Review Those looking for a new DSLR haven’t had a decision this tricky in years. In one corner, Nikon’s D5100 and in the other, Canon’s EOS 600D. Both offer similar specifications, and neither is exactly lacking when it comes to both image quality and platform support.
Entry-level in the mid-range market? Canon’s EOS 600D
At the heart of the EOS 600D is an 18Mp, APS-C CMOS sensor. Notching up 18Mp is fast becoming Canon’s sweet spot for its mid and high-end DSLRs – see also the EOS 7D, EOS 60D and EOS 550D. The ISO ranges from 100 to 6400, yet make a small adjustment in the custom settings menu and you can push it to ISO 12800. It’s a very wide range range, but image quality is impressive across the board. Noise simply isn’t a factor until ISO 1600 – and it merely shows its presence with a little softness and chroma noise at ISO 3200. Read the rest of this entry »
Your possible reason for buying this Camera may have changed fairly recently. The EOS 7D would have been the only way to get ‘standard’ and ‘film’ frame rates from a Canon DSLR product in HD, but no more. There is a new model which offers very much the same video functionality and output for a fraction of the cost, the Canon EOS 550D – more on this later.
Canon is well aware that some filmmakers and news gatherers would like to shoot with its stills cameras. It seems providing this feature on the EOS 5D Mark II was just testing the water – as one of its professional full frame DSLR’s was given a single HD video frame rate (30p) @ 1920×1080. Step back, and see how it goes. It goes very well; picked up by all sorts of people to whom shallow depth of field composition would help tell their story.
With the EOS 7D Canon has decided to release what surely is a natural progression; a multi frame rate videoCamera that also produces beautiful stills, albeit with a smaller sensor with a 1.6x crop factor. The 7D is pitched at the same audience that bought into the filmmaking capabilities of the 5D Mark II and while there was also the EOS 500D, which offered a rather strange 20fps @ 1080p, obviously the timing wasn’t right, in more ways than one. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Some digital cameras cry out to be touched. They’re sleek, they’re stylish and it’s hard resist the temptation to pick them up. Canon’s range of Ixus cameras falls into this category, and the Digital Ixus 200 IS takes this step a further by being the first Ixus to offer a touchscreen interface.
Touching gesture: Canon’s Ixus 200 IS
At £329, this is no entry-level Camera, but nor is it designed for the enthusiast who wants lots of manual control. But if you’re hunting for a Camera that looks cool and would nicely complement your iPhone, then the Ixus 200 IS has clearly been designed with you in mind.
Available in four colours – gold, silver, blue and purple – the Ixus 200 IS includes a 3in, 16:9 touchscreen. Yet Canon has opted for a TFT display composed of just 230,000 dots, which is a tad disappointing on a Camera costing this much.
The image sensor is also a bit of a letdown, comprising of a 1/2.3-inch CCD chip with 12.1Mp (effective). Cramming so many pixels onto a CCD of this size has noise implications and we suspect that a 10Mp performance (or even less) would be fine for most purchasers of the Ixus 200 IS. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The S90 marks the re-introduction of Canon’s acclaimed PowerShot S series. Aimed at the serious amateur or professional photographer, it combines full manual capability with the simple design of a point-and-shoot, all in a pocket size Camera with near-DSLR performance. Unsurprisingly, it comes with the hefty price tag of £449.
Canon’s Powershot S90 marks the return of the S-series
To justify its price the S90 comes with an array of professional features packed into its small and stylish case. The 10Mp sensor also features on its bigger brother, the G11 and utilises Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 processor with its Dual Anti-Noise System that allows low light shooting without increased noise. Perhaps more surprising is that currently, the PowerShot S90 is the smallest compact Camera to shoot in Raw format. With no optical viewfinder the S90 relies on a 3in LCD display comprised of 461,000 dots. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Mid-range, inkjet all-in-ones are the mainstay of most printer makers’ catalogues, so for one to stand out, it has to offer extra features, better performance or improved cost of ownership to get noticed. Canon has introduced the Pixma MP560 to build on a successful design in at least two of these three ways.
Canon’s Pixma MP560: the changes are more than cosmetic
There are many instances when a new printer model is nothing but a replacement for one that’s gone before, often with more minor cosmetic changes than between this year’s and last year’s Ford Fiesta. However, that’s not the case with the Pixma MP560. It may appear like the MP540, but actually has a lot more going for it.
Indeed, it looks much like Canon’s recent run of all-in-ones, coloured in silver and high-gloss black plastic, but the concave sides are less pronounced and it’s a little squatter than its predecessor. At the back, a flap folds up and lifts to become a 150-sheet paper tray for photo sheets, though it can be used for special media, like letterheads, too. Read the rest of this entry »
