The A710 IS (along with the G7) is the compact camera with the largest optical zoom in the Canon lineup. The camera has a 7 megapixel resolution sensor, 6x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 35-210mm on a 35mm camera), and good high ISO performance. It also has an optical viewfinder and runs on two AA Batteries. It has a start-up time of 1.4 seconds and a pre-focus shutter lag (half-press to full-press of shutter button) of 0.05 seconds. The full-press shutter lag is 0.50 seconds. The shot-to-shot speed is 2.2 seconds (without a flash). It has full manual controls (e.g. aperture priority, shutter priority, etc.) for additional versatility. The battery life is approximately 360 shots/charge (900 shots with the LCD off). It supports wide-angle and tele-photo conversion lenses, which are available separately as accessories. It also has an Image Stabilization feature to help avoid blurry pictures because of camera shake.

The camera received a Highly Recommended rating at Digital Photography Review. It is also one of the favorite cameras at Digital Camera Resource Page (another popular camera review site).