This is
not a technical review, two good technical reviews can be found
here and
here, those two reviews were one of the primary reasons I chose this camera (for the price range). This review will cover the actual use portions I've discovered for this camera, which I have owned since Christmas 2004.
Settings Wheel
I change my settings via the settings wheel which allows you to easily select what type of picture you are taking. In between camera uses, the wheel might get spun to a different setting so if you forget to check it before you take a picture, you might get some interesting results on your first picture. The primary settings I use are:
Portrait - Your standard pictures of people
Landscape - Your standard mountain scenes, lake scenes, sunsets, etc.
Night scene - This feature is good for gatherings that go past sunset, I usually forget to set this at first and after one picture in portrait I immediately notice the reduced quality and switch to this which is a drastic improvement
Fast Shutter - I absolutely love this setting. Anytime I want to remove most of the focus delay I swap to this, whether for a deer running across a field or to catch a friend unsuspected when doing something silly, this feature is awesome, the only drawback if your hand isn't stable the picture can come out blurred.
Ease of Use
My wife who is not as technically astute as I am finds this camera easy to use, and not just the point and click. The flash card is easy to access as are the batteries. She is a picture fiend so she often needs to swap out the memory card. The camera comes with a decent 32 MB card which is better than a standard 24 roll of film, however I prefer to use my 128 MB card and am considering a 512 MB with our first child on the way.
The other item I primary use while taking pictures is to select between flash, auto-flash, and no-flash. I have found that the auto-flash might go off sometimes when I think there is sufficient light and flooding out the picture too much. There is a button on the back that rotates between these three settings, making it easy to adjust your flash selection.
Handling
I find that the camera fits my hands nicely and is easy to aim. Some reviews complained of a "boxy" feel yet I do not notice this. All the features I use are accessible from the hand used to hold the camera (settings wheel, zoom, flash setting) allowing for true one-handed operation in case you have to hold onto something (I especially needed this while holding onto the rail atop an extremely windy Stratosphere Tower is Las Vegas). The LCD is large at 1.8” and produces clear pictures that allow you to judge how well it will look on the computer. Sun-glare can washout the picture forcing you to use the viewfinder which doesn’t show the whole picture, I just have to remember that an item that doesn’t fit 100% into the window can still appear in the picture and I can view the picture out of the sun after I take it.
Software
The software can be frustrating at times. I found it easy to setup the automatic download into folders by date which I can then sort by theme/event and when downloading from multiple cards they are easy to go through.
The option I use on the viewing software shows you a moderate size picture with thumbnails underneath, however if you open a picture to see it full screen it does not have a button that allows you to go to the next picture in line.
You can upload pictures back to your memory card through the software which is very useful if you don't have a card adapter (that lets you treat the card similar to a thumb drive). This allows me to download everything I took, empty the memory card, and then upload only the pictures I want to print at Sams Club (which doesn't accept thumb drives in their machine). The bad thing about this feature is that it
will not let you upload modified pictures, so if you change the contrast, or simply rotate the picture for viewing purposes and save the change, you have to find another way to get it printed because the software will not allow you to put it on the card.
Cost
The all important feature of cost plays a big role for this camera. The A75 is now considered an older model (the
A85 and
A95 came out 6 months after the A75, which have 4 MP and 5 MP respectively) and the price has dropped a drastically. This past winter we were able to purchase it from Target for $200 which came with a $20 Target gift card (I consider the cost as $180 since we shop at Target often.)
Accessories
There are several accessories which I found to be a lifesaver with this camera. The first thing I did was to purchase some rechargeable NiMH AA batteries (enough for the camera and as a backup pair). I was quite pleased to find it came with a 32 MB card (as opposed to the dinky 16 MB a lot of cameras come with), however I went out and purchased a Viking 128 MB on sale that I use alongside the 32 MB. A compact flash card ready would be useful for loading modified pictures for printing if you cannot or will not use other media (thumb drive, CD, etc.)
The final item I purchased was a carrying case. You can easily carry the camera in your hand or hanging from your wrist, but if you want it to be in your shirt pocket or keys pockets you would want to go for an SD series (the A75 does fit nicely in cargo pants pockets). I wanted something to protect it better during long periods of non-use (hiking for example), one option is the
Canon PSC-60 that fits the camera and can attach to your belt, which I might purchase in the future. I went out and got a
Targus DPMV02 which is a 4-compartment backpack to hold my camera, camcorder, MP3 player and the chargers/batteries/additional media for all of them (a review for this backpack is planned.)
