| Canon has today announced its latest cutie
in the shape of the PowerShot SD20. Available in four colours,
it is Canon's smallest five megapixel camera to date. It's
capable of shooting 180 seconds of video with sound, but
lacks an optical zoom, offering only a 6.5x digital zoom.
The all-metal camera weighs 100g and is said to be "half
the size of many mobile phones". It will be priced $349.
- European name: Canon Digital IXUS i5
- US name: Canon PowerShot SD20
- Japanese name: Canon IXY Digital L2
Press Release:
New jewels in Canon’s coolest range
Amstelveen , The Netherlands,
21 September, 2004 . Canon, a leader in photographic
and imaging technology, today announces the exquisitely
compact Digital IXUS i 5 – an undeniably chic new
addition to the legendary IXUS collection. Available in
four irresistible finishes – Platinum Silver, Midnight Blue,
Bordeaux Red and Storm Grey – Canon’s smallest ever 5.0
Megapixel camera is the ultimate digital accessory, designed
to make taking great pictures simple. Half the size of many
mobile phones, the silky look-and-feel all-metal body weighs
in at just 100g.
With a 6.5x digital zoom to close in on the action, the
IXUS i 5 can shoot 180 second video clips with
full sound and playback (up to 30 seconds at hi-resolution
VGA). A Print/Share button makes for one-touch photo-printing
to any PictBridge compatible photo printer, including Canon’s
new range of SELPHY lab-quality personal photo printers
to which it is perfectly matched. It also means simple transfer
of images to any Windows PC. For beach fun, skiing, snorkelling
and surfing, an optional 3m depth all-weather case is available.
Seriously small, seriously advanced IXUS
i 5 may be tiny but it packs plenty of power. In
addition to the 5.0 Megapixel sensor, a purpose-built DIGIC
integrated circuit allows accurate processing of complex
white balance and colour rendition algorithms to deliver
superb natural colour reproduction, even for photographers
with no interest in adjusting camera settings.
Perfectly simple
Every IXUS i 5 comes complete with iSAPS - its
own photographer’s assistant. Even before the shutter-release
is pressed, iSAPS analyses the scene and makes adjustments
to exposure, white balance and auto-focus settings for consistently
brilliant results. Special scene modes – such as Portrait,
Landscape, Night Snapshot, Indoor and Underwater help create
great results with confidence in tricky shooting conditions,
while the 9-point AiAF system gets even off-centre subjects
sharply in focus.
Right way up
An Intelligent Orientation Sensor takes into account the
likely position of the sky and foreground before setting
focus, exposure and white balance settings. It then rotates
images to the correct orientation for easy, enjoyable playback.
Online Sharing
The IXUS i 5 comes supplied with a full range
of software to simplify image upload and management. In
addition, membership to Canon’s web portal CANON iMAGE GATEWAY
is free for every IXUS i 5 customer, giving 100MB
of album space on the web for storing and sharing favorite
photographs and albums – a private online photo gallery.
Canon PowerShot SD20 specifications
| Sensor |
• 1/2.5 " Type CCD
• 5 million effective pixels |
| Image sizes |
• 2592 x 1944
• 2048 x 1536
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480 |
| Movie clips |
• 640 x 480 (10 fps) Up to 30 secs
• 320 x 240 (15 fps) Up to 3 minutes
• 160 x 120 (15 fps) Up to 3 minutes |
| File formats |
• Still: JPEG
• Movie: AVI (Motion JPEG)
• Sound: WAVE (monaural sound) Up to 60 seconds per
image |
| Lens |
• 39mm (35mm equiv)
• F2.8 |
| Digital zoom |
Up to 5.6x |
| Focus |
TTL |
| AF area modes |
• 9-point AiAF
• 1-point AF |
| Focus distance |
• 3cm macro |
| Metering |
• Evaluative
• Center weighted
• Spot |
| ISO sensitivity |
• Auto
• ISO 50
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400 |
| Exposure compensation |
• +/-2EV
• 1/3 stop increments |
| Shutter speed |
15 - 1/1500 sec |
| Scene modes |
• Auto
• Night snapshot
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Indoor
• Underwater
• Macro
• Stitch assist |
| White balance |
• Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent H
• Custom |
| Self timer |
2 or 10 secs |
| Continuous shooting |
0.9 fps up to 17 shots |
| Image parameters |
• Vivid,
• Neutral
• Low Sharpening
• Sepia
• Black & White |
| Flash |
• Built-in
• Auto, on/off
• Range: 30 cm - 2m |
| Viewfinder |
Optical |
| LCD monitor |
• 1.5" TFT LCD
• 78,000 pixels |
| Connectivity |
• USB (Mini-B, PTP)
• AV output |
| Print compliance |
• PictBridge |
| Storage |
• SD card
• 32 MB card supplied |
| Power |
• Rechargeable lithium ion NB-3L battery
• Charger included |
| Weight (no batt) |
100 g (3.5 oz) |
| Dimensions |
90 x 47 x 19 mm (3.5 x 1.8 x 0.7 in) |
Additional images
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