Canon unveils Powershot SX20 IS and SX120 IS

19 August 2009 14:49 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Canon has announced a replacement for its SX10 IS digital camera, called - unimaginatively - the SX20 IS. It's a wide-angle super zoom model that's still firmly in the compact category, but comes equipped with some tasty features.

The SX20 IS retains its predecessor's 20x zooming wide-angle lens, meaning that you can get closeups from considerably further away than other compacts. The zoom goes from 28mm to 560mm, with an ultrasonic motor, so it won't make a racket while autofocusing and zooming.

The sensor is 12.1-megapixels, and has DIGIC4 image processing. There's also image stabilization tech, if you're prony to shaky hands, which will help in low-light conditions too. The LCD display is 2.5-inches across, and the camera can record video in 720p resolution. There's an HDMI port on it, too.

On the software side, there's face detection, a face self-timer, and auto red-eye correction. It also has intelligent contrast correction, which should optimize the dynamic range of a shot so that highlights are washed out, but there's still detail in shadow.

Over to the SX120. It's a slight downgrade from the SX20, retaining the 12-megapixel sensor but cutting the zoom back to a still-respectable 10x and 280mm. It has a slightly bigger 3-inch LCD, and the aforementioned optical image stabilizer, along with all the same software features.

The PowerShot SX20 IS will show up in the next couple of weeks ("Late August") and cost £400. Its little brother, the SX120, is out at the same time and will cost £230.