Canon EOS-1D Mark IV features a version of the ID series’ APS-H sized sensor, offering the same 1.3x crop factor that will appeal to wildlife and sports photographers. The pixel count gets an increase to 16.1 megapixels, a 60% rise on the previous body. Built for speed, it can capture ten frames per second (fps), with a burst rate of 121 large JPEGS or28 RAWfiles.

Range-topping features continue with this season’s D-SLR must-have: extreme low-light performance, or knee-knockingly high ISO. EOS-1D Mark IV offers a standard ISO range of 100 to 12800. This can be expanded further to IS050 and 102400.

The potential offered for shooting hand-held in near-darkness, or freezing movement with slower lenses, is impressive. But there’s little point in giving access to such sensitive ISOs if the resulting pictures have grain the size of golf balls – or detail-smearing noise reduction. Here, we’re promised intelligent noise-reduction techniques to keep chroma and luminance noise to a minimum without sacrificing overall picture quality.

In line with the 5D Mark II, the EOS-1D Mark IV features full HD video capture. The EOS Movie function enables l,080p footage to be shot at 30, 25 and 24fps, and 720p capture at 60 and 50fps. Unlike the 5D Mark II, the 1D Mark IV offers manual exposure control, enabling you to be creative with aperture and depth of field.

The 45-point autofocus system is new, while the dedicated AF microprocessor and Al Servo II mode for tracking moving subjects should instil confidence. Reliability is said to be improved in low-contrast and extremely bright conditions, and 39 of the AF points are the more precise cross-type sensors.

The shell is relatively unchanged from previous bodies, although the buttons have been made more responsive to gloved fingers and the three-inch LCD gets both a reinforced protective cover and improved glare re
fitted around the buttons and seams for weather and dust proofing, and it comes with the EOS integrated cleaning system.

Canon Powershot S70 certainly looks every inch the finalist-the sleek, black magnesium-alloy casing makes the camera feel exceptionally tough for a mid-size compact.

Feature spec is comprehensive: there’s a RAW option for best-quality images, which is one feature that can’t be taken for granted at this price point and, even rarer, the option to switch back from JPEG to RAW format in playback mode.

Other features worth mentioning include centre-weighted and spot as well as evaluative settings for metering; nine manually selectable AF points; macro shooting as close as 4cm; as well as manual white balance.

A maximum zoom length of 100mm might be limiting for some, but then optical quality is likely to be that much better for the given size restriction.

Cramming 28-300mm odd is more than often a recipe for chromatic aberration, barrel, pincushion distortion, and countless other lens defects. A minus point zoom fanatics are often willing to swallow, but thankfully the S70 makes none of these concessions.

The S70′s layout is a product of Canon’s much-praised sensibilities for logic and speed of use. There’s not the room for placing shooting controls on the backplate, so instead you get a function button that brings up a sub-menu with options – never as fast as dedicated buttons, but it still works okay, albeit for the fact that a half press of the shutter doesn’t switch it off.

At least it’s still possible to shoot and view your images with the function menu switched on and neatly tucked to the side, which means you can play with the exposure compensation setting and see how things look immediately with playback preview, changing again if things aren’t as you’d like. And the same goes for white balance – it almost makes up for the missing dedicated buttons. The main menu houses all of the tool options, and is well specced and very well laid out.

Where Canon Powershot S70 does start to come unstuck is with performance. It exhibits the sort of sluggishness you’d expect from first or second generation digital compacts.

Start-up time isn’t a disgrace at three seconds, but playback is appalling – up to two seconds to move from one image to the next, which is inexcusable.

A product of the extra file size involved for sure, but enough of a hassle to easily outweigh the benefits of those extra couple of MPs. Shutter lag isn’t so bad but still present in large enough amounts to annoy, such as the time involved to move between playback and recording modes, and the time it takes the AF to lock. And while the metering systems comes out around the average mark, the AF system falls hopelessly behind, regularly failing to lock onto subjects in the centre AF point with no good reason at all that we could tell.

Praise needs to be given for the optics. Chromatic aberration is rarely noticeable, which is a triumph for a digital compact; and RAW images appear reasonably crisp. There’s a small amount of barrel distortion at the widest angle, but nothing to really spoil the party.

Most important among these is a brand new lens. The old S50 had a 3x zoom covering a focal range eguivalent to 35-105mm. When camera makers extend a lens’s zooming range, they usually add the extra range to the telephoto end -it’s the easiest thing to do, optically – despite the fact that what most photographers actually need is extended wide-angle capability.

The S60 offers just this, with a 3.6x zoom covering the equivalent of 28-100mm. The difference between a 28mm and a 35mm lens might not sound much, but it makes a great deal of difference, allowing more effective photography in cramped interiors, sweeping landscapes and strong perspective effects.

An optional teleconverter doubles the lens’s focal length to offer the equivalent of 200mm -handy for medium-range sports and wildlife photography – while there’s also a waterproof housing for depths up to 40m. Canon PowerShot S60 even has a new white balance preset, ‘Underwater’, for precisely this purpose.

Canon PowerShot S60 photographic specifications are impressive. You get full PASM exposure modes, plus a small selection of scene modes, three different metering patterns, a shutter speed range of 15sec to 1/2,000sec and simultaneous saving of RAW and JPEG files. This is a handy feature for serious photographers. While the old S50 enables you to save RAW files, this meant you had to spend some time converting your files to TIFFs and JPEGs later on your computer. This way, you have access to a JPEG image straightaway, and you can produce a higher-quality version from the RAW when (or even if) you need to later on.

The S60′s macro mode goes right down to 4cm; you can shoot continuously at 2fps; there’s a VGA-quality 640 x 480 pixel movie mode; and an impressive-sounding nine-point AiAF FlexiZone focusing system.

Some of these features, though, prove slightly less impressive in practice. Canon S60 can indeed focus down to 4cm, but many of our close-up test shots displayed focusing errors, a trait carried over from the previous S50.

The 2fps shooting mode is handy, but it’s hardly fast by today’s standards, and the high-resolution movie mode comes at a price – a jerky lOfps frame rate and a maximum movie length of 30 seconds.

The camera can automatically select which of the nine AF points to lock onto, or you can scroll around to choose the focusing point manually. When you do this, the AE system weights the exposure automatically.

The problem with this is twofold. First, clever though it is, the S60′s AF system isn’t particularly fast. For action or ‘grab’ shots, you’re really better off using the manual focus button on the side of the camera, and the distance scale this displays on the LCD. Second, systems like FlexiZone just take you further and further away from basic and “The S60 has ergonomic advantages over the old digital camera, but the construction and materials are altogether cheaper”

There may be some instances where the FlexiZone system will help, but you’ll have to hope that when these instances do arise you remember how to use the feature.

Canon PowerShot S60 Handling and controls

The S60 has ergonomic advantages over the old camera, but the construction and materials are altogether cheaper. Your fingers grip plastic where once they gripped metal, and the controls have a more cost-conscious feel. The S60 does replace the S50′s awkward zooming/navigational buttons with a proper navipad, and the big mode dial on the top is easy to see and to use. The S60 will slide into your pocket readily enough, thanks to its streamlined design, but it’s not a particularly small camera.

The control layout is good, especially Canon’s trademark Func button, which offers quick access to practically all the routine photographic adjustments you need.

On the other hand, the camera doesn’t feel particularly responsive. We’ve already mentioned the fairly leisurely AF system, but the S60′s in no great rush to start up, either. It’s apparently 20 per cent quicker than the S50, but that’s hardly saying much, and you still have to wait around three seconds before you can start taking shots.

Once you do, though, you’ll be pretty pleased with the results. Canon’s DIGIC image processing system once again demonstrates its ability to turn out sharp, contrasty, saturated images in a wide variety of conditions.

The only problem is the freguent appearance of magenta/blue fringing, or highlight ‘blooming’. You could tolerate this on a cheaper snapshot camera, but the type of user Canon’s aiming the S60 at is likely to be rather more demanding. There are ways and means of reducing this effect in Photoshop, but none of them are particularly easy.

It’s this that takes the edge off the S60′s ‘professional’ appeal. Shooting images in RAW mode is all very well, but the ultimate qualify you can obtain will be limited, and notjust by the 5-megapixel resolution.

But then what are the wide-angle alternatives? Nikon’s CoolPix 5400 is more expensive and even Olympus’s C-5060 will cost you around $30 more-and neither will fit in a jacket pocket. The fact is that even though it’s now a plasticized version of its former self, far from compact and far from perfect, Canon PowerShot S60 nevertheless gives you more for your money than you’ll find anywhere else, especially when you consider that handy wide-angle zoom