Canon PowerShot A710 IS Concise Review

Even in the 'blink and you'll miss it' world of compact digital cameras the budget-priced 6x zoom lensed Canon PowerShot A700 was a short-lived model; announced late February and replaced in August by the camera on test here, the PowerShot A710 IS. Aside from a design facelift and a few feature tweaks the biggest - and most welcome - change is that the new model adds optical image stabilization, something we bemoaned the lack of on the A700.

There's also an extra million pixels ( up from 6 to 7MP) and the usual A series mix of manual and automatic features. So let's find out if the A710 IS a worthy successor to the popular A700, starting, as ever, with the headline features.

* 7.1 Megapixels
* 6x optical zoom with optical Image Stabilizer (35-210mm equiv.)
* DIGIC II, iSAPS, 9-Point AiAF, FlexiZone AF/AE
* Digital Tele-Converter and Safety Zoom
* 2.5” LCD with wide viewing angle and real-image optical viewfinder
* 20 shooting modes