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The iPhone 4 already offered standout image quality for a mobile phone, helping to further the general trend of using a phone camera rather than a dedicated camera. And with ever-better video, phone cameras will increasingly will be able to supplant videocameras, too.

Apple clearly hopes to stay ahead of the curve with the iPhone 4S: one of its selling points is a new 8-megapixel camera sensor that can record high-definition video at full 1080p resolution. It seems likely that it will outshoot most of its direct competition in the mobile phone market, but it's natural to wonder how well it stacks up against a high-end camera, too. … Read more

Camera phones get better. Point-and-shoot cameras get cheaper. Readers query. Tests must be run.

So today I shot my way around Madison Square Park with the iPhone 4S and the Canon PowerShot Elph 100 HS. I chose the 100 HS because it's exactly the type of camera whose existence camera phones like this threaten: inexpensive, with prices as low as $150, and a minimal feature set that doesn't offer any obvious advantages over the convenience of a single device with built-in communications. But it's also a decent little point-and-shoot that takes good photos for its class, and … Read more

The tl;dr on Canon's new pro camera: Yowza.

Canon's celebrating the 10th generation of its EOS-1 pro body with an overhaul, both of the hardware and the line itself. A consolidation of the fast, sports shooter with the high-resolution full-frame camera, the EOS-1D X replaces both the full-frame 1Ds Mark III and the APS-H 1D Mark IV with a single, double-grip full-frame model with fast continuous shooting. The price most closely resembles the 1Ds, though, at $6800.

That opens a big gap between the please-replace-it-already 5D Mark II and the new top of the line. And I suspect that when a 5D Mark III eventually surfaces (probably not until next year), it's going to be a lot more expensive--in part because of a weak dollar and the increased costs associated with the various natural disasters that have plagued production in Asia, and in part because Canon could probably get away with it. Especially if it incorporates some of the whizzy new technology (assuming it all works as advertised, of course) that's in the 1D X.

Where to begin? On the outside, you'll find an updated control layout, with some extra buttons joysticks designed to streamline shooting with the vertical grip. On the inside, there are new autofocus and autoexposure systems in addition to the de rigueur new sensor with an enhanced dust-reduction system. It has an entirely new shutter mechanism. There are new features, including a 1000BaseT Ethernet port, 3 custom settings groups (finally!), and a nine-shot multiple-exposure mode.

Basically, it's a whole new camera. Check out the basic specs before I get into details:… Read more

A huge image sensor that Canon showed off last year turns out to have more of a purpose in life than touting the company's manufacturing prowess. It's being used to help a Japanese observatory hunt for meteors.

Canon's 202x205mm sensor dwarfs the 24x36mm "full-frame" sensors that are used commercially in the company's high-end SLR cameras. When Canon touted the giant sensor last year, it said, "Potential applications for the new high-sensitivity CMOS sensor include the video recording of stars in the night sky and nocturnal animal behavior."

Well, it looks like those … Read more

The Canon PowerShot S95 is a very good, popular camera with some commonly complained about flaws: among those are the poor flash design, lack of a grip, narrow maximum aperture at the telephoto end of the zoom range, short battery life, slow performance and relatively expensive price. With the S100, Canon seemingly addresses a few of these--the addition of a small grip looks like the exception--plus it adds some desirable new features: a wider-angle 24mm start to the zoom range, manual controls and zooming during video, and a built-in GPS.

Here's the product landscape into which Canon's releasing the S100:… Read more

Surrealist movies offer the strangest happenings just to make us feel better about ourselves.

Streets become beaches. Nun's clothing appears on the sidewalk. And yet I don't remember a surrealist movie where a 9-inch Canon camera lens crashes through the roof of a house.

Perhaps the notion seemed too far-fetched. But not for one woman in Petaluma, Calif., who recently experienced precisely this occurrence.

It all started so innocently. Speaking to CBS 5 San Francisco, 55-year-old Debbie Payne told of a hearing a crash.

Might it have been an earthquake? Might it have been a storm-trooping blackbird with … Read more

On the outside, the new Canon PowerShot SX40 HS doesn't look any different than its predecessor, the SX30 IS. In this case, it's what's inside that counts.

While other camera manufacturers had started using backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensors in their higher-end 2010 compact cameras, Canon stuck with a 14-megapixel CCD for SX30. That changes with the SX40 HS getting the same 12-megapixel BSI CMOS that's in Canon's Elph HS models, which so far has proved good for improving shooting performance and low-light photo quality.

On top of the new sensor, this camera gets a new … Read more

Updated September 15, 2011: The original post contained errors based on incorrect specs originally provided by Canon.

The Canon PowerShot S95 is a very good, popular camera with some commonly complained about flaws: among those are the poor flash design, lack of a grip, narrow maximum aperture at the telephoto end of the zoom range, short battery life, slow performance and relatively expensive price. With the S100, Canon seemingly addresses a few of these--the addition of a small grip looks like the exception--though it does add some desirable new features: a wider-angle 24mm start to the zoom range, manual controls and zooming during video, and a built-in GPS.

Here's the product landscape into which Canon's releasing the S100:… Read more

The Canon Pixma MG5320 is a worthwhile photo printer for families and work groups, and you get plenty of new features like HD Movie Print, fun photo filters, and Pixma Cloud Link that can provide new ways to bring your digital photos to life.

It's also a thinner shape that we're used to seeing from Canon, and foldable paper output trays reduce the overall footprint, so it's convenient for offices that don't have a lot of work space. The top of the printer has a 3-inch LCD display with a scroll dial for surfing the different application menus, and you also get 150-sheet paper input trays on the front and back of the unit--this is specifically convenient for amateur photographers because you can store standard 8.5x11-inch sheets in the bottom drawer and save the top one for photo paper. … Read more