Canon recently unveiled its latest prosumer dSLR camera, the Rebel XTi. The new camera is designed with entry-level photo enthusiasts in mind, with a lower price tag ($775 for the camera body) than most comperable models currently available.

Canon is scheduled to release the Rebel XTi globally in September in an attempt to gain back some market share lost to rising SLR manufactures, such as Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Despite the competition, Canon still expects sales of digital SLRs to increase by 26 percent throughout 2006.

"This new model targets customers who had been thinking of switching from film cameras to digital models as well as those who had enjoyed compact cameras or our previous Kiss models," Tomonori Iwashita, the director of Canon's camera unit, told a news conference.