Canon Ixus Z70 Review

Overall Rating

Light, easy, good zoom, great pictures

It has stopped working 2 weeks after guarantee period.

The Canon Ixus Z70 is a great APS camera: light, small easy to use and with great features like panoramic views and the zoom is good. I've used it in many situations (hill walking to weddings) and found it fine but it broke down and refused to work two weeks after the guarantee ran out last year. I took it back to where I bought it and was told it was uneconomical to repair at approximately £80 (it cost me £220) when a new one could be £165. I am now left with an expensive silver box. Oh yes, the manager said drop it and claim on your insurance but believe it or not I am honest....

Members' Comments onJohn Pearce.'s Review

• Chris. on 21st Aug 2002

  Don't downgrade the overall rating of this camera just because yours broke.
  As you said it is an EXCELLENT camera - small , good features the works , you were just unlucky.

• Richard. on 21st Oct 2002

  My Canon Ixus Z70 packed up after 3 years with an "H" message on the display. My local dealer couldn't repair it and sent it to Cannon - their estimate was £151 to "replace lens barrel assembly" and they now want £17 to return it unrepaired! A local repairer say they will do a "no obligation" quote for free - they *think* they could fix for less than £100. The Z70 gave us sterling service and I still think it is an excellent camera, so I hope we can get it fixed for a reasonable price. 21/10/02.

• FrancisW. on 29th Mar 2003

  I too have (had) a Canon Ixus Z70. It was a great camera until it failed with a letter "H" in the display. The lens zooms forward as soon as it is switched on. I was told that it would cost at least £100 to fix - I think I'll buy a new APS camera from some other maker.

• Mickey. on 7th Jun 2003

  We too have a Canon Ixus APS camera that has failed after 3 yrs with the "H" error message. It looks like Canon's former reliability is no more and as for saying they are "uneconomic to repair" just illustrates their attitude to the customer. We're just walking wallets to them. To be fleeced as much as they think we'll stand for. I'll be looking for a cheap and cheerful NON-CANNON digital replacement. APS RIP!

• Steve & Gill. on 16th Jul 2003

  We too have had 2... yes 2 Z70's that failed within 3 weeks of each other and outside of their warranty 3 years from new, with the same "H" error message and the zoom at full extend on power up. It seems a very expensive repair, making the camera way over priced and with no guarantee it will fail again at any time. I think there are too many people with the same fault ... smells like a design flaw which Canon should take responsibility for and repair at their cost. Other than this major setback it was a very good little camera. In general it seems avoid APS cameras in the future as they are on their way out, due to constant problems and high costs. Several photo specialist retailers I have been speaking to are already moving away from this format for these reasons.

• Paul. on 27th Jul 2003

  Similar to all the users above my Canon has got stuck with the letter H after 3 years use. I have been quoted £85 for returning to Canon
  I would echo the sentiment that this seems to be a design fault. It would certainly put me off buying a Canon ever again unless they offer a more reasonable repair cost

• jonajuna on 27th Nov 2003

  try this as a workaround for the h errors.
  
  when powering on, apply a little pressure to the lens before and during its extension from the camera. not enough to stop it coming out, just to delay and slow it down.
  
  our z70 developed this error over a year ago and we have had success with this method 90% of the time (with the other 10% you just have to power off and on using the same technique)
  ok so its a bit of a drag, but you soon get in the habit and it saves the repair costs