A solid performer

Though my existing A70 still provided excellent photos, I often found that I needed more zoom. Then I spotted the A700. Not much different in size or weight from my old A70, the much larger 2.5 in screen allows me to move through menus quickly and easily. The 6x optical zoom doubles the power of the old A70 (and most other compact point and shoot cameras) and does this with an optical viewfinder (which are getting harder to find on newer cameras). I was interested in trying out the ISO 800 mode and it works exactly as expected. Granted, the photos are grainier than at ISO 400, but there are a number of times when ISO 400 does not have the sensitivity and the flash does not reach. My plans are to use ISO 800 only when needed. It will be better to come away with a slightly soft and grainy shot then to come away with no photo at all. My only complaint is that I have to remember hold the camera properly so that I don't accidentally bump a menu switch when shooting. And finally, if 6Megs sounds like overkill for the size of photos you normally print, you can operate the camera in a 4Meg mode. The prints are still sharp and well exposed. And the amount of memory that can be saved is impressive.