Canon today introduced five new PowerShot digital cameras, the A300 (3.2MP), A60 (2.0MP), A70 (3.2MP), S400 Digital Elph (4.0MP), and the S50 (5.0MP) and the EOS 10D SLR (6.0MP) as well as the new professional CanoScan 9900F and two new Bubble Jet Direct printers (the i450 Color Bubble Jet Printer and i470D Photo Printer), and an updated photo printer, the wide-format i9100 Photo Printer, which replaces the S9000. [links added]

• Canon's new is the company's first 5 megapixel digital camera and features a high-resolution 3x f/2.8 optical zoom lens in a compact, black brushed aluminum alloy exterior. In addition, the S50 includes Canon's exclusive DIGIC Imaging Processor with iSAPS technology to provide enhanced image quality, increased processing speed. Other improved camera features include a 9-Point AiAF autofocus system; 9-position White Balance; selectable metering modes; selectable Second-Curtain sync flash. The PowerShot S50 will be available in March for $700.





• The PowerShot S400 Digital Elph is "the world's smallest" 4 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom (3.6x digital / 11x combined) lens and a 9-point AiAF autofocus system. The camera also offers a stainless steel body with a new super hard Cerabrite finish to guard against scratching; The PowerShot S400 will be available in March for $600.




• The PowerShot A60 (2.0 MP) and A70 (3.2 MP) cameras are ultra-compact AA-battery powered models, featuring an aluminum alloy exterior, 3x optical zoom lens, 2.5x and 3.2x digital zoom, 5-point AiAF autofocus system, close focus to 2-inches and a full range of exposure modes. Each model is compatible with the optional WP-DC700 Waterproof Housing (up to depths of 130ft), as well as supplementary wide-angle, telephoto and macro converters. The PowerShots A60 and A70 are scheduled to be available in March for $350 and $450, respectively.




• The PowerShot A300 is an entry-level, 3.2 MP model. The AA-battery powered camera is equipped with a 33mm fixed focal length all-glass autofocus lens and a 5.1x digital zoom. It also offers 5-point AiAF. As with all other new PowerShots, it completely supports driverless downloads via PTP with Windows XP and Mac OS X, as well as EXIF 2.2, and DPOF 1.1. The PowerShot A300 will be available in April for $300.

The PowerShot S50, S400, A60, and A70 (as well as the A300) also feature an improved Movie Mode that captures clips up to 3 minutes with sound, while the S-series features Direct Print capabilities with Canon's Card Printer CP-100 dye-sublimation printer and several Canon Bubble Jet Direct printers.

EOS 10D Digital SLR Camera: 6.3 Megapixels

Canon's new 6 megapixel digital camaera, EOS 10D, is the first digital SLR to offer Canon's exclusive DIGIC Image Processor for maximum camera performance as well as direct connectivity to several Canon Bubble Jet Direct printers and the CP-100 Card Photo Printer. The camera's body, constructed with rigid magnesium alloy covers, houses a "very fast," wide-area 7-point autofocus system; 3 fps drive speed in 9-frame bursts in either JPEG or simultaneous RAW + JPEG capture settings; an extended ISO range of 100-3200; manual white balance mode; selectable color space options including Adobe RGB and sRGB; a scrollable 10x zoom playback mode; and a USB interface.

The EOS 10D also supports EXIF 2.2, DPOF 1.1, FAT32, and Compact Flash Type I and II, and is completely compatible with all EF-series lenses, including the new EF 17-40mm f/4L USM. It is bundled with an upgraded software package featuring powerful drivers which are compatible with Mac OS X and other utilities such as ZoomBrowser EX, PhotoRecord, RAW Image Converter, PhotoStitch and RemoteCapture along with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0,.

The EOS 10D measures 5.9 x 4.2 x 3.0 inches and weighs 27.9 oz. (body only). It will be available at authorized retailers in mid-March with a suggested list price of $2,000.

New Inkjet Printers

Canon's also introduced new Bubble Jet Direct printers, the i450 Color Bubble Jet Printer and i470D Photo Printer, and the flagship in Canon's line of photo printers, the wide format i9100 Photo Printer replacing the S9000. Both the i450 and the i470D printers deliver beautiful photos and sharp text at speeds of up to 18 ppm in black and 12 ppm in color, at resolutions of up to 4800 x 1200 dpi, with 5-picoliter and ultra-fine 2-picoliter droplets, and with support for Bubble Jet Direct printing. Print functions on the camera or camcorder include cropping, date stamping and selecting multiple print sizes.

The new USB printers also support Exif Print (Exif 2.2), while the i470D Photo Printer will feature a built-in print operation panel with the all-new Canon Photo Viewer software and built-in slots for removable memory cards including CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Microdrive, SmartMedia, SD Card and MultimediaCard. It will also feature an ink remaining monitor on the LCD display to alert the user to replace ink tanks. Software includes Easy-PhotoPrint, PhotoStitch for formating panoramic shots, and ImageBrowser. The i450 Bubble Jet printer will be $100; the i470D Photo Printer will be $150. Both will be shipping in April 2003.

The i9100 Photo printer will replace the S9000, Canon's flagship photo printer. It incorporates the ultra high-density multi-nozzle printhead featuring 3,072 nozzles (the largest number of nozzles in its class) to achieve print speeds of approximately 37 seconds for a borderless 4" x 6" photo print, approximately one minute for 8" x 10" prints and four minutes for 13" x 19" prints. The i9100 will feature edge-to-edge borderless printing support for both 5" x 7" and 13" x 19" in addition to the 4"x6" and 8.5"x11" borderless printing already available in the S9000.

The new wide-format printer will offer 4800x1200 dp--twice as much as the S9000, and six-color photo printing using Canon's Individual Ink Tank system as well as Lightfast prints for approximately 25 years. It will feature the same software bundle and will be available in April 2003 for $500.

New Professional Flatbed Scanner

The CanoScan 3000F will be Canon's lowest-priced transparency scanner at $130. It features photo, film and document scanning via a USB 2.0 port and up to 48-bit color depth. The CS3000F has a built-in 35mm film adapter for easy scanning of negatives and slides and features Canon's integrated dust and scratch removal technology to automatically remove much of the dirt and scratches that may appear on original images. Scanning books or magazines is possible with the Z-Lid expansion top that lifts vertically and lays flat on the item being scanned. Canon bundles several software titles, including ScanGear CS, CanoScan Toolbox, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, ArcSoft PhotoBase, ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR and NewSoft Presto! BizCard (30-day trial version). all come standard with the scanner. The 3000F will be compatible with Windows operating systems only running XP, 2000, ME or 98. The CS3000F will have an MSRP of $129.99(1) and will ship March 2003.

The CanoScan 9900F, the new flagship scanner, features up to 3200 x 6400 dpi scan resolution along with 48-bit color depth. It features both FireWire and USB 2.0 ports for 3-second scan preview times. The new Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement (FARE 2.0) builds on the dust and scratch removal with new Grain correction and Fading correction. The 9900F delivers a broad range of scanning, including film sizes of 35 mm negatives and mounted slides, medium-format, 4"x5" and photos or documents up to 8.5"x11". Two film guides ship with the scanner to allow batch scanning of up to 24 negative frames or eight mounted slides as well as support for medium format and 4"x5" film. The 9900F ship in March, 2003 for $400.

Both scanners include bundle includes ScanGear CS, CanoScan Toolbox, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, ArcSoft PhotoBase, and ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR.

by MacNN Staff