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“The EOS 40D stands as a solid successor to Canon’s popular EOS 30D. It offers increased resolution, 30 percent faster continuous shooting, and enhanced computing power. A number of innovations, such as sRAW files, Live Preview, automatic dust reduction, and additional weather seals, also make their first appearance in the series, collectively creating a more dynamic and contemporized feature set. In terms of image quality, the 40D’s photos look great, but not significantly better than the 30D’s. The 40D’s noise levels are very low, though not any lower than the 30D. The 40D’s dynamic range is excellent, and slightly improves on the 30D. Color accuracy is almost identical, but the 40D’s resolution is less than impressive, even with the extra megapixels.”

The PowerShot A720 IS was a pretty snappy performer, overall. The camera takes about 1.1 seconds to extend its big lens, which is above average. Focusing speeds were good, typically around 0.2 - 0.4 seconds, and rarely exceeding one second. Low light focusing was excellent, thanks to the camera’s AF-assist lamp. Shot-to-shot speeds were minimal, except when you’re using the flash, where they were around 3 to 4 seconds. While the PowerShot A720 won’t break any speed records for its continuous shooting mode, I do like the fact that you can keep shooting until your high speed memory card fills up. The camera’s battery life is more than 20% above average, and that’s on just two AA batteries. Like all Canon cameras, the A720 IS supports the USB 2.0 High Speed standard.

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Canon today introduces the Powershot SD850 IS, which will replace the Powershot SD700 IS and adds a higher resolution 8.0-megapixel image sensor, a 2.5” “Pure Color” LCD screen, DIGIC III processor with face detection technology for both stills and movies, faster autofocus, improved exposures, flash, and overall speed.  The SD850 IS boasts a 4x optical zoom lens with Optical Image Stabilization, ISO 1600, Noise Reduction technology, 30fps VGA movie mode with stereo sound, time-lapse recording, and 18 shooting modes.  The SD850 IS will be available mid-June with an estimated selling price of $399.99. 

Canon today introduced the new Powershot S5 IS, which will replace the Powershot S3 IS in Canon’s line-up.  The S5 IS offers a huge 12x (36-432mm equivalent) optical zoom lens with optical image stabilization, DIGIC III processor which adds face detection technology, improved auto focus, auto exposure, and flash, a vari-angle 2.5” LCD screen, and a hot-shoe that will accept Canon’s EX Speedlite flashes.  The Powershot S5 IS will also feature an Ultra-Low Dispersion (UD) lens to reduce chromatic abberations at telephoto, and an Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) for fast, silent zoom operation.  The Powershot S5 IS will be available in July with an estimated selling price of $499.99 (U.S.). 

As long-time readers of this site may know, I’ve been a fan of Canon’s Digital ELPH series of cameras since their inception back in the year 2000. This latest model—the PowerShot SD1000—is a stylish, easy-to-use, and responsive ultra-compact camera that takes good quality photos. While not perfect (but what is?), the SD1000 easily earns my recommendation.