Anyone use a Canon PS A710?

[mamabear72]

I am currently using a Digital canon power shot a710.
I love the pictures it produces but I'm have a BIG problem with it. I only use it on the auto mode and inbetween shots I get a orange blinking light and have to wait approx 40 seconds between shots. That doesn't sound like a long time but when you're taking pics of children it's an eternity...trying to catch that crooked smile or leap off the diving board. It's like I only get one chance as I have to wait almost a minute between shots.
My almost non-existant owners manuel says a orange light is the flash "recharge" light. It's not a battery problem although it eats through aa's like their candy! Is there another setting I can use?

Signed, Frustrated in Reno

[DGehman]

Something's wrong. The review on Steve's Digicams says that it "sips power" and that flash recycle is 5 - 12 seconds. Steve got 300 shots plus 2 movie clips off a single set of AA batteries.

Oh, wait, I see something interesting. If you are using toss-away alkaline batteries, the batteries last only 1/3 as long as rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. And the camera shot-to-shot time goes up.

Hopefully the camera came with a re-charger and/or an AC power supply? If so, you might invest in Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and see if they make a difference.

Go for the highest mAh rating you can obtain at a reasonable cost. Steve's review used 2700 mAh, and I think you can get even higher ones now.

Your other alternatives are either to provide more light to the scenes you're shooting - or to take pictures with the AC adapter hooked up.

You can get more light with (duh) more light, enough so the flash is not needed, or not needed so much as it apparently is now.

You can also get more light by moving off auto mode and using manual settings to open the lens aperture and lengthen the exposure time. But long exposures and kids don't work too well...

Finally, you can put more light on snaps by changing the speed (ISO rating) of the camera. There seems to be a "High ISO Auto" setting that's available to you. If you can try that, do so.

According to Steve, your camera goes up to ISO 800, but probably NOT in an auto mode.

At ISO 800, you can take pictures without flash at night on a well-lit city street. They WILL be noisy (grainy, with blocky places in the dark areas)but noise-reduction photo editing programs can take care of a great deal of this loss of image clarity.

My Kodak consumer camera, about equivalent to yours, only goes to ISO 400 and then... hang on to your seat... it uses in-the-camera image processing to reduce the noise.

Very thoughtful of Kodak and I have gotten some very good low-light shots. Unfortunately...

...this processing takes 8-12 seconds per shot -- so I don't gain a blinking thing, time-wise, by upping the ISO... maybe Canon didn't include this "feature" on yours.

[eye]

I have a cannon Power S31S and sometimes I find that happens alot. I got it at x-mas and have not had time to do things with it but will soon as I retire.My hubbie also has big mitts and is always hitting buttons without kbnowing and makes a mess off it. But the space time between flashes can be annoying.I will learn it.When I first got it I looked at manual and camera and qwas lost. Took it up to a friend of mine and told him to tinker I will be back in a few weeks for yah to show me. He showed me but too much at one time so I need to go back to him.