Canon Powershot SX70 20.3MP Digital Camera 65x Optical Zoom Lens 4K Video 3-inch LCD Tilt Screen (Black)

The image quality is actually pretty good for a camera of this type. You can make decent 13X19 prints if you don't crop to much. It does not compete with a DSLR when it comes to image quality, but it makes a decent travel camera for snapshots and an occasional enlargement. It is lightweight and easy to carry around while traveling. It is important to understand that with a powerful zoom lens like it has, you have to be aware that it is sometimes difficult to get good photos because of camera movement, which is sometimes a problem with a lens with this much magnification.

I wanted to leave a review because I almost didn't buy this camera after reading the other reviews and that would have been a shame. I had the Canon SX60 but during a visit to the swamp it fell in the water and stopped working. I was heartbroken because I loved that camera. I almost bought that model again but thought I would take a chance on the newer SX70. I have been using it for several days now on my birding forays. Like any camera, I had to get used to it, but I made the transition fairly easily from the SX60.Other reviewers mentioned issues with the menus. I didn't have issues, but i was expecting to after reading the other reviews. So I took the precaution of going through all the menus just to get familiar with them after I charged the batteries and before I went into the field. I was able to program the C1 and C2 settings the way I preferred them with very few issues. My biggest stumble was saving the settings because I kept thinking the menu would say Save like the Sx60, but it says Register settings (specifically, you go to the wrench/tools menu, Custom shooting mode, then select Register settings, and whatever settings you have selected will be saved for your choice of C1 or C2). It was not difficult, just different. I do suggsst familiarizing yourself with the menus before doing anything. There are more menus than on the SX60 and they are set up a little differently.The camera itself has been working well for me. I will note that it feels more "plasticky" and less solid than my old SX60, but I am okay with that so far. It also uses different batteries which is too bad as I have a lot of old batteriesfor my other camera. I do like the bluetooth connection to my tablet--it took me a little messing around to set it up, but it works well.I included my first shot as an example. Just a cardinal at our bird feeder, but it does give you an example of a casual photo that is possible without doing anything special at all. I am not a photographer. I just like taking photos of birds and our dogs.Anyway , I wanted to give another viewpoint. I like this camera so far and am glad I took a chance on it.

Update: After more than 3,000 photos, I am discovering some weaknesses. First, the wifi connection for downloading images to a pc is troublesome, and doesn't close nicely, requiring a reboot or going in to task manager on windows to stop the service before being able to reopen. It doesn't have a "minimize" feature, so that is a nonstandard app window. Also, connection to wifi is problematic, even with a good wifi system. I've had far superior performance with wifi sd cards. The software looks like it was never finished, and still should be labeled beta.Also, this camera does poorly in night sky photography. I have successfully used old digital bridge cameras for shooting starry nights, including some great milky way shots. The camera this replaced had a fully featured M (Manual) setting that allowed adjusting speed, aperture, and ISO. The Canon SX70 HS limits exposures longer than 1 second to an ISO of 100! Thus, as you can see, with the camera I bought this year, I got mediocre shots of the comet Neowise, even after processing from Raw and using numerous software programs to try to enhance the image. Why Canon does not allow an ISO of more than 100 in time exposures is beyond me! And, worse yet, they have not even responded to my emails about this matter. I feel cheated in this regard, as night photography is one thing I have enjoyed and now I'll have to come up with another solution! It would have been appropriate for this to be noted in the merchandising materials Canon puts out about this camera. I would have purchased another brand if I had known this.Other than these weaknesses I still find the camera suitable as noted in my original review, but I did drop one star from the review.ORIGINAL REVIEW CONTINUES BELOw:I have owned quite a few cameras over the years, including several 35mm film SLRs and am astounded in the increase in quality and features of modern digital cameras. This Canon is no exception.This camera is useful for birding, hiking, and wildlife photography since I try to pack light and prefer not carrying extra lenses. The advance in technology since my previous camera was made is significant, resulting in much sharper images with better characteristics in varying lighting situations. I have made just a little under a thousand photos since purchasing. The sample photos shown here are among the first 200 or so, while essentially just trying it out around in the yard. There are some differences from other major brands in accessing various settings, (and from my previous cameras) and it is taking a while to get used to that. Also, the Canon software for working with RAW files is different from what I've used in the past, but I like that it has the RAW format capability. I would recommend a tripod for long zoom shots except for bright sunny days, although in use the image stabilization seems to be pretty good when I brace with a high quality shoulder strap system. I also purchased a filter adapter and lens shade so I can provide a better level of lens protection, as well as the use of various filters. I already had 67mm filters that work with the adapter.I have only made one video with this camera, of a fundraising event, and I couldn't ask for better quality of the video and sound, which was a live musical performance under less-than-ideal lighting. Battery life is not outstanding, but is certainly reasonable. I purchased extra batteries, so that shouldn't be an issue for me.Another feature I find useful is the tilting screen--I made some crowd shots for an event where I was holding the camera above my head, and it was easy to compose the shot . By tilting the screen up, I can get the camera lower to the ground and compose shots looking up (see the daffodil shown). Without this feature, I would have only been able to guess at the composition.

First off, full disclosure: I am a full amateur with a reasonably good eye who basically used just the auto setting and zoom. Pros or those who think they're pros may have additional info regarding other settings. My rating is based on my amateur status and the sad fact that I did not know how to do much more than point, frame, zoom, and be patient.I bought this camera after a lot of reading for a recent safari trip to Tanzania. It worked beautifully. The zoom was good enough for pretty much everything (the animals cooperated by coming close, ha), though yes, holding steady when at full zoom isn't easy.I knew the pressure for photos was on me; neither my husband nor older son were going to take many pics—indeed, they just brought their phones—and my younger son had a good but older camera with less of a zoom capability. Fortunately, this Canon did not disappoint.The only thing I added was an inexpensive shade thing that fit over the lens. Not sure if it made a difference; I just put it on and left it there.So thankful that I made this purchase, yay!