CanonPowershot 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.

We bought this camera for a safari we were planning to take this fall. Unfortunately, that had to be delayed. On the plus side this is giving me more time to learn the camera. I’ve been very impressed with the zoom capabilities and I’ve gotten some delightful pictures of butterflies on the neighbor’s bushes and hummingbirds on our feeders. The camera is pretty quick to learn and the auto feature works well. My only complaint is I wish it worked better in lower light conditions, especially on high speed shots, but I know that the shutter speed/iso trade off is always a challenge, especially in a fixed lens camera. So th at is what I am working on most, seeing what settings will work at dusk and dawn and how slow I will have to make the shutter speed recognizing that I will sacrifice the stop action effects that a high shutter can get me.

The short story: This is a point-and-shoot with a VERY long zoom. It won't give you image quality of a high-end DLSR with a crystal-clear 1200 mm zoom, but it's less expensive and much handier. Four stars because the optics and image quality aren't excellent, but they're pretty darned good.------------This camera replaces a Canon Powershot SX60HS bought 11 years ago. I'm not a even a semi-pro photographer, I am just a snapshotter; that said, I love this camera. It will NOT take images of the quality one would get with a high-end DLSR and a pro-quality zoom, but I can carry it in one hand while hiking and bring it up fast to catch a bird on a tree limb before it flies, or a lizard pausing momentarily under a bush. The big zoom brings distant subjects close, and with "pretty-good" resolution. In fact, the SX70 gives much better image quality than my old SX60. The peephole viewfinder on the SX60 never worked well for me, so I always had to use the LCD screen, but the SX70 works well with peephole or screen.Judging by my experience with the SX60, I do not expect this camera to be an all-weather, any-abuse device (get an Olympus TG Tough for that) -- I damaged my SX60 by using it unprotected in dripping-wet humidity, and eventually the image-stabilization function went crazy and had to be disabled. That said, I do expect the SX70 to be reasonably sturdy under considerate usage (though I notice that the barrel holding the zoom is plastic on the SX70 instead of aluminum as on the SX60).The camera has the standard threaded socket for a tripod mount, though if the tripod requires a plastic shoe to attach to the camera then the shoe will block battery-and-SD card access. There is a jack for an external mic (necessary if shooting multimedia outdoors, as the internal mic loves wind noise). There are also ports for USB and HDMI.The supplier shipped the camera along with one battery, a battery charger, a shoulder strap, and a lens cap. It did not have an owner's manual; that can be downloaded in PDF online.Edit: On my second outing with the camera I found that taking the lens cap off sometimes pulled the small plastic ring around the lens off as well (this is the ring marked "Canon zoom lens 65 X 15"). Reattaching the ring is not difficult but requires a small blade to press the last of the three tabs into place. I put tiny dab of cyanoacrylate glue under the ring, reinserted it, and am hopeful that this prevents the problem.

It was easy to use and took great images. The zoom was better than I imagined.

Being a photographer for many years and own many cameras....from Nikon F3 to all those new DSLR, this camera is great for casual photoshoot when I don't want to haul my more expensive camera gears. It does a very good job.

I got it brand new for a reason. I also own other Canon products that are old and still going. You'd think any camera over $500 that's brand new would work, right? I wasn't expecting mind blowing pictures for that amount, but I wanted something better than my Canon PowerShot SX720 HS (which was cheaper, a few years old, has been through desert and ocean trips, abused, and still works). First day, I was pretty happy with the camera. Booted right up. Zoom was nice. Having a screen and viewfinder was nice. Read the manual to help guide me through what was what and set up. Zero problems. So I made sure it had the latest firmware update, made sure everything was working, turned it off, and I was going to really test it out the next day so I made sure the battery it came with was fully charged. 2nd day, booted it up and started taking pictures. Soon after the screen started acting up in different ways (lines, blurring, miscolored screen), the camera froze, and then shut down. Odd, so I started making going through all the trouble shooting procedures. I followed one video's suggestion and it worked. Took pictures with no problem. Next day, it acted like day #2 all over again. I then ordered a new Canon battery for it and new SD card like so many videos and forums suggested thinking maybe I could use the first trick but with new items just in case something was corrupted. Didn't work. I've been trying everything to get it to turn back on just to get the zoom lens retracted and it still doesn't want to turn on. I really wanted this camera to come back to life b/c I really liked it when it worked.I'm highly disappointed at the quality control for Canon at this point. Returning item.