Product Reviews

You only have to look in your local newsagent to see that digital photography is here to stay. The number of digital photography publications is burgeoning, and the advent of mega-pixel cameras and affordable, photographic-capable colour printers, means that if you're willing to shell out the requisite cash you can shoot and reproduce photographs very close in quality to traditional film-based cameras.

It will be a while before digital cameras become as ubiquitous as their 35mm counterparts, but it will happen eventually. Canon's PowerShot Pro 70, like the Minolta DimÅge EX 1500 Zoom (reviewed issue 53, p177), brings it another step closer. This isn't down to a quantum leap in technology, but rather a difference in attitude. Unlike the majority of its digital camera siblings, the Pro 70 hasn't been designed as a compact, but instead imitates higher-end SLRs such as Canon's EOS in a bid to appeal to more serious photographers.

It's a role it takes very seriously. When I first removed the Pro 70 from its box, I was taken aback at how heavy and solidly built it felt. Most compact digital cameras tend to veer towards the plasticky side - for example, the Olympus C-900 Zoom (reviewed p174) - but the Pro 70 gives the impression of real quality, aided by the fact that the casing is mostly magnesium alloy, a material currently favoured by notebook manufacturers. The ergonomics and layout of the controls are well thought out too, making operation a breeze. The placing of the zoom control - in the left thumb position on the outside of the lens housing - is particularly well designed.

Surprisingly for a camera of these aspirations, the Pro 70 features a standard rather than a SLR (single lens reflex) viewfinder. So if you really want to see exactly what you're shooting you need to use the LCD. This is hidden on the rear of a hinged flap that has to be folded out, rotated and then folded back into place. A bit of a hassle you might think, but this method offers two advantages over a fixed screen. First, the screen is protected when not in use and, second, it can be flexibly positioned so you can take a self-portrait or hold the camera above your head while still retaining control over the framing of your shot.

Another area where the Pro 70 diverges

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from the compact camera norm is the flash: it doesn't have one. Instead, you get a hot shoe connector on top on the unit for connecting professional flash guns; Canon recommends its own, of course, the cheapest of which is £130. For delicate tripod work, you'll find a socket for connecting a remote shutter switch under a rubber flap on the side together with all of the output connections. And again, unlike any other digital camera we've seen, the Pro 70 allows you to fit standard 37mm filters.

In terms of raw specifications, the Canon is right up there with the best. In fact, it even looks slightly better on paper than the excellent Minolta reviewed last month. The Pro 70 features a very high-resolution 1.68 million pixel CCD (charge coupled device) which produces images 1,536 « 1,024 in size in 24-bit colour - the highest resolution digital camera we've seen yet. The zoom lens can't quite match the range of the Minolta's - 28-70mm in 35mm camera terms compared to 38-115mm - but it does have a much lower wide-angle setting. Images can be saved onto the supplied 15Mb CompactFlash card as JPEGs in one of four different quality settings or, for the highest quality, as uncompressed CCD raw images occupying roughly 2 to 2.5Mb per image. If you're going to be using this mode a lot, however, it's worth investing in a CompactFlash card reader because the transfer takes well over a minute per image via the camera's serial link.

Image quality on the latter setting is stunning. Even when compared directly to the Minolta DimÅge EX 1500 Zoom - which is superior to its rivals - the Pro 70 is noticeably superior. Object edges are smoother and more crisply rendered, and detail capture in dark areas is particularly impressive. The build quality and design aspirations are well and truly reflected by the image quality demonstrated by this impressive camera.

Beyond the camera itself, there's a decent accessory bundle as well. As with other Canon cameras before it, the Pro 70 features a rechargeable battery and charger, but the battery compartment also takes standard 2CR5 lithium batteries should you find yourself without access to a power point. For those who haven't already invested in a decent image-editing application, there's a full copy of Ulead's excellent PhotoImpact 4 (reviewed issue 46, p185) and a handy but bizarre image browsing utility that arranges images by date along the sides of a scrolling 3D tunnel.

Considering what you get, I was expecting the price to be astronomical, but the Pro 70 costs the same as the Minolta - £999. And although digital photography has yet to take over, cameras like the Pro 70 can only make the sceptics sit up and take notice. It may well be superseded in a matter of months, but for now its unparalleled image quality and high-end features coupled with solid design make it the best digital camera around.