Well respected digital camera website DP Review recently reviewed the Canon 50D. The Canon Digital SLR faired well in the scoring the publications coveted “Highly Recommended” rating, though just barely.

The reviewer states, “We’re by no means saying the 50Ds image quality is bad but it’s simply not significantly better than the ten megapixel 40D. In some areas such as dynamic range and high ISO performance it’s actually worse and that simply makes you wonder if the EOS 50D could have been an (even) better camera if its sensor had a slightly more moderate resolution.

The EOS 50D has to stand its ground in a highly competitive bracket of the DSLR market. It is currently almost $500 more expensive than the 40D, almost $500 more expensive than the Nikon D90 and for an extra $100 you can bag yourself a Nikon D300. Looking at the specification differences between the EOS 40D and our test candidate it appears you pay quite a premium for the 50D’s extra megapixels and as we’ve found out during this review you don’t get an awful lot of extra image quality for your money. The Canon EOS 50D still earns itself our highest reward but considering its price point and our slight concerns about its pixel-packed sensor, it only does so by a whisker.”

Canon EOS 50D

It took just 18 months for Canon to release a replacement for its EOS 30D with the 40D. DP Review just posted a review of the camera, giving a “Highly Recommended” review.

The review states:

“From an image quality point of view the combination of the Canon CMOS sensor and DIGIC III processor means equally detailed images at all sensitivities (except maybe ISO 3200), low noise and a complete lack of unnatural artifacts. The new high ISO speed noise reduction option has no effect on luminance detail but removes any lingering chroma noise , giving high ISO images a more film-like grain; something Nikon has been doing for some time. We would be interested to see Canon using a less strong anti-alias filter which would mean that JPEG images would require less sharpening and would be naturally ‘crisper’ straight off the sensor, but it’s a minor point and would really only be seen by ‘pixel peepers’.

One surprise came from our testing of the cameras dynamic range, it delivered a consistently higher range than both the competition and its predecessor. The majority of this improvement, however, was in the shadow range, a function we presume of the new 14-bit processing pipeline.”

As DP Review pointed out in there review the Canon Power Shot series began as an entry-level camera, however the series has advanced over the years. The Canon PowerShot A570 IS received the highly valued “Highly Recommended” review from DP Review. The review states:

“The Canon A570 IS you get a nicely designed, responsive camera with more than enough features to keep most users – especially those wanting a little more manual control than is normal at this price point – happy. If you don’t mind it not being the fastest ‘social’ snapshot camera in the world (the flash recycling puts paid to that), this is a perfect camera for anyone wanting real photographic control without paying through the nose. Its well balanced combination of image quality, functionality and handling (and not to forget value for money) means the A570 IS just about deserves our highest award.”

The Canon SD870 IS known in Europe as the IXUS 860 IS and the IXY Digital 910IS in Japan, is the latest camera in the line by Canon.

DP Review recently had a chance to review the camera and concluded:

“Like other cameras in this range what makes the SD870 IS so appealing – aside from the high quality design and construction – is the ‘point and shoot’ reliability, which produces good, sharp, well exposed results in a wide range of shooting conditions, something you simply can’t say about a lot of competitors. We were also very impressed with the lens; a wide lens usually results in a compromise between the really useful ability to ‘zoom out’ and a degree of chromatic aberration and corner softness that can dent image quality. Our tests and experiences of real-world shooting show very little evidence of these expected shortcomings, helping the 870 IS stand out from competing wideangle ultra compact cameras.”

Via DPReview

DP Review just posted a review of the Canon PowerShot S5 IS. Overall the review is positive with the reviewer stating, “the PowerShot S5 IS is probably, just, the pick of the super zoom bunch at this moment in time, because it offers reliable output, responsive performance and an impressive feature set in an attractive, easy to use package that makes photography fun; not because it offers better IQ.” However the site goes on to states, “it is crying out for a better sensor, wider lens and for Canon to move the SD card slot back out from the battery compartment, but I’d still rather take it out shooting than the Sony, Olympus or Fuji alternatives. The output (with fringing and noise issues) simply isn’t good enough to earn the S5 IS an unqualified ‘Highly Recommended’ rating, but it’s an easy ‘Recommended’.”

So if you are in the market for a digital camera, which incorporates elements from both compact cameras and digital SLR’s, consider this camera which DP Review considers the best among Mega Zoom Cameras.

Canon like Sony will also be investing in the improvement of the sensor system for its digital cameras. A total of $451 million will be spent in the creation of a new CMOS production factory. The improvement to the CMOS chips will be used in both DSLR and Compact Canon cameras. This is good news because Canon currently CCD sensors which do not provide, the same level of quality of CMOS sensors.

Via DP Review