Canon fire

Canon is blitzing Australian consumers with 20 new digital imaging products ranging from SLR cameras, video cameras, printers, multi-function devices and more. Top of the list is an upgrade to the popular EOS 300D digital SLR and a new multi function printer that can print directly from film negatives.

Canon is on a high after riding strong growth in the Australian digital camera market in 2004. That growth is expected to continue in 2005, with industry analysts estimating more than two million digital cameras will be sold locally this year.

Canon executives say they're keen to build on that success by offering consumers a comprehensive suite of products all armed with the latest technology. The company says it will continue to push its Pixma brand of printers to consumers, as well as tout the strengths of its DiG!C chips used in all its digital imaging products.

Digital cameras
First off the rank is a complete makeover of the popular EOS 300D digital SLR camera. Canon says the new EOS 350D (RRP$1899) is smaller, lighter and faster than its predecessor. The EOS 350D captures three frames per second for up to 14 frames and provides greater manual control, as well as having a super-fast start-up time of 0.2 seconds.

With digital still cameras, Canon us upgrading its range with four new products. The 7.1 megapixel Digital IXUS 700 (RRP$849) is the top new model, sporting a 3x optical zoom lens and 2-inch LCD screen. The 5.0 megapixel Digital IXUS 50 (RRP$729) is only two centimeters thick, and has ultra-high refractive aspherical (UA) lens technology, which is the key to providing a powerful 3x optical zoom in such a thin camera. Two new PowerShots have also been added. The 3.2 megapixel PowerShot A510 (RRP$499) and the 4.0 megapixel A520 (RRP$499) include 20 programmed shooting modes.

Camcorders
The big news with Canon's digital video camera range is the introduction of real widescreen capture and playback. Canon's Real Widescreen mode, available in the new MVX330i, and the upgraded MV800i, MV830i and MV850i models, offers 16:9 recording that utilises a wider imaging area on the sensor (unlike other systems that record vertically stretched pictures). The new MVX330i (RRP$1299) has a 1.3 megapixel CCD and includes Canon's proprietary DiG!C DV technology.

Printers
Canon has added three new products to its Pixma range of all in one printers. The flagship is the MP760 (RRP$499), which combines scanner, printer and copier functionalities, as well as boasting the ability to print directly from film negatives without the need for a PC. The new MP110 (RRP$179) and MP130 (RRP$199) are also all in one models that can print directly from PictBridge compatible cameras without the need for a PC.

Other printers launched by Canon include a new laser printer (Laser Shot LBP-30000) and a compact photo printer, the Selphy DS700 (RRP$399). The Selphy is designed to connect directly to a television for photo slideshows.

Rounding off Canon's comprehensive product launch was a new scanner (the CanoScan LIDE 500F) and a pair of binoculars (10X42 L IS) which feature image stabilizer technology.