This is a superb camera. I grew tired of always having to lug around one of my DSLRs anytime I went out so I started looking at a few Point and Shoot options. I decided to buy the Canon Powershot 720 HS after reading some of the reviews on Amazon, and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. The camera is compact and elegant and feels wonderful in your hand. It is a fully manual camera that allows you to set the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, which is exactly what I was looking for in a Point and Shoot. The camera has a 40X zoom lens, but do not try to zoom out too far without mounting the camera on a tripod or stabilizing it another way. The image quality is excellent, and if you don’t tell anyone the images came from a Point and Shoot, they’d easily think they came from a mid-range DSLR with a good lens.
I’ve had the camera now for a few weeks, and I’ve tested it both in the daytime and nighttime. In bright daylight, images come out crisp and richly saturated. At night, the camera performs well, especially if you use a tripod. I rarely use any of my DSLRs at night without a tripod unless I’m using a lens with a really wide aperture, so I’ve grown accustomed to mounting my cameras on tripods. You can get very sharp, high-quality images with this camera at night if you mount the camera. You’re able to do exposures lasting up to 15 seconds, and the images look great. I have not tested the video capabilities of the camera yet, but I will get to it eventually. For me, video capture is a nice option to have, but not something I am really interested in at this point. My main focus (pun intended) is taking still images.
If you’re looking for a high-quality, elegant Point and Shoot, this is the camera. I am planning on traveling a lot soon, and I think I am going to leave home all of my DSLRs and lenses and just bring this camera with me. Sometimes less is more, especially with a powerful little camera like this one.
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This Item  Canon Cameras US PowerShot SX720 HS Black |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $385.00 | $575.00 | $549.00 | $659.95 | $333.75 | $385.99 |
| Delivery | Get it Jun 7 - 10 | — | — | Get it as soon as Tomorrow, May 15 | Get it as soon as Monday, May 20 | Get it as soon as Tomorrow, May 15 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Zoom | ||||||
| Image stabilization | ||||||
| Auto focus | ||||||
| Sold By | Chumdog LLC | Woodland Hills Camera & telescopes | Woodland Hills Camera & telescopes | 6ave | PR Renewed | 6ave |
| display type | LCD | LCD | LCD | LCD | 4K UHD | LCD |
| display size | 3 inches | 3 inches | 3 inches | 3 inches | 2.3 inches | 3 inches |
| lens type | Wide Angle | Zoom | Wide Angle | Wide Angle, Telephoto | zoom | Zoom |
| zoom type | Optical Zoom | Optical Zoom | Optical Zoom | Optical Zoom | Optical Zoom, Digital Zoom | Optical Zoom |
| shooting modes | M, Av, Tv, P, Live View Control, Hybrid Auto, Auto, Creative, Sports, Portrait, Smile, Wink and Face Self-Timer, Handheld Night Scene, Low Light, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature, Toy Camera, Soft Focus, B&W, Super Vivid, Poster, Fireworks, Movie modes | Automatic | Automatic, Movie, Panorama | Automatic, Movie, Panorama, Portrait | Automatic | Automatic |
| connectivity tech | HDMI, USB | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Wireless | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi, USB, HDMI, NFC | Wi-Fi, NFC |
| video resolution | HD 720p | 2160p | 2160p, 1080p | 2160p | FHD 1080p | 1080p |
| optical zoom | 40 multiplier x | 40 multiplier x | 40 multiplier x | 65 multiplier x | 50 multiplier x | — |
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Customer Review: Zoom!...Zoom!...Good :)
Brian "SpookYouLaterz" Lubecki
Reviews with images
I am really glad that I did
When my Nikon S9700 committed suicide by jumping off the counter, I did a lot of looking for a replacement. I chose the Canon Powershot SX 720 HS. I am really glad that I did. If not for the WIFI, I would have called it a 5 star camera..My main use is taking snaps of the grandkids. The 40X zoom gets a close up head shot even when I am sitting on the first base line and he is in left field, deep left field of a little league ball field.The antivibration feature really work well. The problem with the 40X turns out not to be the vibration, but finding a moving subject in the field of view. There is a special button for that..The attached pic was taken as a snapshot, not planned, and freehand, no tripod or even a rest on anything like a post. If you figure the plane was at about 30,000 feet??, then this was taken of a plane about 8 miles away . No, it isn’t the greatest quality, but it sure does say something about the antivib and 40X. I would point out that to the naked eye, the plane was a silvery speck at the end of the contrails.As evening falls, and it is hard to see the players well, the light sensitivity is so good that the pics and videos look like they were taken on a bright day. Awesome.. The controls are intuitive for the most part. The pic trigger and video trigger are where I would want them. Autofocus is great unless you start straying off the beaten path. Some of the options will cause the focus to get a little weird.I was surprised that the image size didn’t jump way up from the 5 meg I was used to on the Nikon. Compression in the jpg format??The one thing I really didn’t like was the WIFI upload option. I downloaded the drivers, and was able to get the camera to talk with the network. Even when I can see that the router has the connection, the program to upload doesn’t pop up reliably. When it does load and start to run, in looks like it is shipping the files into the Comcast backbone according to the Netgear Genie program. It ties up most of the 30 mbps that Comcast gives me. I don’t understand why it would be touching the internet, and by the way, it was extremely slow uploading.The attached pic show what Netgear Genie thinks the load on the internet is while loading pics from the camera to the laptop. I really don't know why it even touches the internet, maybe that isn't what Genie is telling me?I called Canon tech support and they told me that I could hardwire with a USB2 to mini-B cable. I ordered it, and it didn’t fit.Another call to Tech support, and no, it wasn’t the mini-B, it was the micro-b cable.I ordered it, and after tuning the software options, it works. Every time, and a bunch faster. My recommendation is that you get the hard wire USB micro-B cable.One more comment about Wifi. The camera is designed with a thicker section on the right hand side while holding it. It is natural to use this thicker section to pull the camera from it’s case and put it back. The location of the wifi button is right where you would hold it to put it away. Twice, I have had a dead battery because I accidentally hit the wifi button when storing it, and it drained the battery.Given a choice, I would have it removed…All told, I am EXTREMELY pleased with it. Focus, speed. Light sensitivity, small size, 40X zoom, 1080P video, large memory options, what looks like accurate colors, and a good path to upload to my laptop. What more can you want??An addition, After some quality time on a "great Adventure" with the grandkids. The Pic review button does the same thing the Wifi button does. Both drained the battery when pushed thru the soft case. I have yet to find the right hardcase that the camera will fit in. I intend to make a cover for those buttons and tape it in place. Really a pain when the battery is dead when you want to take that magic pic!! Too bad there isn't a firmware option to disable them.Canon PowerShot SX720 HS (Black)
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017
This is a superb camera. I grew tired of always having to lug around one of my DSLRs anytime I went out so I started looking at a few Point and Shoot options. I decided to buy the Canon Powershot 720 HS after reading some of the reviews on Amazon, and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. The camera is compact and elegant and feels wonderful in your hand. It is a fully manual camera that allows you to set the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, which is exactly what I was looking for in a Point and Shoot. The camera has a 40X zoom lens, but do not try to zoom out too far without mounting the camera on a tripod or stabilizing it another way. The image quality is excellent, and if you don’t tell anyone the images came from a Point and Shoot, they’d easily think they came from a mid-range DSLR with a good lens.
I’ve had the camera now for a few weeks, and I’ve tested it both in the daytime and nighttime. In bright daylight, images come out crisp and richly saturated. At night, the camera performs well, especially if you use a tripod. I rarely use any of my DSLRs at night without a tripod unless I’m using a lens with a really wide aperture, so I’ve grown accustomed to mounting my cameras on tripods. You can get very sharp, high-quality images with this camera at night if you mount the camera. You’re able to do exposures lasting up to 15 seconds, and the images look great. I have not tested the video capabilities of the camera yet, but I will get to it eventually. For me, video capture is a nice option to have, but not something I am really interested in at this point. My main focus (pun intended) is taking still images.
If you’re looking for a high-quality, elegant Point and Shoot, this is the camera. I am planning on traveling a lot soon, and I think I am going to leave home all of my DSLRs and lenses and just bring this camera with me. Sometimes less is more, especially with a powerful little camera like this one.
I’ve had the camera now for a few weeks, and I’ve tested it both in the daytime and nighttime. In bright daylight, images come out crisp and richly saturated. At night, the camera performs well, especially if you use a tripod. I rarely use any of my DSLRs at night without a tripod unless I’m using a lens with a really wide aperture, so I’ve grown accustomed to mounting my cameras on tripods. You can get very sharp, high-quality images with this camera at night if you mount the camera. You’re able to do exposures lasting up to 15 seconds, and the images look great. I have not tested the video capabilities of the camera yet, but I will get to it eventually. For me, video capture is a nice option to have, but not something I am really interested in at this point. My main focus (pun intended) is taking still images.
If you’re looking for a high-quality, elegant Point and Shoot, this is the camera. I am planning on traveling a lot soon, and I think I am going to leave home all of my DSLRs and lenses and just bring this camera with me. Sometimes less is more, especially with a powerful little camera like this one.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2016
Great Photos
This is my third Canon point and shoot, and I am not at all disappointed so far. The second in the PowerShot SX...HS line. My previous SX260 HS is still going strong -- though scuffed up from heavy use. I will miss the built-in GPS feature of my previous Canon, but since it didn't work indoors anyway, I won't miss it that much. I bought this model to go from 20x to 40x zoom. The wide-angle is 24mm equiv. full telephoto is 960mm equiv. (which on a DSLR that would be a VERY BIG lens). ( For comparison only - the 20x zoom of the SX260 HS was 25mm equiv. to 500mm equiv. both have the same sensor size) The 40x is a tiny bit wider and way closer, so it isn't twice as close as my old camera (more like 1.9 times closer at max zoom). The 20 MegaPixel rating doesn't change the actual output resolution much. Max Res on this camera is 5184 x 3888 (compared to 4000x3000 on the SX260 at 12MP). I attached a comparative max zoom to this and my review on the SX260 HS. [[ASIN:B0075SUK14 Canon PowerShot SX260 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Black) (OLD MODEL)]]I plan to do some low-light shot comparisons soon.
Sharing
Maybe I'm weird, but I often find myself photographing something really cool and taking photos, and then pulling out my smart phone to take a smart-phone picture that I can share immediately. Maybe it's not as good as the one I took a minute ago (for one thing, the zoom just isn't there). No need anymore. Just tap the back of a smartphone to the side of the SX720, and 30 seconds later, I have a list of photos on the camera that I can copy over to my phone. Select, Menu (to signal I'm done selecting), OK, Confirm screen: OK again, and the selected images appear on my phone.
From there, I can e-mail or post to social media without compromising on quality.
SHARING UPDATE
At some point, someone at Canon decided to make the ability to transfer photos to a computer over WiFi (on your own wireless network) dependent upon being able to log into Canon's servers with a (free) account. The cell-phone stuff still works (thankfully), but I've removed the Canon software from my computer. The original software didn't require a Canon account, and I honestly have a hard time understanding why local network connectivity should require this. I haven't removed stars, but I use an SD card reader to pull photos to my PC now.
The very initial setup did take some time. There's a sweet spot on most smart-phones that are not obvious (the sweet spot on the camera, is clearly etched into the side). Once that was found, everything else was set up within about 15 minutes. There are tutorials on Canon's web site and YouTube if you want someone to show you.
I didn't really consider this feature deeply when I pre-ordered this camera, and I've been surprised that it is already a game-changer for me.
This is my third Canon point and shoot, and I am not at all disappointed so far. The second in the PowerShot SX...HS line. My previous SX260 HS is still going strong -- though scuffed up from heavy use. I will miss the built-in GPS feature of my previous Canon, but since it didn't work indoors anyway, I won't miss it that much. I bought this model to go from 20x to 40x zoom. The wide-angle is 24mm equiv. full telephoto is 960mm equiv. (which on a DSLR that would be a VERY BIG lens). ( For comparison only - the 20x zoom of the SX260 HS was 25mm equiv. to 500mm equiv. both have the same sensor size) The 40x is a tiny bit wider and way closer, so it isn't twice as close as my old camera (more like 1.9 times closer at max zoom). The 20 MegaPixel rating doesn't change the actual output resolution much. Max Res on this camera is 5184 x 3888 (compared to 4000x3000 on the SX260 at 12MP). I attached a comparative max zoom to this and my review on the SX260 HS. [[ASIN:B0075SUK14 Canon PowerShot SX260 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Black) (OLD MODEL)]]I plan to do some low-light shot comparisons soon.
Sharing
Maybe I'm weird, but I often find myself photographing something really cool and taking photos, and then pulling out my smart phone to take a smart-phone picture that I can share immediately. Maybe it's not as good as the one I took a minute ago (for one thing, the zoom just isn't there). No need anymore. Just tap the back of a smartphone to the side of the SX720, and 30 seconds later, I have a list of photos on the camera that I can copy over to my phone. Select, Menu (to signal I'm done selecting), OK, Confirm screen: OK again, and the selected images appear on my phone.
From there, I can e-mail or post to social media without compromising on quality.
SHARING UPDATE
At some point, someone at Canon decided to make the ability to transfer photos to a computer over WiFi (on your own wireless network) dependent upon being able to log into Canon's servers with a (free) account. The cell-phone stuff still works (thankfully), but I've removed the Canon software from my computer. The original software didn't require a Canon account, and I honestly have a hard time understanding why local network connectivity should require this. I haven't removed stars, but I use an SD card reader to pull photos to my PC now.
The very initial setup did take some time. There's a sweet spot on most smart-phones that are not obvious (the sweet spot on the camera, is clearly etched into the side). Once that was found, everything else was set up within about 15 minutes. There are tutorials on Canon's web site and YouTube if you want someone to show you.
I didn't really consider this feature deeply when I pre-ordered this camera, and I've been surprised that it is already a game-changer for me.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
V.MUNISWAMY
V.Muniswamy, Sub-Engineer, APSPDCL,Dhone ,9000879747
Reviewed in India on November 26, 2016
Lester Mascarenhas
Good Camera for basic photography.
Reviewed in India on January 28, 2017