Title : Canon PowerShot A10 1.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom
Author : Canon Cameras US
Release Date : 20010420
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $449.00
Amazon.com Price : $199.88
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Editorial Reviews : Canon's new consumer-oriented digital camera, the A10, is a great 1.2-megapixel point-and-shoot. The 3x optical zoom lens includes an aspherical element to help reduce distortion and provide clarity. The built-in flash provides red-eye reduction, fill, night, auto, and off modes. While aimed at the consumer crowd, the A10 also features exposure compensation controls between +/- 2 EV in one-third increments. Additionally, there are several white-balance settings to choose from to help in most shooting situations.
Buyer Reviews : This camera is a joy to use. It has a solid feel to it, with the grip housing the CF card and 4AA batteries - the weight is just right for casual shooting (common CCDs take longer exposure time than regular films, so jittering is an issue with smaller cameras).
The camera looks well built, and has a mature, understated, and attractive design to it. (Everything on it has a purpose, like a dot near the flash to prevent flash from being covered by a finger; even the bezel around the zoom lens, which screws off to reveal a lens adapter socket!) None of the components (especially the battery/CF compartment) looks or feels flimsy - all the switches operate smoothly. The case has no jagged edges and sensible rectangular shape, so it'll fit in your pocket confortably. LCD is bright, colorful, and large enough. Viewfinder is, well, useable, but you won't be using this unless you want to save battery.
Zooming is a little slow, but this is not an issue with this price tag.
It is very robust. AA NiMH rechargeables, while not included, are cheap, reliable, long-lasting, and very easy to replace (you can just have a set of cheap alkaline battery as a spare). Don't get Ni-Cd - it's useless.
I've dropped the camera once already, but to my amazement, everything works perfectly.
Picture quality is great. It is more than adequate for most of the purposes - and it is great to experiment on shots before you commit to shooting with film. This will allow me to refine my composition skills. I do recommend getting 128MB CF card ($40-50 nowadays), which will definitely last you a good day or two, with 177 to1417 (high to low resolution) shots!
The camera has a lot of very useful functions, such as slow-synchro, timer, color-balance (very good compensation for fluorescent and tungsten light), image rotation, etc., etc. Stich-assist and included software is wonderful, as you can recreate the panoramic scene when viewed by QuicktimeVR. It sounds like a toy, but I'm certain you will be impressed by the effect it has on you.
Both PC and Macs are supported, and Mac software is decent. I have no complaints. It'll be perfect if you already own Photoshop and/or ImageConverter (the latter being absolutely a top-notch batch image-conversion shareware).
If I had any complaint, it is the warm-up time: You need to hold the power button for fully 3-4 seconds until the camera is turned on and ready to shoot. I'd trade lens zoom (which is not impressive anyway) with a faster startup - it'll be even more useful that way. Also, a way to set up timer length would have been easy to implement without additional cost (or a remote via USB, but that's ok)
Canon really meant the A10 to be a lean, versatile, mature product - it has all the functions a non-professional user can ask for, coupled with a well-thought out layout and a solid construction. Smart thing is that A10 and A20's accessories are compatible - I'm thinking of getting the wide-angle lens adapter, water-proof casing, and dye-sub printer. This thing *will* adapt to your lifestyle and won't cramp you with proprietary components and gimmicks (unlike A20's mostly useless TV output)!
(by swachi)
Features/Technical Specs : * 1.2 megapixel sensor creates 1280 x 960 images for prints at sizes up to 5 x 7 * 3x optical plus 2.5x digital zoom lens with autofocus * Included 8 MB CompactFlash memory card holds 24 images at default resolution * Connects with Macs and PCs via USB port * Uses 4 AA batteries, included
