I just spent the last couple years researching digital cameras casually, then intensively the last 30 days.

I had narrowed my choices down to the Nikon 5400, and the Canon G5.

Nikon has a $100 rebate on the 5400's predecessor, the 5700, right now, (Sept. 10, 2003) btw. Not a bad buy, but if I'm going to spend over $600, I'm going to the 5400 or G5.

The 5400's shelf price is about $800 right now, everywhere but on the 'net, where you can get it cheaper, of course.

Boiling it all down, I'm thinking that either the 5400 or the G5 would be excellent choices.

They are both 5 megapixel, and have automatic settings and presets, plus SLR functionality, including a hot shoe for the flash.

Because I couldn't afford an $800 camera right now (don't forget an additional several hundred in accessories!), I bought a 3 megapixel, and one which I feel is a step above the point and shoot models, but slightly lower than the SLR models.

Two days ago I bought the Canon A70. We paid full retail, $299, plus bought four 128 MB CF (Compact Flash) cards (only need one for most people--but I take tons of photos) on sale for $40 each at Best Buy, plus a CF chip dock for the computer ($20), and an energizer Rechargeable battery 30-minute charger set and eight batteries for about $60.

This camera is awesome! More features than expected. Autofocus, plus most SLR settings, such as Aperature Priority, Program, Shutter Priority, Manual focusing, etc.

Plus many preset functions, including macro (for extreme closeups).

The manual focus works but is less convenient to operate than manually focusing an SLR.

The camera has 3x optical zoom plus 3x digital zoom. Both work well.

Most photos are very sharp (I think I'm not the expert at focusing this camera yet), and lag seems very little. One mode on the camera is for continuous shooting...just hold the shutter button down, and it shoots one or two frames a second (depends a lot on the lighting, and resolution you've selected).

This camera will also take movies with audio, though I have not found a way to operate the zoom while filming.

The lens is extremely wide-angle compared to the standard 50mm SLR lens with which I'm most accustomed.

The camera uses four AA batteries. Using the Energizer rechargeables, I get a lot more shooting time out of this camera than I ever expected. While I've not timed the battery life or number of shots taken on one charge, they seem to last quite some time--perhaps a couple hours.

It should be noted that batteries last longer if you turn off the LCD display, but I've so far used the LCD almost all the time.

Downloading the photos is much easier than I'd anticipated--I didn't even need to install the docking software, since I have WinXP on my computer. I just plugged in the USB cable and then put the CF chip into the dock, and up popped an options window, much like when putting a CD into the drive.

The A70 has several resolution settings for photos. Four sizes, Large, Medium, Medium2, Small. Each of the four sizes have three quality settings: Standard, fine, and superfine.

There are many user settings--you can change your default settings in each camera mode, plus change your desired operational sounds, or choose silence.

One fun one is a clicking sound when you press the shutter button that sounds just like a film-SLR.

I think this is a great camera for the money, and the prints I've made (up to 8x10) are terrific.

There are extra lenses which can be added to the A70, but they aren't sold (or I didn't see them) at the regular big box stores (Best Buy, Target, CompUSA, Circuit City).

I purposefully bought this camera at a local store so I could touch it. Many digitals are too small to hold comfortably or steadily. The A70 has a fairly good feel to it (nothing beats the feel of an SLR though!) while still small enough to put in my front pants pocket.

It is still too small to operate the buttons one-handed, but the layout is sensible, and not too crowded.

Be sure you read the manual! I know it's a drag, but read the manual anyway. It is very helpful, though lacking in some areas (or else I misread it). For instance, one page in the manual mentions pushing the "MF" button to manually focus the camera.

I did not see where it said that the MF button doesn't work when you have the camera set on Automatic (I would like to be able to override the autofocus once in a while without switching camera modes altogether), so I had to figure that out on my own.

Another part of the manual mentions the AiAF setting, which didn't appear on the LCD screen as promised. Well, hours later, I discovered it while playing around in another Mode. I still don't know what AiAF means, though.

Please note that I've only had this camera for a few days. Some of my problems listed above may clear up with practice.

General Tsao





Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 299
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts