Canon PowerShot S70

Opinion: I bought the S70 for 1 month now...and generally I'm quite happy with it. Fast startup, compact solid body, nice to carry around. Great lens, nice macro. Wealth of features that many other digital compact lacks.

Opinion: Great camera. Yeah, fall off on flash and not rectalinear at
28 but so what. SUPER SHARP BIG FILES!!! Everything else
is perfect.

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Opinion: Overall, I've been quite pleased with the S70. I have used the S30/45/50 before it, along with several of the more compact "S" series and all the "G" series (except for the G3). Sp clearly, I am kind of hooked on the Canons.
I don't really have any issues at all with this camera, and find it to be a legitimate upgrade to previous models in the series (3 complaints are listed below).
Operationally, this camera is the swiftest to operate of all the "S's" I've tried and all the controls represent refinement over previous designs. I like the images it produces, although I have to say now that I have the G6, I can see differences. The biggest plus is the wide angle end of the zoom range, but this sacrifices speed at the other end, and I think Canon would have been wise to end the long end at 85-90mm to retain some speed. It is a very tough camera to use in marginal light if the telephoto is required as it is quite slow. I think this leads to many complaints of blurry pictures, and blame going to the machine and not the realization that a slow shutter speed is the simple reason and the longer end of the zoom needs to be avoided for faster shutter speeds.
If I were to be in position to purchase it again, I would probably have gone straight to the G6 for the advantages of the faster lens and flash hot shoe.
Still, this is the most functionality out there in such a streamlined package. In my investigating, the only other camera in this size range that had this much functionality in this small a package was the Oly c7000 (maybe the fuji 810), but the S70 is unique for its lens. I'm having a hard time giving that up; it is an excellent feature.

Opinion: Very good but not perfect camera. Had this camera about a month and i am pretty pleased with it. It's my second digital camera but my first good quality digital. I may be relatively new to digital but i have been taking photos with two Pentax SLRs for 10 years and would currently rate myself as semi professional.

First of all i should say that i have not made any prints from the camera yet and so these comments and based on feel/usability and what i have seen on screen on the camera/computer

As soon as you pick up the camera you feel you have bought something that has been made to a pretty high standard. It's quite a dense camera, Canon have obviously packed a lot into this thing. It feels pretty solid to hold and the sliding door and buttons feel well made. I also like the fact it has a metal body)

The battery cover is plastic (compared to the metal body) and it does make a hollow sound when you tap it but it feels strong and closes securely. The battery and card and easily removed thanks to the release buttons.
The lens cover clicks open/closes nicely but in a tight pocket it may pop open, though not easily.

The menus are simple and clear but you can get lost in the myriad of options available. I fear unless you know the instructions inside out upside down you could get lost trying to remember how to make certain adjustments and miss a few photo opportunities.

This is a pretty good attempt by Canon to put many SLR features into a compact digital but it is not as easy to navigate the functions they have created compared to an SLR but this not an SLR anyway.

I am particularly happy with the wide angle lens which is a huge bonus for a compact. Dpreview pointed out it distorts but it has not been something that i have really noticed, i think you need a keen eye and deliberately look to see this.

The images seem very sharp and there is quite an amazing amount of detail recorded when you zoom in. I am particularly impressed with the macro. This blows away any macro i have had on an SLR though the focusing can be tricky in some lights. Not surprisingly a tripod is recommended. The macro is more like a microscope in terms of detail. It may not be as close a macro as say a FUJI digital i saw but it makes up for this by the detail it records with the excellent lens (you can always crop the image).

There is a wealth of features, some of which you won't bother with and some you won't realise are even there until later (like the feature that allows you to take photos automatically in intervals for photographing flowers opening for example). I really like the ability to take exposure readings, manually focus and lock the focus easily, oh and to be able to bracket exposures.

This is quite a complicated piece of kit and i'd be surpirsed if many other cameras offered this much in such a tiny package. Ok it's not the smallest but look what is in this thing. Not a camera for amateurs unless you want to have a million features that will most likely never be used.

Good build
Good flash
Sharp images
Loads of features
Wide angle lens

That's about all i can think to say right now. DPreviews review seemed very accurate to me and covered everything i haven't here i am sure.