Canon has today announced its latest cutie in the shape of the PowerShot SD20. Available in four colours, it is Canon's smallest five megapixel camera to date. It's capable of shooting 180 seconds of video with sound, but lacks an optical zoom, offering only a 6.5x digital zoom. The all-metal camera weighs 100g and is said to be "half the size of many mobile phones". It will be priced $349.

• European name: Canon Digital IXUS i5
• US name: Canon PowerShot SD20
• Japanese name: Canon IXY Digital L2

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• Press Release
• Specifications
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Press Release:

New jewels in Canon’s coolest range

Amstelveen , The Netherlands, 21 September, 2004 . Canon, a leader in photographic and imaging technology, today announces the exquisitely compact Digital IXUS i 5 – an undeniably chic new addition to the legendary IXUS collection. Available in four irresistible finishes – Platinum Silver, Midnight Blue, Bordeaux Red and Storm Grey – Canon’s smallest ever 5.0 Megapixel camera is the ultimate digital accessory, designed to make taking great pictures simple. Half the size of many mobile phones, the silky look-and-feel all-metal body weighs in at just 100g.

With a 6.5x digital zoom to close in on the action, the IXUS i 5 can shoot 180 second video clips with full sound and playback (up to 30 seconds at hi-resolution VGA). A Print/Share button makes for one-touch photo-printing to any PictBridge compatible photo printer, including Canon’s new range of SELPHY lab-quality personal photo printers to which it is perfectly matched. It also means simple transfer of images to any Windows PC. For beach fun, skiing, snorkelling and surfing, an optional 3m depth all-weather case is available.

IXUS i 5 may be tiny but it packs plenty of power. In addition to the 5.0 Megapixel sensor, a purpose-built DIGIC integrated circuit allows accurate processing of complex white balance and colour rendition algorithms to deliver superb natural colour reproduction, even for photographers with no interest in adjusting camera settings.

Perfectly simple

Every IXUS i 5 comes complete with iSAPS - its own photographer’s assistant. Even before the shutter-release is pressed, iSAPS analyses the scene and makes adjustments to exposure, white balance and auto-focus settings for consistently brilliant results. Special scene modes – such as Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Indoor and Underwater help create great results with confidence in tricky shooting conditions, while the 9-point AiAF system gets even off-centre subjects sharply in focus.

Right way up

An Intelligent Orientation Sensor takes into account the likely position of the sky and foreground before setting focus, exposure and white balance settings. It then rotates images to the correct orientation for easy, enjoyable playback.

Online Sharing

The IXUS i 5 comes supplied with a full range of software to simplify image upload and management. In addition, membership to Canon’s web portal CANON iMAGE GATEWAY is free for every IXUS i 5 customer, giving 100MB of album space on the web for storing and sharing favorite photographs and albums – a private online photo gallery.

Canon PowerShot SD20 specifications

Additional images