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Gadgets Canon Introduces Three New PowerShots
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 13, 2008 11:55 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 25 comment(s) - last by Raidin.. on Mar 14 at 12:20 PM

Canon PowerShot SD890 IS  (Source: Canon)

Canon PowerShot SD790  (Source: Canon)

Canon PowerShot SD770  (Source: Canon)
Canon adds three new PowerShot ELPH models to its stable

It was barely two months ago when Canon last unleashed a new set of digital cameras. In late January, the Japanese digital camera company released the PowerShot A590 IS, PowerShot A580, and the PowerShot A470. Canon also introduced an update to its popular PowerShot SD1000 in the form of the SD1100 IS.

Today, Canon introduced three more additions to the PowerShot family. First up are the PowerShot SD790 and SD770. Both camera feature metal bodies along with a 10MP image sensor. A 3x optical zoom lens (35-105mm equivalent) is included and as with most new digital cameras released these days, image stabilization is standard.

The two cameras go in different directions when it comes to color schemes and viewfinders. The SD790 features a large 3" PureColor LCD on the back while the SD770 features a smaller, 2.5" PureColor LCD and an optical viewfinder (a must-have for some purists). The SD770 also differs in that it can be had with optional piano black accents.

"The design versatility of Digital [PowerShots] is clearly demonstrated by these two new models," said Canon's Mogens Jensen. "These are cameras that enable users to express their individuality, both in the model they choose, and the images they make."

The other big announcement from Canon today is the PowerShot SD890 IS. The SD890 IS, like the other two new members to the PowerShot family, includes a 10MP image sensor. The SD890 IS, however, features a longer 5x zoom lens (37 - 185mm -- the longest ever for the PowerShot ELPH family).

The PowerShot SD890 IS features a smooth, tapered metal body and incorporates a 2.5" PureColor LCD II on its rear -- an optical viewfinder is also included. The camera also includes all of the typical checkbox features like Face Detection, Motion Detection, and 18 shooting modes.

"With its 5x zoom, the [PowerShot SD890 IS] brings a new level of performance to Canon’s leading design brand," added Jensen. "Once again Canon is using its optical expertise to deliver powerful compact cameras in effortless style."

The PowerShot SD770, SD790 and SD890 will be available in the coming weeks priced at $299.99, $349.99 and $399.99 respectively.

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Canon's models...
By retrospooty on 3/13/2008 12:30:57 PM , Rating: 3
Canon has nice little camera's, but their models are starting to annoy me. They keep updating 2-3x per year and adding tiny increments to each line, and mixing the model #'s to make it less clear. This one adds more megapixels, that one adds more zoom, the other adds IS, a fourth adds larger LCD. 6 months later, the larger LCD gets more megapixels, the highest zoom gets IS, the IS, gets larger LCD.... BAH>>> I just one one upgrade with a larger LCD, and more zoom, as well as IS.

It has taken them 2 1/2 years to give me a compelling upgrade from my SD450... The SD870 looks OK, it has a 3 inch LCD vs 2.5, IS vs no IS, 8mpx vs 5, and at least a 3.8x zoom over 3x... Hardly enough zoom improvement, but thats as good as it gets and a dececnt upgrade.

Now they come out with the SD890 and it has a great 5x optical zoom.... Fantastic for such a small camera, but the 3 inch LCD from the SD870 has backtracked to 2.5 on the SD890 AAAAAARGH!!!!




RE: Canon's models...
By TheWizardofOz on 3/13/2008 12:34:24 PM , Rating: 2
It's not a downgrade for 890IS, 870IS has 3" LCD because it has no viewfinder.


RE: Canon's models...
By retrospooty on 3/13/2008 1:12:24 PM , Rating: 1
I know... Believe me, I know Canon's powershot lineup very well. I have been following every release, going over every spec on every powershot ELPH for at least 4 years. I know what each one has, and what each one adds and its very frustrating. I probably did not do the best job in explaining it all on my post, but for those that have followed Canon for a while waiting for "the one" to come out, know its frustrating.


RE: Canon's models...
By JoshuaBuss on 3/13/2008 4:02:47 PM , Rating: 2
you and I both know if they release "the one" they won't sell anything else.

it's apple's strategy too, just veiled in even more models and confusion... keep releasing things with incremental upgrades and people will keep buying it.. release something that does it all at once and sure it will sell great at first, but then you can't continue to release "new" products for a long time.. and I'm afraid the majority of people are dim-whitted enough that they care more about something simply being new instead of it really offering the best combination of features.


RE: Canon's models...
By jpeyton on 3/13/2008 7:23:50 PM , Rating: 2
*YAWN*

That's how I feel about nearly every Canon consumer digital camera release for the last 3 years.

The only real innovation I've seen in this market segment was Fuji's SuperCCD (F10, F11, F20, F30, F31, F50). Most of them were 6MP cameras (more than enough for enlargements) and offered amazing high ISO performance for pocket sized digital cameras.

The next "big thing" in this segment will be a pocket-sized camera with an APS-C sized (DSLR) sensor at a mass market price point. Sigma's DP1 is coming out soon, but its $799 price tag will make it a boutique camera (digital Leica).


RE: Canon's models...
By gospastic on 3/13/2008 12:34:55 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously, it's ridiculous. I gave up trying to figure out the differences a couple generations ago.


RE: Canon's models...
By blaster5k on 3/13/2008 1:07:01 PM , Rating: 4
I just wish they would stop increasing the megapixel counts. Cramming all these pixels onto a small sensor is just hurting image quality -- particularly in low light conditions. I doubt anyone using a compact point and shoot camera needs over 5-6MP.

Why can't we put an end to the megapixel war already? It's like the MHz wars used to be with CPUs back in the P4 days.


RE: Canon's models...
By TheWizardofOz on 3/13/2008 1:13:18 PM , Rating: 2
35mm film camera's digital equivalent would be around 20MP, that's why.

But that's only an assumption as films are analog mediums.


RE: Canon's models...
By blaster5k on 3/13/2008 1:40:47 PM , Rating: 3
True, but really, it's all marketing. Uneducated buyers think more is better. For normal sized prints, 6MP is more than adequate. If you're doing something poster sized, maybe not, but nobody should expect to get a good result for something like that without a professional grade camera.

The problem is there's more noise introduced by adding megapixels without increasing sensor size. This noise then has to be filtered, which smooths the image out and introduces artifacts, thus eliminating the increased detail afforded by the higher resolution.

This site has an excellent explanation if anyone is curious.

http://6mpixel.org/en/


RE: Canon's models...
By Raidin on 3/14/2008 12:20:28 PM , Rating: 3
When will 9mpixel.org come out? I heard more megapixels is better.


RE: Canon's models...
By NainoKami on 3/13/2008 1:41:39 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, but film is exactly that: 35mm
If you look at a full frame sensor, they're maxing out at about 25 mpix, and they are 864 mm2, compared to the 43-25 mm2 of the sensors they put in some of the newer compacts. These sensors are TINY compared to a full frame sensor, and for a sensor that small to have such a large pixel count, the pixels are equally tiny, and therefore more prone to noise and crosstalk.
There is a reason you don't see full frame sensors with such a high pixel density!

That and the fact that many optics actually cant even resolve a resolution of >12 mpix...

My 2 cents...


RE: Canon's models...
By Oregonian2 on 3/13/2008 2:04:30 PM , Rating: 2
The intention of what you say is very true, but reality of what they do would not result in what you intend if they did what you say for P&S cameras.

Reason is the reason why the lower megapixel ones generally aren't better than the higher megapixel ones. For a given megapixel count, the size of the sensor has gone down over time (improving costs to the mfgr, no doubt). So if they just stopped increasing the MP count there wouldn't be any improvement in quality (given that the sensor would continue to shrink), just the stabilization/processing/etc features and increasing noise each generation.

I've found that if one looks at a family of cameras, the megapixels-per-area of the sensor stays about constant throughout the line, and that competitors are about the same (probably because some are using the very same sensors). So in practice, getting the higher pixel count is the way to gain the larger sensor. Hunting for the exception can be very time consuming and possibly fruitless.

What I say above is true mostly for the P&S cameras, not so much for the DSLRs that tend to have a constant sensor size (one of two sizes). For those I think your comments are spot on (and why some of the newer mega-priced cameras have very modest megapixel counts).


RE: Canon's models...
By Xodus Maximus on 3/13/2008 2:27:04 PM , Rating: 2
True it can be confusing, but if you are determined and make the right choice, you can get some great deals because of the way Cannon keeps making their old models obsolete.

About a year ago, I purchased an A620 in a combo deal with a full size tripod, batteries, wide lens kit, lens cleaner, 2GB high speed SD ...carrier chimp, battleship mount, etc... im kidding but it was alot of stuff for $199 total (including shipping). And this couldn't have been more than 6 months after it came out camera only at the price of $250 or more, I believe.

So I for one hope they keep on doing this, I just wish they would make another swivel LCD like on the 620, but I think they gave that up because all the ones I have seen recently are fixed :(


...
By TheWizardofOz on 3/13/2008 12:30:58 PM , Rating: 2
I still favor my SD870 IS, as it's the only camera in Powershot lineup with a wide angle 3x zoom lens ( starts with 28mm )

Although, mainly I use my Nikon D80.




RE: ...
By blaster5k on 3/13/2008 12:57:18 PM , Rating: 2
The 28mm lens has inferior image quality to the 35mm variants though. Barrel distortion is quite noticeable. I went with the SD850 IS instead.


RE: ...
By TheWizardofOz on 3/13/2008 1:07:22 PM , Rating: 3
Barrel distortion is not that noticable.

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canonsd870is_sampl...

I use my 870IS only for family/friend pictures and for video. I don't expect SD series to perform like an SLR as they are meant to be compact in the first place... And for family pictures, wide angle helps a lot (not much of trying to tell people to squeeze more to get them in the picture)


RE: ...
By blaster5k on 3/13/2008 1:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
I've read that review (among others) and seen sample images. It's a compromise. I've jnever had great difficulty fitting people into pictures with a 35mm lens, so I decided I'd take the extra zoom (and somewhat better quality) over wide angle ability.

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=...


Correction
By BarkHumbug on 3/13/2008 12:05:19 PM , Rating: 2
Second to last paragraph:
"Digital IXUS 970 IS" should be "PowerShot SD890 IS".

I'm guessing the name differs between US and other markets.

/BH




RE: Correction
By BruceLeet on 3/13/2008 12:27:02 PM , Rating: 2
Indeed

/BL


RE: Correction
By SanLC504 on 3/13/2008 12:34:25 PM , Rating: 2
Well, since it's hard to go back and correct a direct quote, it should probably be put in brackets to show an author-sourced substitution, like "[PowerShot SD890 IS]." If I had to guess, that's probably why he hasn't adjusted it as of late.


RE: Correction
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 3/13/2008 1:21:27 PM , Rating: 2
This is correct. This is the name in European market and the press release came from Canon Europe. I have updated the passage to reflect this change.