Canon PowerShot S80

Canon today launched its new flagship PowerShot S80 digital camera, which features 8.0 megapixels of resolution and a 28mm wide lens. The sleek, compact camera offers a large 2.5-inch LCD screen for easy viewing, a high-quality XGA movie mode, high-speed USB 2.0 support, and a high quality, wide-angle UA (Ultra High Refractive Index Glass Aspherical) lens with a 3.6x wide-angle optical zoom (35mm film equivalent: 28-100mm). Canon says the camera allows users to capture a wider image area than most other compact digital cameras on the market. The camera delivers XGA movie resolution (1024x768), a realtime histogram, improved autofocus, refined exposure control, 21 shooting modes, and more. It will be available in October for $550.

"Canon's new is a high-grade camera that offers superior image quality and a feature set on par with our more advanced models," said Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the Consumer Imaging Group at Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. "Along with improving on our earlier models, we are offering features not seen in other digital cameras before including a stunning new XGA movie mode that rivals the video output of some high-end digital camcorders."

The camera features an improved autofocus, which reduces the time required for focusing by up to approximately 20 percent compared to its predecessor, according to the company. In addition, Canon has refined its exposure control under low-light conditions results for better exposure accuracy and better focusing performance. Canon also improved the exposure control by a full stop, which allows for easier focusing and produces better photos in dark conditions.

The S80 supports movie recording in XGA resolution (1024 x 768 pixels) at 15 frames per second, which Canon says is a first for any digital camera. "Compared to the previous maximum - VGA (640 x 480 pixels) - XGA recording has about 2.5 times more pixels, and the data amount is about twice as high. Continuous recording of XGA up to a file size of 1GB is available on the S80 model."

Much like Canon's PowerShot S2 IS digital camera, the PowerShot S80 model provides a choice between single frame and sequence frame for Movie Prints. It also offers 21 different shooting modes, : there are five modes in the Creative Zone, plus 12 new Special Scene modes as well as the My Colors mode, Stitch Assist Mode and Movie Mode. The 12 new Special Scene modes include Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot and Digital Macro.

The PowerShot S80 Kit, due in October for $550, will include Canon digital camera software, including the latest versions of ZoomBrowser EX, ImageBrowser, PhotoStitch and PhotoRecord, as well as ArcSoft PhotoStudio. The standard kit will also include an Interface Cable IFC-400PCU and AV cable AVC-DC300, a lithium-ion Battery Pack NB-2LH and Battery Charger CB-2LW, a 32MB SD memory card, instruction manuals and a Wrist Strap WS-300. Optional accessories include a Waterproof Housing WP-DC1, a wireless auxiliary flash unit High Power Flash HF-DC1, Soft Leather Case PSC30 and the choice of wide-angle or telephoto supplementary lenses.

by MacNN Staff