Canon announced two new compact cameras, the PowerShot G15 and SX50S cameras. Read on for details.
Canon announced two new compact cameras in the PowerShot family, the G15 and SX50S. The G15 sports a new f1/8 lens, and the SX50S sports a 50X optical zoom lens. Here is the press release from Canon:
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 17 September, 2012 – Canon today unveils the PowerShot G15 and PowerShot SX50 HS – two new innovative compact cameras that demonstrate Canon’s expertise in next-generation lens design. The PowerShot G15 features the brightest lens in a PowerShot G-series model to date, with a new f/1.8-2.8, 5x zoom lens, providing photographers with an extra-wide aperture throughout the camera’s entire focal range. The PowerShot SX50 HS is the world’s first 50x optical zoom1 compact stills camera, offering ground-breaking power alongside advanced manual control and RAW format support.
Designed for advanced users looking for premium quality, class-leading performance and compact bodies, both PowerShot models feature Canon’s renowned imaging technologies, delivering superior quality stills and Full HD movies. Both also feature the acclaimed HS System, which offers outstanding low light performance and exceptionally low noise levels in all conditions. Canon’s optical Image Stabilizer with Intelligent IS ensures the sharpest image quality throughout each camera’s zoom range, while manual control and RAW file support provides photographers with maximum control over how images are captured and post-processed.
Next-generation lens design
The PowerShot G15 and PowerShot SX50 HS incorporate new, cutting-edge precision Canon lenses that open up a range of creative possibilities. The PowerShot G15 features a super bright f/1.8-2.8 lens, which has been developed using new highly refractive glass with a unique multiple material coating engineered to handle specific wavelengths of light at the nanometre scale. Its 5x optical zoom provides outstanding versatility, offering an f/1.8 aperture at its 28mm wide-angle, and an f/2.8 aperture at its maximum 140mm focal length. This offers photographers extra freedom to shoot in low light, use fast shutter speeds for freezing motion, or add atmosphere to stills by using a shallower depth of field, throughout the camera’s entire zoom range.
For photographers who want to capture detail in distant subjects, the
PowerShot SX50 HS features Canon’s most powerful optical zoom in a compact camera to date. A class-leading optical construction features 13 elements, with three UD lenses included in a 10 group optical arrangement – providing exceptional performance throughout the enormous 50x optical zoom range. A newly designed Ultrasonic Motor (USM) and Voice Coil Motor (VCM) ensure fast and near-silent zooming when moving from the 24mm wide angle through to 1200mm[ii] maximum reach, while ZoomPlus digitally extends the zoom to 100x while maintaining high image quality.Enhanced Zoom Framing Assist on the PowerShot SX50 HS now includes new Seek and Lock functions, which are designed to help photographers locate and lock-on to subjects at the telephoto end of the lens. Users can press a dedicated Seek button located on the lens barrel, which makes the lens zoom out to relocate subjects. Once the subject is located users can release the button, with the lens automatically extending back to its telephoto focal length. Additionally, a Lock button can also be used to engage a powerful optical IS mode that holds the subject in the frame until the shot is taken.
Pin-sharp clarity with optical Image Stabilizer
Canon’s industry-leading optical Image Stabilizer technology counters camera shake in both models, suppressing blur in stills and unsteady movie footage. 4-stop
(PowerShot G15) and 4.5-stop (PowerShot SX50 HS) optical Image Stabilizers ensure that shots are sharp, crisp and detailed when shooting at telephoto focal lengths or in low light. Additionally, Intelligent IS automatically detects the shooting situation and applies the most suitable Image Stabilizer mode from seven variables. The PowerShot SX50 HS also features a new and advanced Dynamic IS mode that reduces the rolling motion style camera shake that typically occurs when movies are recorded whilst walking or moving.
Premium image quality and speed
Both models feature Canon’s HS System – a combination of a high-sensitivity 12.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor and powerful DIGIC 5 image processing. The PowerShot G15 features a new Canon 1/1.7-type high-sensitivity CMOS sensor that offers even greater light gathering abilities than its predecessor, resulting in outstanding flexibility during low light shooting. High ISO shooting at speeds up to ISO 12,800[iii] allows the use of fast shutter speeds and faster continuous shooting, even in poor light conditions. Powerful DIGIC 5 processing in each model is also optimised to work seamlessly with the high resolution sensors, keeping image noise to a minimum in all lighting conditions.
Improved Auto Focus (AF) systems on both models make it easy for users to capture sharply-focused stills. The PowerShot G15 AF speed[iv] offers exceptional performance – at just 0.17 seconds at the wide-angle – representing a 53% improvement[v] over the PowerShot G12, making it the fastest Canon compact camera ever produced.
High-speed Burst HQ mode, available on both models, also allows the capture of high quality, full resolution shots of fast moving subjects. The PowerShot SX50 HS captures split-second action at 13 shots/second, perfect for wildlife photography, while a burst rate of 10 shots/second on the PowerShot G15 is ideal for capturing fast-paced action.
Creative flexibility with manual control and auto modes
Offering similar levels of manual control to those found on Canon EOS DSLRs, both cameras allow photographers to adjust settings such as aperture, shutter speed, white balance and ISO sensitivity. RAW in both models now includes multi-aspect support, allowing photographers to explore different aspect ratios in post-production.
A range of automatic shooting features also ensure users get the best shot. Smart Auto utilises advanced scene detection technology and selects the most appropriate setting from 58 different variables, while Face ID cleverly recognises pre-registered faces of friends or family and adjusts settings accordingly to ensure they always look their best. Multi-Area White Balance automatically adjusts colour tones in shots captured indoors with different light sources, so shots look more natural.
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