Event review: ‘Canon At The Movies’

Latest Gadgets were invited along to the “Canon At The Movies” Event, held at BAFTA in the heart of London Town. I headed down slightly unsure of what to expect, a sense of confusion which heightened when I and all the other assembled journalists were ushered into the cinema for multimedia presentation and popcorn. However once the Head of Sales took the stage, all became clear. Canon, like pretty much all other camera manufacturers, knows the future lies in High Definition Video and online sharing. A key theme throughout the presentation was the importance of Video and the Internet. The need for photographers to become skilled digital video story tellers and think in multimedia terms was reiterated again and again. Numerous testimonials were shown from photography professionals stating how it was no essential that they add high quality video capture and manipulation to their skill set. They also showed an impressive clip from a movie shot entirely using HD DSLRs (from memory EOS 5D Mark IIs).

The importance of photo-sharing sites such as Flikr or Picasa, and the explosion in High Definition video on sites like YouTube and Vimeo was driving the products that they would be releasing.

They subsequently launched about 37 products – including, DSLRs, Point and Clicks, and a new range of calculators. After the presentation was over we were shooed into a demonstration floor for a hands on play with the new range of cameras accompanied by some Bollywood dancers so we have something to take snaps of.

There were lots of fun and innovative products to choose from and I played with Printers, HD Camcorders and even the Calculators – tried to make a few calculator haikus.

The newly expanded LEGRIA range, featuring 3 new HD camcorders and 1 HD screamed quality and the product assistant and I swapped memories about the now long gone age of DV tape based recording.

However 3 products leapt out at me;

The key release for me was the Digital Single Lens Reflect EOS550D – with many advance features I recognized from my beloved 7D. Targeted at consumers the EOS550D has a fairly advance feature set for a consumer device. Headlines stats include 18MP, 1080p HD Movies, and ISO 6400 – great for low light. Exceptional speed, colour and low noise is delivered via DIGIC 4 image processing. The 9 Point Auto Focus is handy for sports shots or capturing Bollywood Dancers. High-speed 3.7fps continuous shooting also helps when capturing high bursts of continuous action.

It comes in a very lightweight comfortable body although obviously a lot depends on which lenses you use. Full auto and Creative Auto modes mean you are able to basically Point and Shoot and take fairly impressive images – although there are obviously very powerful manual controls at hand so you can creatively tune settings to your liking. 1080p Movie Mode with variable frame rates was useful when attempting to recreate more “filmic” footage or when dealing with fluid motion for slowed down shots.Users can also get closer to the action with a new Movie Crop function, which magnifies focal length by seven times without the need to change the lens, making long-range video possible without having to move an inch. Canon also EOS MOVIE Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro –that allows you to import EOS HD footage much faster – a small but important development that could give me back minutes of my life. No word on pricing was given… but it will be worth every penny.

In the world of Point and Clicks, the higher end Powershot SX210 IS was also eye-catching, featuring a heady mix of 14x optical zoom, a 28mm wide-angle lens (allowing impressive scenic shots), 14.1 MP, Optical Image Stabilizer  and HD image recording.  According to Canon, the PowerShot SX210 IS has been designed to inspire creativity – whatever your level of photographic expertise. If you’re looking to capture high-quality pictures with minimum effort, both Smart Auto and Easy modes with Scene Detection Technology should allow impressive results regardless of ability. For those keen to develop their photographic skills, switching to manual mode gives you greater control to experiment with different settings, while the new Smart Shutter mode allows you to remotely control the shutter simply with a smile or even a wink. This is clearly a nifty gimmick. But I love nifty gimmicks. The PowerShot SX210 IS is available from March 2010 priced at £359.00 / €399.00 RRP inc. VAT.

Whilst the EOS550D was the clear stand out for me I was sorely tempted by the ultra-stylish IXUS 210 – which seems to me like an iPod Touch with proper camera attached. In other words a fabulous gadget. Available in four colours, the IXUS 210 comes in a sculpted design with a full touch screen interface. The 8.8 cm (3.5″) PureColor II Touch LCD is huge and perfect for reviewing photos, with the touch/swipe interface that has become de rigueur for most mobile devices. Spec-wise the Ixus 210 has Smart Auto, Face Detection. HD movies (with HDMI out), 24mm ultra-wide angle 5x zoom with optical IS and14.1 Megapixels. It also has a built in Tilt Shift filter which is nothing short of awesome. The IXUS 210 is available from early March 2010 priced at £349.00 / €389.00 RRP inc. VAT.