a70

[bon911]

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

 

[savagemikel]

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if
anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able
to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be
able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

Would love, love, love to see some sample shots. I'm also curious to know if in full manual mode it does away with the preflash for metering. Many use the fact the s45 does this to advantage in using slave external hand held flash. I was wondering if we could take the same advantage of the a70.
I'm also very curious about red eye problems with typical indoor people pics.

-savagemike

 

[BA]

I just got mine today (well actually it is for my wife). I am messing around with it. The first thing I noticed is the images seem to be a bit noisy, however, I am use to Canon Digital SLR cameras. Also, it may be because I am shooting indoors with ISO setting to auto. I may end up hard setting it at 50 and see how they turn out. Other than that it seems to be a nice funtional little camera. The video mode is nice. The red eye doesn't seem too bad from my test shots so far. There is some there but nothing that is just down right terrible. The only other point & shoot I can compare it to is my nikon coolpix and the A70 beats that one hands down.

I hesitate to post any samples yet because I just fired a few off to see if the camera works.

You can take a look at these though. I will probably take some test images this weekend. If there are any specific questions you have I will be happy to try to answer them.

http://www.surfing.net/photo/a70

I use one of my kids messy room for color tests. These images are straight from the camera, no manipulation whatsoever. You should be able to extract the EXIF data from them to see all the settings.

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if
anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able
to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be
able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

Would love, love, love to see some sample shots. I'm also curious
to know if in full manual mode it does away with the preflash for
metering. Many use the fact the s45 does this to advantage in
using slave external hand held flash. I was wondering if we could
take the same advantage of the a70.
I'm also very curious about red eye problems with typical indoor
people pics.

-savagemike

 

[Richard Homeyer]

I hesitate to post any samples yet because I just fired a few off
to see if the camera works.

You can take a look at these though. I will probably take some
test images this weekend. If there are any specific questions you
have I will be happy to try to answer them.

http://www.surfing.net/photo/a70

I use one of my kids messy room for color tests. These images are
straight from the camera, no manipulation whatsoever. You should
be able to extract the EXIF data from them to see all the settings.

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if
anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able
to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be
able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

Would love, love, love to see some sample shots. I'm also curious
to know if in full manual mode it does away with the preflash for
metering. Many use the fact the s45 does this to advantage in
using slave external hand held flash. I was wondering if we could
take the same advantage of the a70.
I'm also very curious about red eye problems with typical indoor
people pics.

-savagemike

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom. Is this true? Thanks for any info.

 

[BA]

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did not test it.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

 

[Richard Homeyer]

thanks for the info.

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It
seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did
not test it.

Too bad. That would have been nice to have.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on
zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

I am aware that is normal. I have the canon a40. I am looking at geting the a70 and will give the a40 to my wife. The a40 goes from 2.8-4.8 at one setting when you zoom, and goes from 8.0-14.0 at the other setting when you zoom. It only has two f-stop settings. If what I was told is right, the a70 has something more like 10 settings at wide angle and six at full zoom. is this right? Also, based on what you have said, if you set the camera at f8.0 when it is at full wide angle, does it stay at f8.0 as you zoom in to the full telephoto setting. Thanks in advance. This is really making my decision to buy the a70 (or perhaps my justification to but it since I probably will) a lot easier.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

 

[BA]

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It
seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did
not test it.

Too bad. That would have been nice to have.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on
zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

I am aware that is normal. I have the canon a40. I am looking at
geting the a70 and will give the a40 to my wife. The a40 goes from
2.8-4.8 at one setting when you zoom, and goes from 8.0-14.0 at the
other setting when you zoom. It only has two f-stop settings. If
what I was told is right, the a70 has something more like 10
settings at wide angle and six at full zoom. is this right? Also,
based on what you have said, if you set the camera at f8.0 when it
is at full wide angle, does it stay at f8.0 as you zoom in to the
full telephoto setting. Thanks in advance. This is really making
my decision to buy the a70 (or perhaps my justification to but it
since I probably will) a lot easier.

I will do more testing tomorrow. It stays at f8 when zooming in and out. When going from wide to tele the 2.8 does change to 4.8 but it doesn't update until you half press the shutter button (because I am in manual mode). 5 stops tele 4.8-8.0, 10 stops wide 2.8-8.0

To be honest I am not so sure I like the auto ISO. The EXIF data shows ISO - Auto so you have no idea what it used unless my program isn't reading that data right (breeze browser). I think it will work fine for my wife though and it is probably better for someone who doesn't need to worry about that. I would just like the EXIF data to show what ISO it actually used. The fact that you can actually change it makes it a good feature to have. I am quite impressed for a point and shoot camera. It shows 305 pictures in Super Fine Large quality on a 512MB Flash (plenty for the wife to take pictures and do some videos in 640x480 if she wants).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

 

[bon911]

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It
seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did
not test it.

Too bad. That would have been nice to have.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on
zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

I am aware that is normal. I have the canon a40. I am looking at
geting the a70 and will give the a40 to my wife. The a40 goes from
2.8-4.8 at one setting when you zoom, and goes from 8.0-14.0 at the
other setting when you zoom. It only has two f-stop settings. If
what I was told is right, the a70 has something more like 10
settings at wide angle and six at full zoom. is this right? Also,
based on what you have said, if you set the camera at f8.0 when it
is at full wide angle, does it stay at f8.0 as you zoom in to the
full telephoto setting. Thanks in advance. This is really making
my decision to buy the a70 (or perhaps my justification to but it
since I probably will) a lot easier.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

How's the red eye reduction working for you?
It doesn't seem very effective...

 

[giannib]

Auto-ISO

In low light shots using Auto my S45 can be noisy as well.
I suppose that in Auto mode Canon uses the full ISO range or
at least ISO 50 - 200.

Some other manufacturers restrict the ISO in auto
mode to a lesser degree (for ex. 50- 100 or 50 - 150 etc.),
some go the full range (some Nikon's for ex.).

But since you have P and the other manual modes on the A70
(and most other newer Canon DC's) and therefore can set the
ISO to what you like, I think it's not a big deal.

 

[BA]

Sometimes it works fine, other times no so well. I seemed to recall reading if they look at the red eye reduction lamp when it is one it works fine. I haven't tested this.

To be honest, I haven't seen any point & shoot cameras with "great" red eye reduction.

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It
seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did
not test it.

Too bad. That would have been nice to have.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on
zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

I am aware that is normal. I have the canon a40. I am looking at
geting the a70 and will give the a40 to my wife. The a40 goes from
2.8-4.8 at one setting when you zoom, and goes from 8.0-14.0 at the
other setting when you zoom. It only has two f-stop settings. If
what I was told is right, the a70 has something more like 10
settings at wide angle and six at full zoom. is this right? Also,
based on what you have said, if you set the camera at f8.0 when it
is at full wide angle, does it stay at f8.0 as you zoom in to the
full telephoto setting. Thanks in advance. This is really making
my decision to buy the a70 (or perhaps my justification to but it
since I probably will) a lot easier.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

How's the red eye reduction working for you?
It doesn't seem very effective...

 

[BA]

Agreed. It looks to me like the a70 may use ISO 50-400 in Auto mode. In the P and manual modes I set it to 50 and the pictures look fine. Outdoor pictures in full auto look ok as well. Once inside its a hit and miss and most have some noise. P mode works just as good as auto imo though.

Auto-ISO

In low light shots using Auto my S45 can be noisy as well.
I suppose that in Auto mode Canon uses the full ISO range or
at least ISO 50 - 200.

Some other manufacturers restrict the ISO in auto
mode to a lesser degree (for ex. 50- 100 or 50 - 150 etc.),
some go the full range (some Nikon's for ex.).

But since you have P and the other manual modes on the A70
(and most other newer Canon DC's) and therefore can set the
ISO to what you like, I think it's not a big deal.

 

[bon911]

To be honest, I haven't seen any point & shoot cameras with "great"
red eye reduction.

In manual mode you have to set the ISO to whatever you want. It
seems to default to 50 (no auto), this setting may "stick", I did
not test it.

Do I need to have my own links to post pictures?

Too bad. That would have been nice to have.

The aperture changes when fully zoomed in or out (this is normal on
zoom lenses). Fully zoomed in 4.8-8.0, fully zoomed out 2.8-8.0

I am aware that is normal. I have the canon a40. I am looking at
geting the a70 and will give the a40 to my wife. The a40 goes from
2.8-4.8 at one setting when you zoom, and goes from 8.0-14.0 at the
other setting when you zoom. It only has two f-stop settings. If
what I was told is right, the a70 has something more like 10
settings at wide angle and six at full zoom. is this right? Also,
based on what you have said, if you set the camera at f8.0 when it
is at full wide angle, does it stay at f8.0 as you zoom in to the
full telephoto setting. Thanks in advance. This is really making
my decision to buy the a70 (or perhaps my justification to but it
since I probably will) a lot easier.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When in manual mode where you control apature and shutter, can the
camera be set to auto iso? Also, what kind of f-stop settings does
it have. I was leed to believe it had less settings under zoom.
Is this true? Thanks for any info.

How's the red eye reduction working for you?
It doesn't seem very effective...

 

[Powershotfan]

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and 640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

I hesitate to post any samples yet because I just fired a few off
to see if the camera works.

You can take a look at these though. I will probably take some
test images this weekend. If there are any specific questions you
have I will be happy to try to answer them.

http://www.surfing.net/photo/a70

I use one of my kids messy room for color tests. These images are
straight from the camera, no manipulation whatsoever. You should
be able to extract the EXIF data from them to see all the settings.

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if
anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able
to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be
able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

Would love, love, love to see some sample shots. I'm also curious
to know if in full manual mode it does away with the preflash for
metering. Many use the fact the s45 does this to advantage in
using slave external hand held flash. I was wondering if we could
take the same advantage of the a70.
I'm also very curious about red eye problems with typical indoor
people pics.

-savagemike

 

[savagemikel]

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and
640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

see the reviews on dcresource and steves for movie samples... though only in 640x480 mode.

-savagemike

 

[Powershotfan]

Thanks, already saw those clips, was looking for more samples, preferably ones with people or indoor shots....

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and
640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

see the reviews on dcresource and steves for movie samples...
though only in 640x480 mode.

-savagemike

 

[huy397]

Hi,

This seems to be a good place for me to ask this...

On A70, can you take video clips ( 320 * 240 or 640*480 ) for as long as you want ( up CF card limit )?

I am getting all kinds of mixed answers.

thank you.

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and
640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

see the reviews on dcresource and steves for movie samples...
though only in 640x480 mode.

-savagemike

 

[bon911]

This seems to be a good place for me to ask this...

On A70, can you take video clips ( 320 * 240 or 640*480 ) for as
long as you want ( up CF card limit )?

I am getting all kinds of mixed answers.

thank you.

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and
640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

see the reviews on dcresource and steves for movie samples...
though only in 640x480 mode.

-savagemike

3min per clip max. That's regardless of CF capacity.

 

[savagemikel]

I just got the A70 for my first digital cam. I would appreciate if
anyone could give me some tips for using it. Also, I will be able
to asnwer some of the questions you guys might have... I will be
able to test it by trying to answer any questions there might be.

I'm not sure if this will work; but, I think it might. It is a page someone else in the forum put up to describe how he uses his s45 with an external slave flash. It is informative.

The problem might be that most digitals actually flash more than once to set the metering. So, the slave will have to be able to recognize this. The problem seems to be further complicated by the fact that the timing between the two flashes varies from cam to cam. This can mean even some slaves which state they work with multiple flashes might fail on a particular cam.

The s45 (and others of it's type I'd guess) work well because in full manual they do not use a preflash. I'm only guessing; but, I think there is a good chance the a70 behaves the same.

If that is the case it isn't very expensive to get working with a simple, cheap slave flash set up and vastly improve your indoor flash pics and eliminate red for starters. Also opens whole world of doing studio or portrait stuff with multiple lights, etc...

A little bit of a long shot.... but you were asking for tips... so maybe it will be a useful and fun thing to explore for you.

If it works on a70 as I think it might then it is a powerful plus for this little cam.

-savagemike

 

[BA]

30 seconds on 640x480
3 minutes on 320x240

You can fill up the CF card with it but you are limited to the above times "per video".

This seems to be a good place for me to ask this...

On A70, can you take video clips ( 320 * 240 or 640*480 ) for as
long as you want ( up CF card limit )?

I am getting all kinds of mixed answers.

thank you.

Could someone post some movies taken on the A70, both 320x240 and
640x480. I understand that the 640x480 mode is stunning.

see the reviews on dcresource and steves for movie samples...
though only in 640x480 mode.

-savagemike

 

[huy397]

OH...

Gotcha!

thank you very much

30 seconds on 640x480
3 minutes on 320x240

You can fill up the CF card with it but you are limited to the
above times "per video".