Canon ELPH Brand Turns Ten

Yesterday, Canon celebrated the tenth birthday of their ELPH brand at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.  To celebrate, they announced several events "that emphasize the fun, fashion, glitz and glamour" of the ELPH brand.  There is a sweeptakes where winners get ushered to a concert in VIP style and five bejeweled Canon Digital ELPH cameras will be auctioned off in Las Vegas on January 9th, 2007, to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Ten winners, and their guests, will receive VIP treatment while attending Z100's Jingle Ball 2006 concert on December 15, 2006.  They will receive airfare, hotel accommodations, limousine transport to and from the concert, be hosted by one of the concert starts at a pre-event, and get prime seats for the show.  In addition, they will receive a bejeweled Canon Powershot Digital ELPH created by the design team at NYC Peach.  For details about the sweepstakes, see www.powershot.com.

The ELPH History

The first ELPH was introduced way back in 1996 as one of the first cameras that used Advanced Photo System (APS) film.  After the intial ELPH, three more APS models were added to the line.  Canon ended up selling 10.5 million APS ELPH cameras.

Canon attributes the success of the design to its simplicity.  By keeping the basic elements of a box and a circle and constructing the camera out of stainless steel with a new finish, Canon was able to create a camera that was as much a camera as it was a fashion accessory.

When it came time for the first Digital ELPH, designer Seiichi Omino didn't want to simply copy the design of the film-based ELPHs.  However, he was able to keep the same box and circle elements and moving the lens slightly off-center to allow for the new internal digital components.  This off-center look became the signature Digital ELPH look.  According to Canon, they have sold more than 22 million Digital ELPHs worldwide.

Timeline:

• ELPH: May 1996 -- Canon's first ELPH camera was the world's smallest autofocus zoom compact camera at the time. Yasushi Shiotani's box and circle' design went on to become an inspiration for the whole industry.
• ELPH Limited Kit: September 1997 -- Launched to commemorate Canon's 60^th anniversary, this model of the original ELPH camera was plated in 18-carat gold and came with a golden remote control. Only 30,000 were made available for sale worldwide.
• PowerShot S100 Digital ELPH camera: May 2000 -- The launch of the 2 Megapixel Digital ELPH represented a new generation of digital camera. Combining convenience with style, it had a broad appeal to an entirely new digital camera market.
• PowerShot S400 Digital ELPH camera: February 2003 -- Designed to meet user demand for increased resolution and zoom magnification this 4 Megapixel camera had a high-performance 3x optical zoom lens. It had the smallest body size in its class.
• PowerShot SD10 Digital ELPH camera: September 2003 -- Style and refined elegance were at the heart of this relatively radical redesign. Available in a range of four different colors, the 4 Megapixel camera had front and rear panels made from a newly developed aluminum-magnesium alloy.
• PowerShot SD400 Digital ELPH camera: February 2005 -- Taking the ELPH signature concepts of style and ultra-compactness to a new level, the 5 Megapixel camera was one of the first Digital ELPH cameras to use DIGIC II.
• PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH camera: February 2005 -- The new flagship model in Canon's Digital ELPH range was the first to offer a 7 Megapixel sensor and the Perpetual Curve design -- a sleek and graceful body shape with smoothly contoured edges.
• PowerShot SD630 Digital ELPH camera: February 2006 ­ The 6 Megapixel SD630 model was Canon's first digital camera to offer an ultra-large 3.0" LCD monitor. The screen enabled users of this camera to enjoy the benefits of the newly incorporated Focus Checker Function.
• PowerShot SD900 Digital ELPH camera: September 2006 --The exclusive titanium exterior of the SD900 model is matched by a specification that includes 10 Megapixel resolution, an ultra-compact 3x optical zoom lens and Canon's new DIGIC III image processor with advanced noise reduction and face detection technology.