Canon Debuts Its First ‘Facebook Ready’ Camera
The Canon PowerShot N isn’t your typical point-and-shoot camera. Besides the compact form factor that includes a folding LCD and posts on the sides for attaching to a neck lanyard, there’s a button on the side that sports the Facebook logo. One press, and you’re ready to share the photos or videos you’ve just shot.
Of course, that assumes the camera is connected via Wi-Fi, since there’s no 3G/4G option for the camera. But as long as you’re in a hotspot (or can tether to your phone), you’re in business. Pressing the Facebook button will immediately connect to the service, and you can upload, share and comment on pics and videos right from the camera.
Otherwise, the extremely social PowerShot N is the same camera we first saw back in January at CES: a 12.1-megapixel compact camera with an 8x zoom, a 28mm wide-angle lens, a 2.8-inch touchscreen LCD and a “creative” mode meant to find the best possible picture by mixing up the composition, color and lighting of your shots. The original PowerShot N included a button to wirelessly send pics to a mobile device, but Canon found that most people used it as a bridge to Facebook, so why not make it a direct connection?
Canon’s Facebook PowerShot is far from the first device with a dedicated Facebook button — HTC has been doing that for some time on certain phones (although the recent “Facebook Home” phone, the HTC First, hasn’t been a success for the company).
The regular version is still available, but the PowerShot N Facebook will be exclusive to the Canon Direct online store. It’ll cost $299.99 and will be available in September.
In addition the Facebook PowerShot, Canon is debuting three new PowerShots with “advanced” Wi-Fi capabilities. The PowerShot G16, S120 and SX510 can quickly relay images to an iOS or Android device via the Canon CameraWindows app. The G16 and S120 also have an upgraded image processor, the DIGIC 6, said to reduce noise when at high ISO values as well as a new shooting mode called Star that’s configured to capture the night sky in brilliant detail.
The new PowerShots start will be available this fall starting at $249.99 for the SX510, $449.99 for the S120 and $549.99 for the G16.
Credit: Mashable
