Canon premieres SD 980 IS and SD 940IS

London, UK 19th August 2009: Today Canon announces two new Digital IXUS cameras, bringing even higher levels of style, sophistication and high-tech features to the Digital IXUS range.

Introducing firsts for Canon, the Digital IXUS 200 IS combines an impressive 24mm ultra wide-angle 5x zoom lens with a 3 inch PureColor II Touch display. The new Digital IXUS 120 IS has the distinction of being the slimmest wide-angle Digital IXUS ever – packing in a 28mm wide-angle 4x zoom lens into a stylish body.

Digital IXUS 200 IS: Ultra wide technology you can touch
The Digital IXUS 200 IS makes it easier than ever to take breathtaking images. Featuring a 24mm ultra wide-angle 5x zoom lens with an optical Image Stabiliser (IS) the potential to capture sweeping landscapes or large groups up close is now at your fingertips. Picture quality is assured thanks to a 12.1 Megapixel sensor and DIGIC 4 – Canon’s fast, intelligent image processor, delivering superb image quality and natural colour reproduction.

The Digital IXUS 200 IS features an impressive wide 3.0 inch PureColor II Touch display. With a firm focus on ease-of-use, the touch screen technology works together with traditional button control to create a highly-intuitive user experience, giving you fingertip control over a variety of camera functions. Touch AF, for example, enables users to select objects or faces on the touch screen - which the camera tracks and automatically keeps in focus - capturing the perfect image every time.

Large, high visibility on-screen icons allow for quick and easy selection of shooting and flash modes, while a vertical orientation shutter release function means users can shoot by simply touching the screen. Touch Actions allow users to match gestures made on-screen to commonly used functions, such as tagging images as favourites or erasing, rotating, or protecting images in their collection. Browsing images has never been easier – simply drag your finger across the screen and the camera will adjust the speed of review with the speed of the gesture on-screen.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A380 Review, August 2009 Lars Rehm (Lens test section by Andy Westlake)

Review based on a production Alpha DSLR-A380 with firmware version 1.0

In January last year Sony was one of the first manufacturers to 'diversify' its entry level DSLR offerings when it replaced the DSLR-A100 with not one but three new cameras - the DSLR-A200, A300 and A350. Now, one and a half years later, the product hierarchy in Sony's entry-level segment remains unchanged and the current models are being replaced by the DSLR-A230, A330 and A380 respectively.

On the spec sheet the upgrades are of a fairly minor nature and as before the three models are extremely close in terms of price and features. At the bottom of the line the A230 offers a 10.2 megapixels sensor in a fairly basic body, the A330 adds live view to the mix and the A380 tops it up with a more pixel-dense sensor (14.2 megapixels). All three models are aimed at the first-time DSLR user.

Along with the new cameras Sony has launched a number of new lenses. The DT 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens and the DT 55-200mm F/4-5.6 tele zoom come in the one- and two-lens kits that each camera can be ordered in, but are also available separately. Additionally there is a new DT 50mm F/1.8 prime lens and a DT 30mm F/2.8 macro.

While the headline specs of the new camera models have hardly changed Sony says it has put substantial work into the cameras' image processing engines. To find out how the A380 performed in our tests and what impact this work has made on the A380's image output read our full review.