Canon has announced several new cameras today. This includes the Canon PowerShot SX-230, Canon ELPH 100, Canon ELPH 300, and Canon ELP 500 HS. The four cameras all have a 12.1 megapixel (High Sensitivity) sensor. The 100 HS will be available in the beginning of March and the others will be available at the end of March.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Canon announced a new line of four A-Series products in their digital camera line-up. The lowest end camera of the four sells for $89.99 — not bad considering it is for a brand new camera. The specs of the Canon PowerShot A3300 IS, Canon PowerShot A2200, Canon PowerShot A1200, and Canon PowerShot A800 is below:

Earlier this week at CES Cannon has announced a new line of eight VIXIA HD flash memory camcorders. The new camcorders are the VIXIA HF G10 (pictured above), the HF S30, three models in the HF M-series, and three HF R-series models.

Canon is the world’s first company to apply for a generic top-level domain: .canon.  It is acquiring the rights from ICANN.  The evaluation fee for a new gTLD is at about $185,000.  Good thing that Canon has tons of money. [CrunchGear]

Canon will be buying Océ, the biggest European printer company for $1.09 billion according to an announcement that the two companies made on Monday. Canon will be buying the company based on $12.88 per share. This is a 70% premium than Océ’s stock price on Friday.

“The printing industry currently is in a period of consolidation,” stated the two companies, “driven by the undeniable fact that scale is increasingly important, especially in R&D and manufacturing.”

The Canon 7D is an 18 megapixel DSLR camera that can shoot at 1080p with 24-30fps.  The price of the camera is $1,899.  This is quite steep for the average consumer, but not a bad price for professional photographers.

The 7D is more rugged than the 5D, but the body is more weatherproof.  The camera has a button dedicated for switching to RAW+JPEG modes.  There is also an electronic axis level with dual DIGIC IV image processors.

The dual DIGIC image processors allow the cameraman to far burst shoot images at 94-shot JPEG bursts or 15 RAW shots at full resolution with 14-bit A/D conversion.  There are 19 cross-type points for focusing and default focus points can be locked into horizontally or vertically.  All 19 cross-type points are f/5.6 sensitive.  ISO speed settings range from 100-6400, but can be expanded to 12,800.  Full HD video can be captured at a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Full press release about the camera’s release after the jump:

Specs about the Canon G11 has been revealed.  There won’t be a CMOS sensor and the camera won’t have HD video, but the camera has 10 megapixel quality and mini-HDMI support.  The LCD screen can tilt too.

Below are the full specs:
Effective: 10.4MP, Recorded: 10.0MP
1/1.7″ CCD
RAW, JPEG, QuickTime
Image Stabilization
6.1-30.5mm f/2.8-4.5 (35mm film equivalent: 28-140mm)
Optical: 5x, Digital: 5x
Normal: 1.6″ (50cm) – infinity
Macro: 0.4? (1cm) – 1.6″ (50cm)
Integrated Mount for the LA-DC58K Lens Adapter
ISO 80-3200
Evaluative, Center Weighted, Spot
Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Underwater, Custom 1, Custom 2
Effective Flash Range: 1.6″ (50cm) – 23? (7m)
SD/SDHC
Still Images per GB: RAW: 67
JPEG: High Res: 374 – Low Res: 7,684
Video: 640 x 480 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 30fps
Viewfinder Coverage: 77%
2.8? LCD Vari-Angle
USB 2.0, Dedicated A/V Out, mini-HDMI (Type C)
Windows XP, Vista
Mac OS X (10.4 or later)
12.5 oz (355g)
NB-7L Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery

[via Canon Rumors, Gizmodo]

Canon Inc. announced that they are planning to build a $180 million camera manufacturing factory in southern Japan.  Demand for Canon digital cameras have been fairly consistent and growing, especially high-end single-lens reflex cameras.

Canon postponed the construction of the facility back in January due to a weak economy.  Construction will begin in July.  The plant will have the ability to build about 4 million cameras per year.  Shipments of digital SLR cameras gained 8% in April from the same time last year.

[via Reuters]