Canon presents EOS Rebel SL1, world's smallest and most lightweight dSLR camera

Canon has rolled out a dSLR camera earns the title of "world's smallest and lighest," offering a host of features you'd expect from Canon digital SLR paired with a body less than 5-inches wide and weighing less than 15 ounces. This makes it smaller than the EOS Rebel T4i by about 25-percent, and a good solution for those who need to take professional images without the burden of a hulking device.

You can see a visual representation of the SL1's small size in the first image in the gallery below, which contrasts it with the T4i (represented by the blue outline). The SL1 measures in at 4.6-inches wide by 3.57-inches high by 2.74-inches thick, weighing 14.36 ounces. While the small size is one of its most alluring features, it also has a lot to offer in its hardware specs.

The Rebel SL1 has an 18-megapixel CMOS sensor with an ISO range from 100 to 12,800 for photos, as well as ISO to 6,400 for videos. There's a DIGIC 5 Image Processor, giving the SL1 the power to snap 4-frames-per-second. The autofocus is a nine-point system utilizing a Hybrid CMOS AF II sensor, as well as Movie Servo AF for video recording. Around back there's a 3-inch touchscreen Clear View LCD that supports multi-touch gestures.

Canon's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Imaging Technologies and Communications Yuichi Ishizuki had this to say: "The EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR Camera represents a new era in DSLR versatility: ultra-portable, full-featured DSLR cameras. The EOS Rebel SL1 combines the high speed, high image quality and expanded shooting range of a DSLR camera, with the easy and fun usability of a point-and-shoot camera."

The EOS Rebel SL1 is slated for release next month at $649.99 for the body and $799.99 for a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens.

[via Canon]