Mid-range PowerShot cameras have been consistently picking up Best Buy awards in recent months. Canon's winning formula is so obvious that we're baffled as to why few other manufacturers have tried it: full photographic control, dependable image quality, fast performance, plus modest specifications, a plastic body and AA batteries to keep the price down. The A720 IS also has a 6x zoom lens, giving it a clear advantage over our previous favourite, the A570 IS, which has a 4x zoom.
The design is bulkier than most compact cameras, and weighs almost twice as much. However, the protruding handgrip makes it easier to hold the camera steady, and it's still small enough to keep in a handbag or coat pocket. The 2in screen has a disappointing 115,000-pixel resolution, but there's an optical viewfinder for when you need to see more detail.
It's the photographic options that separate this camera from most other sub-£200 models. There's full control over the aperture, shutter speed, ISO speed and focus, plus excellent onscreen feedback to help you choose the best settings. The controls that provide access to these features could be better labelled but it doesn't take long to get used to them and in general use the camera is friendly and responsive.
The only exceptions to this were the regular requests to reset the date, and delays of around five seconds between shots when using the flash - an inevitable downside of using AA batteries. The upside is that a pair of 2,700mAh NiMH batteries kept the A720 going for 518 shots in our test, which is much more than most lithium ion batteries can manage.
The A720 IS produced shots that were reasonably crisp and detailed, with excellent automatic exposures and faithful colour reproduction. Noise was obtrusive in the darker areas of photos at ISO 800, but noise-reduction processing didn't sacrifice detail. The 1cm macro focus and the 6x stabilised zoom greatly enhance the camera's scope for composing interesting shots, but otherwise image quality is best described as reliable rather than exceptional. Samsung's similarly priced NV8 offers significantly superior levels of detail, capturing subtle skin textures that the Canon simply glosses over. In terms of image noise, the A720's ISO 400 setting is roughly equivalent to the NV8's ISO 1600. Then again, the Canon's image stabilisation - which the NV8 lacks - means that high ISO speeds are less often called for.
The A720 IS doesn't excel in any single area, except that it includes everything keen photographers need at a remarkable price. Casual snappers should go for the Samsung NV8 with its more compact design, superior image quality and slightly lower price, but for anyone with artistic aspirations, Canon's A720 IS is an unbeatable deal.
8.1 megapixels (3,264x2,448), 6x optical zoom (35-210mm), SDHC slot (16MB card supplied), 2x AA batteriesAuthor: Ben Pitt
Canon PowerShot A720 IS