canon

As entry-level compacts go, Canon makes some of the best, at least for photo quality. But with the low end of the point-and-shoot market tanking, is it wise to have six models with little separating one from the others?

All of Canon's new A-series cameras have a few things in common: 16-megapixel CCD sensors, 720p movie capture, and 28mm wide-angle lenses. And, with the exception of the top-of-the-series A4000 IS, they have 5x optical zooms. From there you'll find slight changes among the models that might make you pick one over the other or simply confuse you to … Read more

If you're a photographer who uses Canon equipment and has been unable to use the Canon EOS utility after installing OS X Lion, some good news: Canon has issued an update to the tool that allows it to run properly in Apple's latest operating system.

The Canon EOS Utility is an application that allows you to interface your Mac with your digital EOS camera, allowing you to not only transfer images from it and manage them but also remotely operate the camera from your computer using Canon's interface cable.

When OS X Lion was released a number … Read more

Photographer Stephen Oachs didn't go to Kenya to take product photos, but he might have gotten a doozy anyway--shots of an unreleased but highly anticipated Canon SLR.

It's not clear what exactly Oachs found, but he posted photos of the apparent Canon SLR on his blog for those who want to take a guess. The usual caveats about prototypes and other uncertainties apply, of course, but it's definitely possible that he stumbled across a prototype of the Canon 5D Mark III.

The design looks in many ways similar to a Canon 7D, a 2009-era SLR released after … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Standard-definition camcorders should have died a while ago, but the manufacturers kept them around because they were still selling. That changed this week at CES when all the major manufacturers--Canon, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, and Samsung--announced nothing but high-def models and confirmed there would be no more SD models coming in the future.

Now, I know some of you out there have or had SD camcorders that produced great video, but manufacturers stopped making high-quality SD models a long time ago when HD took over.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sure, the Canon PowerShot G1 X is eminently more interesting as CES announcements go, but it's also not for your average snapshooter. For those people, there's the Elph 520 HS and Elph 110 HS.

Something you're probably going to see a lot of in 2012 is the battle for getting the widest, longest lens into the smallest camera body. Canon's entry is the PowerShot Elph 520 HS, a 10-megapixel ultracompact with a 28mm wide-angle lens and a 12x zoom (Canon claims that it's "the world's thinnest" with those lens specs).

All of the Elphs use high-sensitivity CMOS sensors (hence the HS in the name) for better low-light and shooting performance. It'll capture movie clips at full HD and you'll get a high-res 3-inch LCD for your framing and viewing pleasure. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Slipping in at the top of Canon's enthusiast G line of PowerShots, the G1 X introduces the largest sensor yet for enthusiast compacts with fixed lenses.

I'm really excited by what's happening in the enthusiast compact market; interchangeable-lens cameras seem to have spurred development in the fixed-lens models, presumably as people learn as a side effect of ILC marketing that you don't need a camera the size of a dSLR to get dSLR quality. A lot of people think that Canon's missing out by lagging in its ILC development--and it is. But the G1 addresses a growing part of the market, composed of people who don't really care about changing lenses and just want better photo quality.

That presupposes that the G1 X will deliver better photos than the G12, but it sounds at least like all the pieces for better photo quality are in place. The 1.5-inch sensor isn't quite as large as it sounds, but it's still larger than all but the significantly more expensive, APS-C-size Fujifilm X100. Coupled with the support for 14-bit image data, claimed better noise reduction and white-balance algorithms in the Digic 5 processor, the only wild card is the lens.

First, here's how its specs stack up against the competition (except for the Nikon Coolpix P7100--no room in the chart):… Read more

It's sad but unsurprising that Kodak appears headed for bankruptcy protection. And that should be a cautionary tale for camera industry powers that might think themselves better off.

Kodak, a technology titan from an earlier industrial age, has been struggling financially for years as digital photography killed Kodak's former cash cow, film. Bankruptcy protection, as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, could open the door to some otherwise difficult options such as evading its pension obligations.

But fundamentally, it's hard to see Kodak surviving except as a shadow of its former self. Some technology bright spots--digital … Read more

It's the end of the year show! And we celebrate that, and Hanukkah, with a very special Rumor Has It today.

Instead of rounding up the week's hottest rumors, we've rounded up the year's hottest rumors. Bam! And we bet you can guess what's on our list.

We cover the ones that did come true, the ones that didn't, and the ones that were so annoying, we wanted to scream. Why won't some of these rumors ever die? At least they keep us in business.

What was your top rumor that did come true, didn't come true, or annoyed you to death? Let us know in the comments.

We don't have a show next week, but tune back in January 3, 2012 (!), for the first Humiliation Day of the year. Augh! … Read more

It's crazy just how many cameras were released in 2011 from the major manufacturers. According to camera site 1001 Noisy Cameras, the count stands at 203; the majority of those are point-and-shoots.

For us, a point-and-shoot is a fixed-lens camera (i.e. not interchangeable) that uses a 1/2.3-inch-size sensor. So, before you get all "Where's the Canon S100!" on me, we consider that and similar models enthusiast compacts because of their larger sensor sizes and target user.… Read more