Canon’s Spring Launch Comments

"...cameras, an new SX-series camera,..."

Typo, typo!

The sx200 looks great. At last something to take on the all conquering tz series on. The ixus 100 looks amazing 2 but crikey do the prices need to come down a bit. I know the yen is weak but my word they are expensive. especially when u consider the outgoing tz4 can be picked up for £150.

whoa, major bummer for dropping the fully manual mode from the A series. That was one of THE reasons to get an A series. Now those models have so much more competition from other brands producing very similar 'advanced' compacts but without manual mode.

Yep, gotta agree. The Ixus 100 IS really does look sublime, but still, those prices surely won't last long. Way, way too high.

Well, some grounds for optimism, one of them had a viewfinder.

SX200 looks the business! Can't wait for a review on that model :)

I wouldn't be so optimistic about the SX200. Yes, its features look good, but it is a 12 Mp camera, and it only has a 1/2.3" sensor... A 1/2.3" sensor has proven to produce too noisy images even for 10Mp cameras. Yes, it has digic 4, but reducing the sensor size and increasing megapixels is just the wrong way to go. Canon could have improved ISO/noise performance by including Digic 4 to a 1/1.7" sensor, but increasing the pixel density of the sensor is just nonsense.
Too bad that Canon decided to go the wrong way by doing this. They should have learned from the Lumix LX3: bigger sensor without increasing megapixles equals better image quality (ISO and dynamic range).

No sign of the megapixel race ending though. It's even worse when it comes to mobile phones. I've yet to see an exceptional 2 or 3.2 megapixel camera phone, nevermind a 5, 8 or 12 one!

My ancient 6 year old 2 megapixel Canon PowerShot A40 takes much better photos than any mobile phone. What does that tell you about the "state of the art" mobile camera phones?

@Ardjuna: True, that is the dominant trend in the compact camera market, but with all respects; this won't change if customers like us get so excited about cameras that have lots of good specs but fail in what a camera is supposed to do: take good pictures. Many consumers are not aware of the sensor size/megapixles issue, but they will never be aware if people who do know about it welcome new Canon (or other brand) releases with so much excitement, like if these new cameras were so amazing. With these new Powershots, Canon not only hasn't reduced (or even maintained!) the pixel density of the sensors, but they have increased it. This is just not the way we want our compact cameras to be, at least if we intend to shoot photos at anything that isn't under perfect light conditions because this sensors produce intolerable image noise at hight ISO. I would not have posted my first comment on this site if on these new Powershots Canon had maintained the already ridiculous pixel density of their previous compact cameras, but seeing how they took a step backwards in this aspect made me lose all my faith in this company.

Why would manufacturers change their sensor/megapixels approach if most costumers are happy with what they are getting from them? Congratulations to Sigma (for their DP1), Panasonic (for their LX3), and Olympus (yet to be released Micro Four Thirds compact) for offering a few small cameras that are able to produce great pictures at low light/higher ISO. It will also be interesting to see how Fuji's new sensor performs on the F200EXR.

Any chance of a SX 200 review? :)