The G11's vari-angle screen seems plenty bright, but it makes an already huge camera even huger when it's all splayed out like a tumor growth. It's heavy too. And complicated. Look at all those dials!

The SD980's touchscreen is responsive enough, but the interface is confusing—sometimes it's touchable, sometimes it's not. And it uses strange drag gestures, like in playback mode, you hold down for a second, then slowly swipe down, which brings up options to the left or right—swipe left to delete or swipe right for another feature. Confusing and weird. If you're gonna go touch, go all the way.

Canon PowerShot SD980 IS Digital ELPH

• Available in October.
• A large 3.0-inch touch panel PureColor System LCD screen with a cutting-edge interface for easy navigating through images and menus.
• 720p HD video shooting capabilities plus HDMI output connector for easy playback of video and photos on HDTV's to share with friends and family.
• A 5x Optical Zoom lens with an ultra-wide 24mm lens, plus Optical Image Stabilization, great for vast landscapes and capturing a large group of friends at a red carpet event.
• The 12.1-Megapixel sensor to help ensure superb image quality.
• Four distinguished colors; silver, blue, purple and gold.

Canon PowerShot SD940 IS Digital ELPH

• Available September.
• A 12.1-Megapixel sensor, 28mm wide-angle lens with 4x Optical Zoom lens and Optical Image Stabilization offering versatility when shooting in the field.
• 720p HD movie shooting capabilities plus HDMI output connector for easy playback of video and photos on an HDTV.
• A large, crisp 2.7-inch PureColor System LCD with a wide viewing angle, great for sharing photos and video with friends.
• Timeless colors of muted metallics in blue, black, silver and brown to match any mood.

[Canon]

There are behind-the-scenes improvements too, including motion detection for better low-light handling and spot white balance enhanced by face recognition. But the real selling point here is fashion: the SD1100 IS will come in brown, silver, gold, blue and pink. We're told many dealers will be carrying the full lineup, too, so you won't have to go on a wild goose chase to track down the pink one—hate for you to get stuck with the blue one, but hey, maybe she likes blue. [Canon]

What's the diff between these two shooters?

Even though it's like solving a puzzle trying to find out when reading Canon's bullshit press release (go ahead and try it, it's linked below), essentially when you pay an extra 50 bucks for the SD750, you get a 3-inch LCD viewfinder instead of the SD1000's 2.5-inch LCD. The SD750 has a touch control dial on the rear panel making it a bit easier to use, while the cheaper SD1000 stays with the old-style function setting button. Too bad neither of them has image stabilization, but that's just a 3x zoom so maybe it won't be too hard to hold 'em still enough.

Anyway, we like Canon's Digital Elves and have been using them for years, and these look like a couple of good entry-level additions to the compact line with their updated image processor and neato styling. – Charlie White

Press Release [Canon USA, Inc.]

The Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti is without question a typical IXUS camera. Although a simple, effortless operation is the most important thing, they leave no doubts about the fact that there is much more to a camera than looks alone. Innovative technique is repeatedly used to increase the level of ease and user-friendliness.

The reviewers liked the camera's 3x optical zoom lens, but they thought it was a pity that it didn't have that 4x optical zoom lens of its Digital Elph brandmate, the IXUS 800 IS. The reviewers also liked the camera's 2.5-inch LCD viewscreen, and they lauded the fact that it still has an optical viewfinder as well, giving users a less battery-draining option.

One of the few negative points of the review was the camera's paucity of manual settings. But overall, it's a highly positive writeup. We're also big fans of the Canon Digital Elph series, and second the enthusiastic thumbs up of LetsGoDigital. – Charlie White

Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti | Digital Camera Review [Let'sGoDigital]

Canon also attempts to take advantage of that 10-megapixel chip with what it's calling "Safety Zoom," where it says you can zoom in 12x without affecting the image quality as long as you're shooting small-sized images. We've never been a big fan of digital zoom, but this just might work. The SD900 will be priced at $500.

More Digital Elphs and pics after the jump.

Canon also announced the Digital Elph SD800, with 7.1 megapixels and optical image stabilization. It's the top-of-the-line of the image-stabilized Elphs (Elves?), with a 2.5-inch LCD viewscreen and 3.8x optical zoom. It will be $400.

The lower-cost offering is the SD40 Digital Elph, with a 7.1 megapixel CCD and a 2.4x optical zoom. It will be $350. – Charlie White

SD900
SD800
SD40
[Digital Photography Review]