Canon EOS M Digital Camera + SLR Function

LOS ANGELES, July 23 –

Canon’s much-rumoured mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera competitor, the EOS M, is finally a reality.

The EOS M is Canon’s response to the growing market of compact, yet full-featured mirrorless cameras which includes Nikon’s J1 and V1, Sony’s NEX range, Samsung’s NX series, and Olympus and Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds system cameras.

“The EOS M includes a unique feature set making it an ideal movie-making tool, while also offering incredible still image quality on its APS-C-sized CMOS sensor. The camera’s size, image quality, advanced video capabilities and the versatility of Canon’s full lineup of lenses make the EOS M another great option to help our customers record and capture their creative vision,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A.

It features an 18.0 MP APS-C CMOS (APS-C) Sensor, Full HD movie capture with Focus Tracking, manual exposure control, a 3.0-inch touchscreen LCD, touch autofocus and multi-touch operation, plus is compatible with existing Canon EF and EF-S lenses.

“It’s a DSLR hiding inside a point-and-shoot body, just what we wanted,” said The Verge in a post on Google+.

The EOS M Digital Camera will hit stores in October priced from US$799.99 (RM2,538) with the new EF-M 22mm f/2 STM kit lens. Additional accessories for the camera, including the EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, Mount Adapter EF-EOS M and Speedlite 90EX will all be available in October for US$299.99, US$199.99 and US$149.99 respectively.

(c) 2012 Agence French-Presse (AFP)