options of: Kids & Pets, Indoor, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Color Accent & Color Swap. It gives you so much variety and choices of how your pictures are taken, and to what resolution they will be. There is also, Night scene, landscape, portrait to choose from, much like the other Canons in the series. Here are some of the special specs in a laundry list:

AutoFocus System with the ability to catch any fast paced movement and close up without distortion. White Balance for special features such as Auto, Preset Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Underwater, Custom The ISO sensitivity are as follows ~ Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80-100-200-400-800 The built-in flash modes are Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On with Red-Eye Reduction, Flash Off Concerning beautiful Photo Effects ~ Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Custom Color. Also comes with a self timer for self portraits, a 16 MB secure digital card for about 300 pictures and movie mode which you can record your fun moments on a 640x480 that will take about 10 minutes worth of footage! My sons favorite feature is the mini recorder. He likes to tape himself and his friends playing video games, playing basketball, skateboarding. The video comes out rather good for being shot from a camera. The colors, including whether or not it is a sunny or cloudy day is very vivid. It runs on two AA batteries. They should last you a long time, if you watch what features you have running. Of course, after changing the card to my own camera, I gladly gave my son back his camera!

Overall, this is a good day to day camera that will meet the majority of your keepsake needs. Yes, I have to babysit it for my son to make sure it doesn't get stepped on, but I think it will last him throughout his college years and maybe even beyond. I am certain that with Canon's never-sleep record, he will get bored with this eventually and buy into the "You need another Canon" mentality!!