Just when I thought it was safe to relax and read a little bit, my inbox lights up with a damn tidal wave of point-and-shoots. If you’re in the market, you’ll be doing more in-depth research and of course the outliers of this batch will be tested and compared to others, so for the moment we’ll just take a quick look at their styling, specs, and standout features. Couldn’t have released this information at a decent hour, eh Canon?

The cameras look just fine, but the only one that’s at all exciting is the D10. Waterproof, freezeproof, and shockproof, more or less like we heard.

Features shared by nearly all of these cameras include:

• Digic IV image processor - the newest fandangleness keeps noise levels down and sharpness up.
• Face and blink detection
• Active Display - apparently you can navigate your photos with “a gentle flick of the wrist” now. I don’t think anybody was really complaining about the many ways we already have to go through photos already, but hey.

And you can thank Canon for having so much white space in their pictures. Come on!

PowerShot SX1 IS and SX200 IS

Their pair of Superzooms starts with the unbelievably expensive SX1.

• 10 megapixels
• 2.8″ swivel screen
• 20x optical zoom
• 1080p movie mode (don’t trust it, 720p is stretching it for a sensor this size)
• HDMI out
• $600, for which price you could buy a DSLR, I’m just saying
• Available in April

Then there is the SX200. More compact, smaller zoom.

• 12.1 megapixels
• 12x optical zoom
• 3″ LCD
• 720p movie mode
• $350 (a better deal than the SX1 but still a lot)
• Available in March

PowerShot D10


Here’s an interesting one. The D10 is waterproof to 33ft, freeze-resistant down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and shockproof from anywhere below 4ft. Its more prosaic stats:

• 12.1 megapixels
• 3x zoom
• They don’t mention the LCD size. Probably smallish, like 2.5″
• $330
• Available in May

PowerShot SD970 IS, SD960 IS, SD780 IS and SD1200

The S960 and SD780 were leaked earlier today, their stats are there. As for the SD970:

• 12.1 megapixels
• 3″ LCD
• 5x optical zoom
• 720p movie mode
• $380
• Available in April

The SD 1200 is the entry level ELPH camera. Stay away from this one.

• 10 megapixels
• $230
• Available in March
• That’s honestly all the information they provided

PowerShot A2100 IS, A1100 IS and A480

The budget series for “the tentative first timer.” You’re probably better off going with last year’s SD series cameras on sale rather than buying budget new ones. Nevertheless, here are their vital statistics.

A2100

• 12.1 megapixels
• 3″ LCD
• 6x optical zoom
• $250
• Available in April

A1100

• 12.1 megapixels
• 2.5″ LCD
• 4x optical zoom
• Interestingly, an optical viewfinder
• $200
• Available in March

A480

• 10 megapixels
• 2.5″ LCD
• 3.3x optical zoom
• $130
• Available in March