Canon has also introduced five other new digital cameras and two new accessories. The new cameras include the 7.1MP PowerShot S70, the 8.2MP EOS 20D SLR model and the PowerShot A400, A85 and A95. The new accessories include the Speedlite 580EX flash and the Compact Battery Pack CP-E3.
The EOS 20D, which will arrive in September, offers resolution up to 3504 x 2336 pixels, five frames per second burst shooting, a DIGIC II image processor, a nine-point auto-focus system, a shutter speed that tops out at 1/8,000 of a second, six preset white balance settings with the option to create a custom one and more. In addition, it supports Canon’s new .CR2 (Canon RAW, second edition) format and adds support for Adobe RGB and Exif 2.21. The camera will come with a Lithium Ion battery, a charger, a USB cable, a VC-100 video cable and a wide neck-strap and will be available without a lens for $1,499, with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens for $1,599 and with the company’s new EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM wide angle zoom lens for $1,999.
The PowerShot S70 is a prosumer camera with a 3.6x optical zoom lens that covers 28mm wide angle to 100mm telephoto, which is equivalent to 25mm film. It features speed shooting capability of two frames per second, 12 shooting modes and VGA movie mode, a DIGIC image processor and a print and share button for directly printing images from one of Canon’s photo printers or a PictBridge-enabled printer. It will be available in September and will ship with a Lithium Ion battery and charger, USB cable and 32MB Compact Flash card. Pricing will be $599.99.
The new entries in Canon’s PowerShot A series offer a nine-point auto-focus system, with compatibility with such accessories as wide-angle, telephoto and close-up lenses found in the A85 and A95 models. All three can print directly to a PictBridge-enabled printer and also offer the ability to make ID photo-size prints and still image series from recorded movies as well as stamp dates in the corners of images. The $179.99 A400, which will ship in September, is a 3.2MP camera that comes in four colors — silver, sky blue, lime green and sunset gold — and features 2.2x optical and 7.0x digital zoom. It comes with a 16MB SD Memory Card, a USB cable and two AA alkaline batteries.
Preceding the A400 in August, the $299.99 A85 and $399.99 A95 offer 4.0MP and 5.0MP image sizes, respectively, and 1.8-inch LCD monitors. The former features 13 shooting modes while the latter includes 14 such modes. Both ship with a 32MB Type I CompactFlash card, a USB cable and four AA alkaline batteries.
Finally, the Speedlite 580EX flash replaces the 550EX model, offering compatibility with Canon cameras that feature E-TTL II (Evaluative Through the Lens) technology for automatic modification of flash power based on subject distance. It works with all of Canon’s film and digital EOS cameras as well as the G-series and Pro-1 PowerShot digital models, with two features — auto-compensation for the size of the CMOS sensor by automatically zooming the flash head to match the focal length conversion and minute adjustments to auto white balance — that work specifically with the EOS 20D and EOS-1D Mark II. Both features create more accurate color and get more flashes out of the battery life.
In addition, the Speedlite 580EX includes an AF-assist beam, a swiveling flash head that turns 180 degrees and 14 custom functions. It will be available in October for $479. Accompanying it will be Canon’s $220 Compact Battery Pack CP-E3, which offers full power recycling time of 1.7 seconds and can accommodate 432 full-power flashes per charge.