The ‘New’ Canon PowerShot 360 HS A

credits: Canon

Canon quietly announced a new compact point-and-shoot, the PowerShot 360 HS A. However, there is not much “new” about it. In fact, most of what’s changed compared to the original PowerShot 360 HS from 2016 is either minimal or a step backwards. Still, with point-and-shoots suddenly back in fashion thanks to TikTok and Instagram trends, Canon seems to be thinking that even a lightly refreshed model will find buyers.

The 360 HS A is essentially the same camera from nearly a decade ago. It uses a 20.2-megapixel Type 1/2.3 CMOS sensor and the old DIGIC 4+ processor. Back in 2016, that wasn’t bad compared to smartphone cameras. But today, many phones have larger Type 1 or 1/1.5 sensors, higher megapixel counts, and more advanced image processing. The one place this compact still has an edge over phones is zoom, the lens covers a 25–300mm equivalent range with 12x optical zoom, plus 4x digital zoom on top. It has optical image stabilisation, but with a variable f/3.6–7 aperture and a tiny sensor. Video is also stuck at 1080p 30fps, despite the sensor having enough resolution for 4K.

Design-wise, almost nothing has changed. It is still a small, no-viewfinder camera with a 3-inch LCD. The card slot now takes microSD instead of SD, which some may find inconvenient. Oddly, Wi-Fi features have been scaled back, meaning you can no longer transfer images to a PC or print directly over Wi-Fi. And while most new devices ship with USB-C, this one doesn’t because the old processor can’t support it. The new PowerShot 360 HS A arrives in October at $379, in black or silver only.

You can view the full spec sheet on dpreview’s website here