Featuring a square design along with zoom and shoot operation rings around the lens, a tilting screen and new Creative Shot mode, Canon claims that its new PowerShot N is the perfect smartphone companion since it has easy to use Wi-Fi connectivity.
- Read our hands on Canon N review.
A Mobile Device Connect button means that you can quickly connect the camera with smartphones and tablets, then use them to upload your images or movies to social networks.
The Creative Shot mode analyses the scene and determines a range of creative elements that could enhance the scene or offer a different creative angle. Variables include composition, exposure, point of focus, white balance and so on. Five alternative versions of the original shot are automatically generated.
Digital filters such as Miniature Effect, Soft Focus, Toy Camera Effect and Monochrome, along with Super Slow Motion Movie mode, are available.
The Canon PowerShot N also features a new Hybrid Auto mode that records the four seconds before every shot in 720p resolution, so that at the end of the day, a "behind the scenes" story of the day's images can be created.
No wrong way up
Canon has designed the camera to be used from "any way up". It has a symmetrical design with a tilting touchscreen and lens rings that can be turned in either direction. The first ring operates the zoom function, while a second is used as the shutter release.
The screen itself is a 2.8-inch touchscreen that can also be used to control functions such as the focus or shutter.
As for the lens, that's an 8x optical zoom (starting at 28mm - 35mm equivalent) while the camera has Canon's ZoomPlus technology to boost that capability up to 16x.
It also features a 12.1 million pixel CMOS sensor and a Digic 5 processor.
The Canon PowerShot N price is £269 in the UK (around AU$412) and US$299.99 in the US, and it will be available from early April.
