Canon shows off its highly anticipated 450D DSLR and Ixus 970 compact in Bris-Vegas.
The new 450D is Canon’s latest effort to shake up the entry level DSLR market. Priced to sell at the market friendly price of $1149, this camera ups improves on the older 400D model in a few key areas, including an increase to 12.2 MP (from 10.1MP on the 400D), and a 3.0” LCD screen, half an inch larger than its predecessor.
The 450D also includes a Live View shooting, spot metering and Canon’s extra handy EOS integrated cleaning system. Although we understand that this doesn’t mean it will remove finger prints from the lens – you’ll still have to clean that part yourself.
The new Canon DSLR also comes with a 3.5fps (53 shot burst) mode, an improvement over the 3.0fps of the 400D model. As we reported in January this camera has been anticipated for quite some time.
Compacts - Canon IXUS 970
Not only are entry DSLRs hot item at this year’s PMA, compact cameras are getting smaller and packing in twice the features of earlier generations. Canon’s IXUS 970 is on our must-see list, especially since we awarded the iXUS 960 our A-list award for excellence in performance and features earlier this month.
The 970 looks like shaping up as a worthy successor. It boasts 10MP, 5X optical zoom, a 2.5inch LCD, face detection technology and an optical image stabiliser.
As always, the DiG!C III image processor in Canon’s compacts allows for brighter and better images.
At the cheaper end of the market, Canon are also releasing two new Powershot editions, the A470 and the Powershot A580 models. The A470 comes equipped with 7.1MP, 3.4x optical lens and facial detection technology, a handy extra on a lower end unit. The A580 model improves slightly on the A470 model with 8.0MP and a 4x Optical zoom.
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| The Canon EOS 450D: 12.2Megapixel entry level DSLR, and a 3in screen |
Also see our report from the PMA 2008 event.