New gear is appearing at CES all week, and Canon is joining the release list, with several cameras on the way, including one box capable of capturing high quality selfies in a rather slim and stylish square.
Seven models have been announced this week, with four PowerShot models and three Ixus making up the Canon range for the first half of 2015, and from the looks of things, there’s something in there for pretty much every need, provided you’re not focusing on a camera that can take lots of lenses.
First there are the small cameras, with the Ixus range spreading across the 160, 165, and 170 this year. There are no special names here, and they all share the same 20 megapixel sensor, ISO rating up to 1600, smart auto modes, and 720p video capture.
Canon tells us that the Ixus 170 sports 12x optical comparable to 25 to 300mm, while the Ixus 160 and 165 both sport an 8x optical lens in their small bodies, equivalent to 28 to 224mm. In fact, there’s little to set apart the Ixus 160 and Ixus 165, though we have found out the 165 sports optical image stabilisation while the 160 doesn’t.
Three larger PowerShot cameras are also here providing long, longer, and much longer reach, with differently sized bodies dependent on what you want to take out and about. This range of camera is generally focused on those hitting the road and going on holiday, as it means you get the range normally meant for seeing things far off in the distance without needing to invest in a large telephoto or zoom lens.
As such, you’ll find 18x optical on the Canon PowerShot SX610HS equivalent to 25-450mm, 30x optical on the PowerShot SX710HS comparable to 25-750mm, and a mind-numbing far off reach with 50x optical handling 24-1200mm on the PowerShot SX530HS.
You’ll find 20 megapixel sensors on two of these — the SX610 and SX710 — with bodies that are designed to keep the components relatively small, while the SX530HS is more of a larger camera aimed at emulating the look and feel of a digital SLR but without the same bulk. As such, this one is bigger, but comes with a smaller sensor, rated at 16 megapixels.
But the one that really stands out appears as a lens in a small box, and that’s the Canon PowerShot N2, a camera Canon is calling a selfie camera.
Looking at it, you can see why, as it can be held in the hand, and features a flip up 180 degree touchscreen LCD which will kick in the selfie mode and fire shots of you looking straight at the camera.
There’s a 16.1 megapixel sensor inside and 8x optical zoom, with the small camera practically pocketable and supporting WiFi and NFC for easy transfer of images to smartphones, as well as control from a smart device.
While availability isn’t normally something companies like to mention at CES, Canon is saying that these will be coming to Australia, and soon, with the end of February earmarked as the time you can expect these models to land.
Pricing isn’t something we can say, however, and that’s part and parcel of Canon’s policy in Australia not to release recommended pricing and to tell consumers to shop for the best one, with the pricing to “be set at dealers’ discretion”.
