New to Digital Cameras, thinking about buying this one.

Col.Havoc · Sep 2, 2003

Hi ya, i'm new to the Digital Camera world of buying and was looking through my Wishbook catalogue and I am going to buy one this year before x-mas and was looking at the Canon A70 as the one to buy, but I do have a few questions.

One, this camera can take video clips, does that mean full motion ones with/without sound? Also, is this camera good for quality, like what you would get of a 35mm? The book says it uses NiMH batteries, what are those and would normal AA batteries/Litium ones work just the same or does it need a special kind?

TIA

Col.Havoc · Sep 2, 2003

CHIA · Sep 2, 2003

You should read the review of the A70 from this site, you will probably learn quite a bit:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/

Col.Havoc said:
Hi ya, i'm new to the Digital Camera world of buying and was
looking through my Wishbook catalogue and I am going to buy one
this year before x-mas and was looking at the Canon A70 as the one
to buy, but I do have a few questions.

One, this camera can take video clips, does that mean full motion
ones with/without sound? Also, is this camera good for quality,
like what you would get of a 35mm? The book says it uses NiMH
batteries, what are those and would normal AA batteries/Litium ones
work just the same or does it need a special kind?

TIA

Col.Havoc · Sep 2, 2003

CHIA said:
You should read the review of the A70 from this site, you will
probably learn quite a bit:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/

Did already, along with a review for the Kodak DX-6340, Samsung Digimax 410 and a Panasonic one within the same price range. Generally, I am going to be using this pics on things like trips, indoor shots, in a car, etc and I want to know how good this camera is for that type of a thing. This would be my first venture into the digital camera (probably first into any camera) so i'm looking for a camera with a good learning curve with plenty of features. Is this that type of camera?

CHIA · Sep 2, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
This would be my first venture into
the digital camera (probably first into any camera) so i'm looking
for a camera with a good learning curve with plenty of features. Is
this that type of camera?

This is a great choice for a first camera. It offers great image quality, superb battery life, full array of manula controls for you to "grow into", 640X480 video mode, great user friendly menus systems, and all at a price of less than $300.

It really is hard to beat for a person like yourself. You should not be left wanting more if you purchade a camera like this, but you will be left wanting to learn more about this camera. Good luck, and I hope you buy this little gem.

CHIA

Man-Fai Wong · Sep 2, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
CHIA said:

You should read the review of the A70 from this site, you will
probably learn quite a bit:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/

Click to expand...

Did already, along with a review for the Kodak DX-6340, Samsung
Digimax 410 and a Panasonic one within the same price range.
Generally, I am going to be using this pics on things like trips,
indoor shots, in a car, etc and I want to know how good this camera
is for that type of a thing. This would be my first venture into
the digital camera (probably first into any camera) so i'm looking
for a camera with a good learning curve with plenty of features. Is
this that type of camera?

The A70 seems like a good choice for a complete newbie who wants some room to grow. If you want to take lots of indoor/low light shots though, you might want to consider something higher up like a Canon G3, especially if you find a need for external flash.

NiMH is just one type of rechargeable batteries although it's the most popular kind for standard types like AA, AAA, etc, because it offers good performance/price ratio. With the A70, you should be able to use good alkalines like Duracell Ultra's or lithiums w/ decent to good results, but good NiMH should do better than the alkalines (when fresh) and be more cost effective than both since they can be recharged many times.

Man

Man-Fai Wong · Sep 2, 2003

RE: video capability, it's not full motion, IF you mean 30 frames/sec. I believe all the Canon's only do 15 frames/sec, but I could be wrong here. Also, the A70 like most other Canon's are limited to 30 secs in the 640x480 mode and 3 mins in 320x240 mode.

Basically, it's only good for an occasional, quick, short, spontaneous clip. No sustitute for a camcorder at all. It's like how all digital camcorders also have some still photo capability nowadays, but you would never replace a decent digicam w/ them although the feature can be useful on occasion.

Man

Man-Fai Wong said:
The A70 seems like a good choice for a complete newbie who wants
some room to grow. If you want to take lots of indoor/low light
shots though, you might want to consider something higher up like a
Canon G3, especially if you find a need for external flash.

NiMH is just one type of rechargeable batteries although it's the
most popular kind for standard types like AA, AAA, etc, because it
offers good performance/price ratio. With the A70, you should be
able to use good alkalines like Duracell Ultra's or lithiums w/
decent to good results, but good NiMH should do better than the
alkalines (when fresh) and be more cost effective than both since
they can be recharged many times.

Man

Col.Havoc · Sep 2, 2003

Man-Fai Wong said:
Basically, it's only good for an occasional, quick, short,
spontaneous clip. No sustitute for a camcorder at all. It's like
how all digital camcorders also have some still photo capability
nowadays, but you would never replace a decent digicam w/ them
although the feature can be useful on occasion.

Man

Man-Fai Wong said:

The A70 seems like a good choice for a complete newbie who wants
some room to grow. If you want to take lots of indoor/low light
shots though, you might want to consider something higher up like a
Canon G3, especially if you find a need for external flash.

NiMH is just one type of rechargeable batteries although it's the
most popular kind for standard types like AA, AAA, etc, because it
offers good performance/price ratio. With the A70, you should be
able to use good alkalines like Duracell Ultra's or lithiums w/
decent to good results, but good NiMH should do better than the
alkalines (when fresh) and be more cost effective than both since
they can be recharged many times.

Man

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I thought would be the case. Do you or anyone else have a link to a vid taken with this camera, just so I can see what it would look like? And under 300 my butt, gotta love Canadian (for me, that camera is 499.99)

Col.Havoc · Sep 2, 2003

Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Col.Havoc · Sep 3, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Bump

CHIA · Sep 3, 2003

No, I don't think you can use any os these Canons as webcams, and here are a couple less than $499 links for Canadians:

http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?Web=greytech&AW_SessionID=AWEngine20030000000492870708700D70d870kId0D70e870SSite5M15k915e&page=item&itemid=980

London Drugs has it for $479....sorry, link didn't work......

CHIA

Col.Havoc said:
Col.Havoc said:

Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Click to expand...

Bump

CHIA · Sep 3, 2003

FYI:

Oh ya, Staples has it for $499CAD, but there are $50 off a $500 coupons on this site, which would bring it down to $450 as well......

CHIA said:
http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?Web=greytech&AW_SessionID=AWEngine20030000000492870708700D70d870kId0D70e870SSite5M15k915e&page=item&itemid=980

London Drugs has it for $479....sorry, link didn't work......

CHIA

Col.Havoc said:

Col.Havoc said:

Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Click to expand...

Bump

Click to expand...

Jack Tintera · Sep 3, 2003

Somone before on this forum wrote that IF you have a video in card yes you can use this as a webcam. It does have a video out port that you can connect to a regular TV that I use all the time. If you use the "record" mode it shows what it sees on the TV

Jack (A70)

Col.Havoc said:
Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Kirsten Salve · Sep 3, 2003

Hello,

I think the A70 is a great little camera. I took this test shot in a dark bathroom with only the nightlight on:
http://trilliummanor.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=48549

I am new to digital and for ME, think the A70/A80 will be great learning tools. And when and if I ever get all this manual stuff done pat I may move up to the G3...
Just my thoughts,
Kirsten

PS. I really liked the A70 adn hope the A80, with the new 1/1.8 CCD will be even better!

Man-Fai Wong said:
Col.Havoc said:

CHIA said:

You should read the review of the A70 from this site, you will
probably learn quite a bit:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/

Click to expand...

Did already, along with a review for the Kodak DX-6340, Samsung
Digimax 410 and a Panasonic one within the same price range.
Generally, I am going to be using this pics on things like trips,
indoor shots, in a car, etc and I want to know how good this camera
is for that type of a thing. This would be my first venture into
the digital camera (probably first into any camera) so i'm looking
for a camera with a good learning curve with plenty of features. Is
this that type of camera?

Click to expand...

The A70 seems like a good choice for a complete newbie who wants
some room to grow. If you want to take lots of indoor/low light
shots though, you might want to consider something higher up like a
Canon G3, especially if you find a need for external flash.

NiMH is just one type of rechargeable batteries although it's the
most popular kind for standard types like AA, AAA, etc, because it
offers good performance/price ratio. With the A70, you should be
able to use good alkalines like Duracell Ultra's or lithiums w/
decent to good results, but good NiMH should do better than the
alkalines (when fresh) and be more cost effective than both since
they can be recharged many times.

Man

Kirsten Salve · Sep 3, 2003

Forgot.......

I shot this on auto mode. I tried P mode also, but auto worked better in the dark room. (I do not understand the image info on my site)
Kirsten

Kirsten Salve said:
Hello,
I think the A70 is a great little camera. I took this test shot in
a dark bathroom with only the nightlight on:
http://trilliummanor.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=48549
I am new to digital and for ME, think the A70/A80 will be great
learning tools. And when and if I ever get all this manual stuff
done pat I may move up to the G3...
Just my thoughts,
Kirsten
PS. I really liked the A70 and hope the A80, with the new 1/1.8 CCD
will be even better!

Kirsten Salve said:
Kirsten Salve said:

Kirsten Salve said:

CHIA wrote:

Click to expand...

The A70 seems like a good choice for a complete newbie who wants
some room to grow. If you want to take lots of indoor/low light
shots though, you might want to consider something higher up like a
Canon G3, especially if you find a need for external flash.

Click to expand...

Col.Havoc · Sep 3, 2003

CHIA said:
Oh ya, Staples has it for $499CAD, but there are $50 off a $500
coupons on this site, which would bring it down to $450 as
well......

CHIA said:

http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?Web=greytech&AW_SessionID=AWEngine20030000000492870708700D70d870kId0D70e870SSite5M15k915e&page=item&itemid=980

London Drugs has it for $479....sorry, link didn't work......

CHIA

Col.Havoc said:

Col.Havoc said:

Yeah, also can this thing function as a webcam?

Click to expand...

Bump

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks Chia, didn't notice that on Staples, thanks. And yeah, I don't have a London drugs nearby so I never thought about that

Col.Havoc · Sep 4, 2003

I also heard that the camera's LCD is easy to scratch and hard to see in bright light, by any chance is there a way of fixing that?

Mike Hunt · Sep 4, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
Hi ya, i'm new to the Digital Camera world of buying and was looking through my Wishbook catalogue and I am going to buy one this year before x-mas and was looking at the Canon A70 as the one to buy, but I do have a few questions.

The A70 is a great camera, though you might want to also consider the upcoming A80 which has some great new features.

Col.Havoc said:
One, this camera can take video clips, does that mean full motion ones with/without sound?

Yes, depending on what you mean by full motion. The A70 can capture 640 x 480 video clips at 15 frames per second, for up to 30 seconds per clip. Television is about 25 frames per second I think.

Just don't expect the same quality video as you would get from a dedicated video camera. In bright daylight, I think you will be pleased, though.

Col.Havoc said:
Also, is this camera good for quality, like what you would get of a 35mm?

Strictly speaking, no. A 35mm film negative has a lot more resolution than a 4 or 5 megapixel digital image. And film has much more dynamic range and exposure latitude as well. But for practical purposes, if you will be viewing your pictures on a computer monitor or printing up to about 8X10" you will get outstanding quality digital images that are pretty comparable to those of film.

Col.Havoc said:
The book says it uses NiMH batteries, what are those and would normal AA batteries/Litium ones work just the same or does it need a special kind?

NIMH (nickel metal hydride) batteries are high performance rechargeables. If you used disposalbe AAs, the battery life would be terrible and you'd be wasting your money. Disposable lithium AAs have good battery life but they are very expensive and also disposable. Your best bet is to go with NIMH.

Mike Hunt · Sep 4, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
CHIA said:

You should read the review of the A70 from this site, you will
probably learn quite a bit:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona70/

Click to expand...

Did already, along with a review for the Kodak DX-6340, Samsung
Digimax 410 and a Panasonic one within the same price range.
Generally, I am going to be using this pics on things like trips,
indoor shots, in a car, etc and I want to know how good this camera
is for that type of a thing. This would be my first venture into
the digital camera (probably first into any camera) so i'm looking
for a camera with a good learning curve with plenty of features. Is
this that type of camera?

Kodak, Samsung, and Panasonic are not in the same class as Canon.

Mike Hunt · Sep 4, 2003

Col.Havoc said:
I also heard that the camera's LCD is easy to scratch and hard to
see in bright light, by any chance is there a way of fixing that?

I've had a G3 since January and I have yet to get a single scratch on the LCD, but perhaps that's in part because I can rotate and close the LCD when not in use. This is another reason to consider the A80.

THe LCD isn't all that scratch prone, in the sense that you can safely wipe it with a lens cloth. Depends on how you take care of it.

Most LCDs are hard to view in direct sunlight. That's the main reason for the optical viewfinder - for use in conditions where the LCD is impractical. In cameras with rotating LCDs, there is a gadget called a HoodMan (or something like that) with is a soft, folding hood that attached to the LCD and shields it from the glare.

New to Digital Cameras, thinking about buying this one.

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