A whole bunch of new stuff from Canon

First the Ixus range.

The Ixus range has been going for over 10 years now so you would kind of wonder what's left to add. The answer appears to be this season's must have gadget - 'face detection'. Looking every inch an Ixus, the Ixus 75 has a h-u-g-e 3 inch LCD screen, touch sensitive control dial and 7.1 million pixels. Rather ominously the press release calls the body 'metallic' which generally means fancy plastic. This is a sad step down from the classic Ixus bodies which were all gorgeous stainless steel. The Ixus 70 appears to be substantially the same camera in a slimmer guise 'inspired by' the original Ixus. Whether this represents a departure from the architectural boxy lines of the classic Ixus for something a little more mundane remains to be seen. It also has a slimmed down 2.5 inch screen.

As you'd expect, Canon tell me that these cameras have faster response times, better colour and lower noise than any previous Ixus. The Ixus 75 will be available mid March RRP £270. The Ixus 70 comes out at the same time for 20 quid less - £250. All else being equal I'd probably pay and extra 20 notes for the big screen and classic looks of the 75.

The Powershot series is becoming Canon's equivalent of Nikon's L series - well featured cameras in a slightly bulky form factor for the happy snapper who wants great pictures. The A560 is just the next step in the A series. Like nearly all compacts this season it has 7 million pixels, face detection and software red eye correction. Use it for parties, use it with friends and watch them all be dazzled as it picks out up to 9 faces.

It will be launched early March for £210.

Sometimes I struggle a bit with compacts finding new things to say about them. Even Canon had a hard time with the A570IS giving it a scant couple of lines in the press release. There's a reason for this - it's the same as the 560 with 'an advanced optical stabilizer'. So...560 for blurred shots, 570 for sharp ones. Easy.

Both cameras get you a 4X optical zoom, optical viewfinder and a 2.5 inch screen.

The 570 IS will be out a week or so after the 560 in mid March for an extra £40 - RRP £250.

No Canon mega release would be complete without more printers than you thought could exist (the record is 18 in a day). On the right we have the iP1800 and iP2500. In case it isn't obvious the more expensive one has the silver print faster stripes. Apparently this brings a refreshing sense of style to entry level printing though I have to say they look remarkably like other Pixmas.

Like pretty well all printers, the manufacturers say they will deliver lab quality prints and do this faster than any previous printer. They will use the very posh ChromaLife100 ink which is a dye based ink that produces prints that will last 100 years in an album, 30 years under glass and 10 years if you just leave them on your desk. This dye ink is beefed up by a pigment based black for text which should make them great for printing letters to your bank manager.

I've scoured the details and here are the only differences I can find between the two printers.

• the iP2500 is slightly faster (55s for a 6X4 against 70s and 22 pages per minute mono/ 17 colour vs 20 and 16 ppm)
• the iP2500 comes with some free paper and a 'creative CD'

There may be others once they ship.

To be honest, the only really surprising thing about them is the price. We've seen printers like this many times before but the iP1800 should get people interested when it's available in March for an RRP of just under £40. The iP2500 will cost you £10 more (all that free paper) and come in at a shade under £50.

If you wanted a portable printer yesterday then you would probably have bought a Canon iP90. Now you'll probably end up with an iP90V. You can slip an iP90V into your trendy messenger bag next to your lappie and head out on the road. It will hook up via USB, Infra red (IrDA) or Bluetooth (IF you buy the extra bluetooth gizmo) and lets you print from your PC, Mac, PDA or phone. All the tech is available in other Pixmas for less money (it seems essentially the same as the entry level ones above) but the iP90V is actually smaller than the A4 paper it can print.

It comes complete with a battery and charger for complete mobile use. Unless you buy the kit without the battery.

In the shops in March for £200. I'm going to guess that's the version with the battery - the other one should be cheaper.

Righto. Enough of the consumer cameras and printers. Here it is. Ladies and gentlemen, pray silence for the long awaited Canon EOS-1D Mk III. Note that this is the 1D high speed camera - not an upgrade to the full frame 1DS.

The 1D Mk II was already the fastest DSLR on the market - now it has been 'remastered'. Starting with a blank sheet of paper the designers have ended up with something that looks remarkably like a 1D Mk II Here are the numbers you need to know.

• 10.1 Megapixel APS-H CMOS sensor
• 10 fps continuous shooting for up to 110 frames
• Dual "DIGIC III" processors
• New auto focus system with 19 cross type sensors
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• ISO 3200 (expandable to H:6400)
• 3.0" LCD with Live View mode
• Wider, brighter viewfinder
• Picture Style

A couple of points stand out there.

1. 3.0 inch LCD with Live View. 3 inches is becoming common these days but Live View is something special. At the moment very few DSLRs let you view the image on the LCD before you take it (only the Olympus E330 and Fuji S5 spring to mind). This will allow you to shoot in different ways from a viewfinder. Since the !D is a favourite press camera, expect to see a lot more of them being used overhead at press scrums.
2. EOS Integrated Cleaning System. From the spec sheet this looks like a similar system to the one on the 400D. No great surprise to see it migrating upwards but the 1D Mk III will be the first professional level DSLR with self cleaning.
3. Picture Style. This one baffles me. The 1D Mk III is a pro camera. Plenty of keen amateurs buy pro level kit but most of them buy the 1DS because it has higher resolution and a full frame sensor. People buying a 1D generally have a specific need for it (news or sports) and usually know exactly how they want the camera set up. The picture style has often been seen as a 'newbie'mode since it gives you a number of preset picture types. However, from the spec it may be much closer to Fujifilm's 'film style' button which gives different 'looks' to the shot without post processing. Usefully you can also set your own picture styles or download them from the web. Now what profile do you need to download to shoot like Dick Raphael...?

The 1D Mk III will be supported by a bunch of new accessories including:

• An updated version of the 580EX flash that will be weather resistant when on a 1D Mk III
• A smaller lighter version of the WFT-E2 Wi-Fi transmitter - if only they make it cheaper to o
• A data security kit so that you can prove images have not been tampered with and also encrypt them. this will presumably go head to head with Nikon's data security kit used by law enforcement officers.

Realease date and price of the 1D Mk III and its new toys are 'TBA'.