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Canon Unveils 3.3-Megapixel Camera

PowerShot S20 represents the next generation of high quality, affordable cameras.

By Martyn Williams, IDG News   

The PowerShot S20 will be available in Japan in early March for an estimated price of 99,800 yen, or about $946. Featuring a charge-coupled device pickup with 3.3 million pixels, the camera represents the first of the next generation of consumer digital still cameras. Currently the highest resolution consumer cameras have around 2.5-megapixel CCDs.

Canon says the new Powershot S20 will serve a growing need in the market for cameras that can provide pictures of quality sufficient to produce 8 by 10 prints.

The camera also features a 32mm-64mm 2x optical zoom lens and built-in buffer memory that stores pictures temporarily and reduces the waiting time between taking images to 2.2 seconds. Images are stored on CompactFlash cards and, according to Canon, a 64MB card is large enough to store 31 images taken in the camera's large/normal mode. The PowerShot S20 measures 4.1 by 2.7 by 1.3 inches and weighs 9.5 ounces.

The digital still camera market is expanding fast in Japan, with 2.3 million cameras shipped from April to September 1999, up 49 percent on the previous six-month period, according to the Electronic Industry Association of Japan.

Along with the growth in the market, more advanced equipment is being produced and prices are falling. The new Canon camera sells for around the same price as a 2-megapixel class camera would have fetched one year ago.