Canon casts Camera Storm. You Die.
Last night, Canon announced more cameras than can be sanely covered in one post. Here are some of the standouts:
• PowerShot D10
Waterproof to 10m, able to withstand drops from up to 4ft, and freeze-resistant to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, the D10 is all about durability. It has 3x optical zoom, a $330 price tag, and will be on sale in May.
This will be a good gift, for people who'd never buy such a thing by themselves, to encourage them to do some extreme shooting.
• Digital Elph SD970, SD960, SD780 and SD1200
The Elphs get spec bumps. The $380 SD960 and SD780 have 5x optical zoom and 720p movie recording. The $230 SD1200 replaces the 1100, with only a megapixel change.
Even the lower-end Elphs shoot well given their price and size: the addition of HD video will make ownership of a mini-camcorder reduntant, if the quality's there.
• PowerShot A480, A2100 and A1100
The A-series is Canon's cheapie line, and three will appear in March and April. The A2100 has 6x optical zoom, 3" display and is $250, while the 1100 offers 4x for $200 and has an optical viewfinder and a smaller display. The A480 will have only 3.3x optical zoom, but is a very cheap $130.
• Powershot SX1
The SX1 has 20x optical zoom, a camcorder-style flip-out LCD display, HD movie recording at up to 1080p, HDMI out and a $600 price tag. No, it isn't a DSLR: this will have to match up to the likes of the Lumix LX and Canon's own G10.
Also available is the SX200, which has only 12x optical zoom, 720p movies, and a more edible $350 on the tag. Both models will be out in the next couple of months.
Press release [Canon via CrunchGear]
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So does canon get a bump in the SLR range this PMA? I'm wrestling with my wallet.
I originally planned on just a Nikon D40, but that morphed into a potential XSi, and as long as I was blowing the budget, why not get a D80 or D90, or maybe a 40D. As long as I'm at a 40D, why not a 50D?
At least my incremental spending impulses still leave the 5D Mkii well out of range.
Seriously, the jump from a $400 (ancient) camera with non-stabilized lens to a $650 camera is somehow justifiable. Then I could jump to the $900 D90. From there, rationalizing that all the way to a $1,100 40D with an 18-55mm lens somehow becomes common sense. Overbudget by $100, might as well go overbudget by $600- for a camera that's going to be ridiculously outmoded in 4 years. But at least I'll have a sweet sweet piece of kit glass that I can reuse!
Anybody got a cheap used body they want to get rid of?
I never liked Cannon cameras, the color of the photos always seems to skew yellow, no matter how well you set up the white balance. Doesn't seem to be an issue with Dslrs though. And when I sold cameras in college we always seemed to have more Cannons than anything else (besides Casio) coming in for repairs, most of them totally bricked or costing more to repair than replace.
Aw, rats. They discontinued the TX1. I have one and I think it's a good form factor. I was looking forward to the TX2.
Is it just me, or does that not seem all that durable for something that's "all about durability?" 4 feet isn't even the height you would be normally using it at (your face), and much of the U.S. has been below 14 degrees out over the last few weeks.
I long for the coming age of drop-kickable consumer electronics.
This is the press release for the cameralanche. The release linked above is for a portable printer.
I also think the SX200 is pretty nice with a pocketable 12x zoom, stabilization, and HD video.
I notice that the SX1 is using a CMOS sensor, so I'll wait to see some photos before I order one.
Duh, Flickr camera finder to the rescue:
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/powershot_sx1_is
The real problem with HD video on small digital cameras is that the microphones are universally lousy and I have yet to see one that takes an external microphone input. Almost all decent mini-camcorders have a microphone jack.