What it's good for:
- Shooting in good light
- Taking photos of buildings (the wide angle-lens is often useful here)
- Taking to parties (slips easily into a pocket or bag)
What it's poor at:
- Shooting in poor light (as with all cheap compacts, the tiny sensor means that the image is noisy/ mottled for evening shots)
- "Whole-room" flash shots (the flash is too puny for more than party use)
Overall, this is a decent point-and-shoot camera. It is very easy to use, with simple menus. It has some fun in-camera effects. It is quite compact, and feels solid in the hand.
When I was looking for this camera, I wanted something pocketable that I would not be too upset to lose. Before I chose the ES71, I tried out the Canon A495, which (surprisingly, given the price) had better picture quality, but was chunkier and had no wide-angle lens, the Nikon L22, which was ghastly in low light, and had less zoom range, and the Canon IXUS 105, which had better image quality but was about 30% more expensive.
Two points that may be obvious to most, but I came across on some site:
- "My mobile phone takes better pictures." Not unless you have the 2018 model! Even the Nokia N8 has a smaller sensor than the ES71
- "This compact camera takes better pictures than a DSLR." No. For the same reason - an SLR has a far bigger sensor than even the most advanced compact camera.
It's really horses for courses. And the ES71 does just fine for what I bought it for - as a camera to have on hand all the time.