A few questions about Canon PowerShot A75

[ahsm57]

Hello, my name is Andrew, I am 15 years old and I just bought a Canon PowerShot A75. The reason I bought this was because my mother said a sub $300CND camera and because I have read fabulous reviews about it on several websites, including dpreview.com and dcresource.com and many more. I would like to know:

- When was this camera released? Is it still fairly new and will it go "out of style" soon?

- Can high quality pictures be taken with it, with stock parts. IE, no extra lenses and so on. If so, any examples please?

- How easily do these cameras break?

By the way, when I came home from school I went into my backyard and took this picture in the Auto setting, I enabled Macro, the little flower.
http://img114.exs.cx/img114/5903/IMG_112.jpg

Thank you in advance to who replies.

[S45_fornow...]

Hi Andrew. The Canon A75 is basically a beginner/intermediate digicam that will allow you to learn and develop your photog skills without a huge pricetag or overly complicated controls. It is also capable of taking great pics. I think its been out for just under a year.

I suggest you read the manual thoroughly, then just go out and take lots of pics. Taking great photos requires practice and a good photographer can usually make do with whatever camera is placed in his hands.

I think the pic you posted shows that the A75 is capable of capturing clear, crisp images. Now add a little creativity on your part and you're good to go.

As far as breaking your camera... Well, it is an electronic device with glass lenses and a precision lens mechanism. Try not to drop it :wink:

Enjoy your new camera.

[Jon]

Welcome to the Forums, Andrew.

The A75 came out this summer, IIRC. It's, like S45_fornow... said, a good entry-level camera, replacing, IIRC the PowerShot A60. It'll probably (depending on care) hold up well for quite a bit of photography and let you learn a lot in the process. I know my A80 suffered a fall from about 5 ft. onto a paved parking lot (camera pouch fell off my backpack) and has several noticable dents but still works just fine, so they're pretty rugged.

But, like computers, digital cameras are changing very rapidly. The A75 has all the resolution, and a better processor, than the A80, Canon's previous top PowerShot A-series camera, for less money. So expect that within a year or so, people will be looking back at the A75's specs as "quaint", rather like last years' computer, which won't reflect any loss of capabilities as much as evolution of the equipment. But 4 MP is plenty for most peoples' photography needs.

[ahsm57]

Thank you very much indeed. I agree with you when you said 4MP is enough, I don't think I will ever take photos greater then 1024x768. My question is, with time, does the camera lose quality or performance? If so, how long should I expect it to last?

[Jon]

I would be very surprised if you saw deterioration in the camera's operations. Something might go completely bust, but that can happen (and is about as likely) with a film camera as well. Of course, you might find yourself using a digital camera more (many of us do), so accelerating any breakdowns you might see. But resolution won't change, it shouldn't slow down writing to the card. The shutter may slow down a bit, but that's, again, as likely with a film camera.

[ahsm57]

I remember seeing something about lines appearing in photos and I keep seeing people say "about a year and some 1500 shots later..." does this mean my camera will lose quality or something of this nature within a certain amount of shots? Also, I bought Sanyo Super Quick Recharger. The batteries get quite hot, should I wait for them to cool down before putting them in my camera?

[Jon]

As anything gets older, it's more likely to fail (ask my knees!), but I think that if something goes wrong, you'll know it fairly quickly. It won't creep up on you over a period of months until all of a sudden you see it. It'll start suddenly if it starts at all.

I personally prefer a slow charger because I think that overheating the batteries isn't good for them. I need to carry a second charger if I'm shooting a lot that way, maybe, but Radio Shack has a 3-4 hour one that folds up nicely.

[ahsm57]

If the batteires are overheated, will they lose functionality overtime, would they take longer to recharge? Over how long of a period of time should I expect the batteries to go bad?

[Jon]

If they're regularly overheated, the chemicals would gradually break down over time, causing a loss of capacity. How long it would take would depend on how hot and how often. Not real fast. I may be overly concerned.

[megaweb]

Canon A series like (A40, A70, A75, A80 or A95) camera produces very nice, accurate color and good quality photos.

Check out some of my super macro shots taken by A70
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48260