When Canon launches new products, you almost always get a flood of them all at once. They often
replace much of the line up in one go. Sometimes the improvements are only marginal, but sometimes they can be really worthwhile. Just before the Photokina 2006, the world’s largest digital imaging event, the Canon PowerShot A710 IS was launched as a successor to the A700 op. The Canon A710 IS camera gained an extra one million pixels, an improved LCD monitor and image stabilisation. The last feature in particular is a real and very welcome improvement.
Canon A710 IS - Optical image stabiliser
The Canon PowerShot A710 IS is the first digital compact camera in Canon’s A-series to be fitted with optical image stabilisation. Unlike Pentax, for example, the sensor remains still, but removes moving elements in the lens and vibration blur. A gyroscope measures the movements and the information is sent to a special processor with 4000 signals per second. Once there, a distinction is made between undesired vibrations caused by hand movement and desired camera movements. The processor then guides an element in the lens to correct the movement. Image stabilisation only works to correct movement by the photographer, not that of their subjects. To freeze that movement, you must use a fast shutter speed and to achieve this you must raise the ISO to 800.
Canon PowerShot A710 IS Digital Camera Review